The Season 



33 



November 7, the writer thought the bird 

 likely his latest for the species on Lonj^ 

 Island. Reference to records, however, 

 showed that he had noted a Catbird on 

 November 7 some twenty odd years 

 previous, and, strangely enough, there is a 

 record for some years' standing for Novem- 

 ber 25 also, considered a straggler of migra- 

 tion. The species very rarely winters. 



On the whole, the late fall was marked 

 by an unusual scarcity of bird-life, both as 

 regards land birds and Ducks, coastwise 

 and up the Hudson. There have been few 

 instances of those northern species which 

 are of uncertain occurrence, few or no 

 Siskins, almost no Red-breasted Nut- 

 hatches (a single one of the latter, Decem- 

 ber 2, Forest Park, Long Island — L. N. 

 Nichols). Exceptions are a flock of un- 

 determined Crossbills in Brooklj'n (R. C. 

 Murphy), a Northern Shrike balancing on 

 a telegraph wire. Long Beach, November 

 26 (J. T. N.), and one at West Nyack, 

 December 11 (R. B. Potter). The Purple 

 Finch, usually regular in small numbers, 

 has been practically absent. Pipits, and 

 later Horned Larks, were apparently more 

 numerous than usual. A Rough-legged 

 Hawk at Rhinebeck, December 5, and two 

 at Cruger's Island, December 12 (M. S. 

 Crosby) are worth noting, as this Hawk 

 is much rarer up the Hudson than over the 

 coastwise marshes near New York City, 

 where it seems to have been absent this 

 year. — J. T. Nichols, Neui York City. 



Philadelphi.\ Region. — It is seldom 

 that this region experiences a milder fall 

 than the one just passed: October 31, 

 woods still green; evening primrose, aster, 

 knotwood and white snakeroot still in 

 bloom. November 20, a bat flying about. 

 November 21, at Cape May, N. J., 

 dragonflies and mosquitos present. 

 December 4, a thunderstorm of summer- 

 like proportions. December 12, Seaside 

 Park, N. J., a butterfly flying about. 

 Winter has registered only one character- 

 istic cold snap — November 13 and 14 — 

 when skim-ice was formed on the ponds. 



While the common winter birds are 

 present in their normal numbers there is 



an entire al)scnce of such Inrds as Cross- 

 bills, Siskins, and Redpolls. The Chick- 

 adee and Red-breasted Nuthatch seem 

 to be among the missing also. On the other 

 hand, the Golden-crowned Kinglet, which 

 has been comparative!)' uncommon the 

 past two years, is again here in numbers 

 (,14 November 28). Tree Sparrows were 

 first noted December 4, rather late. 



Probably the most interesting feature of 

 the fall has been the great flights of wild- 

 fowl. Ducks and Geese have been reported 

 to be unusually abundant on Barnegat 

 and Delaware Bays and also along the 

 coast. At Cape May, November 7, long 

 lines of Ducks were observed streaming 

 down the coast and out into the bay. 

 There were hundreds, if not thousands, of 

 Ducks on the wing and they appeared to be 

 mostly Scoters. At inland points, Black 

 Ducks are said to be more abundant than 

 last year. Two Wood Ducks were noted at 

 Fish House, N. J., October 31; one at Mt. 

 Holly, N. J (Mr. N. D. W. Pumyea, 

 October 24.) A few Canada Geese were 

 seen November 7 (13 at Cape May). 

 But the great flight occurred the third 

 week of the month, November 21 (400 

 at Cape May) ; the same day 200 at 

 Atlantic City, N. J. (C. K. Roland). In 

 all probability this was only a small por- 

 tion of the birds on the wing and no doubt 

 the flight was on at least all along the 

 Jersey coast. 



On November 11, here at Camden, a 

 Barn Owl which flew in one of the windows 

 of the Temple Building (a moderate-sized 

 ofifice-building in the center of the city), 

 was captured by the janitor. .\s usual 

 in such instances, the local paper came out 

 with an elaborate description of the bird: 

 "This 'Jersey Devilbird' has a forked 

 tongue, like a snake; a face like a monkey; 

 feet like a chicken; feathers like a Pheasant; 

 wings like an Eagle. It hisses like a steam 

 radiator." Wonderful to relate, the 

 janitor, after keeping the Owl about a week, 

 let the bird go through fear of a fine. It 

 is quite probable that a local game warden 

 warned him about keeping the Owl a 

 captive. 



Other observations that might be 



