104 



Bird - Lore 



must find their food when they come north 

 next month is now covered by two feet 

 and more of the hardest ice and snow. — 

 Winsor M. Tyler, M.D., Lexington, 

 Mass. 



New York Region. — These two months 

 cover comparatively unchanging condi- 

 tions of winter bird-life. Nevertheless, 

 as is generally recognized, traces of the fall 

 migratory movement may frequently, 

 if not always, be observed later than 

 December 15. Birds are often present at 

 Christmas time which will be absent later 

 in the winter; or they may even linger 

 into the first week of January and then 

 move on. Also, beginnings of the spring 

 migratory movement may sometimes be 

 noted as early as the middle of February. 



The present season, a snowstorm on 

 Christmas Eve ushered several weeks of 

 white, cold, monotonous winter to the 

 interior of the west end of Long Island. 

 During this period the ground was almost 

 continually, though thinly, snow-covered. 

 Even the commonest winter birds were 

 remarkably scarce. An unusually large 

 flock (about 25) of Meadowlarks was 

 noticed from the train, January 7, and 

 as none was seen again during the month, 

 the species probably left the vicinity about 

 that date. Beginning ten days later, 

 came recurrent storms, with general 

 temperature gradually rising. The some- 

 what changed conditions were accompanied 

 by an increase in Tree Sparrows and 

 Juncos. One or two White-throated 

 Sparrows appeared at Garden City. Four 

 Field Sparrows appeared again January 

 22, in a vacant lot within the town, grown 

 to tall grass (Andropogon virginicus), when- 

 half a dozen had been found December 25. 



Following a three days' northeaster, 

 with drifted snowfall the first week in 

 February, on the 7th a small flight of 

 Red Crossbills was noted and an increase 

 of Horned Larks on the 'plains' near 

 Garden City. February 8, a flock of 

 about 20 Evening Grosbeaks was reported 

 at Forest Hills (one, disabled, brought to 

 the New York Zoological Park from there. 

 — L. S. Crandall). On the 8th and 12th, 



Tree Sparrows had become generally 

 abundant, Redpolls (Garden City, Feb- 

 ruary 8 and 14; Forest Hills, February 12) 

 and Goldfinches, previously absent, ap- 

 peared scatteringly (3 or less together); 

 on the 12th, Juncos were up to their usual 

 number for the first time this winter, and 

 Horned Larks were found inland at locali- 

 ties which they ordinarily do not visit. 

 More remarkable is the presence on that 

 date of about 15 Snow Buntings and a 

 Lapland Longspur, feeding with Horned 

 Larks inland, at Queens. 



In short, there was a well-marked late 

 winter wave of birds, throughout traceable 

 with reasonable certainty to storms and 

 snow. In the Field Sparrow and likely 

 the White-throat, movement was probably 

 very local, to a sheltered spot in town; 

 in the case of the Larks, Buntings, and 

 Longspur (all three of which had been 

 present earlier in the winter at the ocean 

 shore 8 to 9 miles south at its nearest 

 point, and the first two of which only, 

 in no great numbers, were found by ob- 

 servers at the shore on this date), there 

 was more extensive movement, away 

 from storm tides and coastal exposure; 

 in the case of the Redpoll, and the Tree 

 Sparrow as certainly, migration from more 

 boreal localities. 



At expense of a general summary, space 

 has been given in this report to detailed, 

 more or less personal, observations in one 

 section of the New York region, because 

 fluctuation of winter bird-life was un- 

 usually well marked and easily traceable. 

 Not infrequently there is a late winter 

 movement of uncertain relationship to 

 the northward movement immediately 

 following. Storms are to be expected, 

 with rising temperature after the dead of 

 winter, but in this case at least the wave 

 of birds seems to have had no relationship 

 to a spring movement, unless possibly 

 species which migrate early, driven out by 

 the last kick of winter, rebound on its 

 retreating steps. Even a considerable 

 flock of Red-winged Blackbirds, February 

 12 (Englewood, N. J., both sexes. — L. 

 Griscom), should rather be considered 

 waifs from more inhospitable territory 



