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Bird - Lore 



New York Region. — Mid-December 

 to the first of February the season was 

 remarkably mild and open. A short cold 

 snap in each of the last two weeks of 

 January, and a snowstorm which whitened 

 the ground for the first time, the very end 

 of the month, provided but a taste of 

 winter. 



Response to these conditions by bird- 

 life is found in records of various species 

 north of their ordinary winter range, for 

 which see the Christmas Census in the 

 preceding number of Bird-Lore. Of 

 other such records which have come to 

 hand the most noteworthy is that of a 

 small flock of Tree Swallows wintering at 

 Long Beach, L. I. They were observed on 

 New Year's Day by E. P. Bicknell and 

 Charles Johnston. Another observer (W. 

 C. Starck) reports "six of the Tree 

 Swallows still left of the original ten," 

 Long Beach, February 13. At Mastic, L. I., 

 a Catbird and flock of 20 Mourning Doves 

 were noted January i, and a Savannah 

 Sparrow on January 2 (J. T. N.). At this 

 same locality several Wilson's Snipe were 

 present, December i8 (R. Floyd, Jr.). 

 The bay marsh where they occurred is 

 suitable for migrating rather than winter- 

 ing individuals and they were likely mov- 

 ing south late. That this species did winter 

 on the island, however, is evidenced by 

 two in the hands of gunners, and one or two 

 more heard at Elmhurst, January 8 (H. S. 

 Boyle). 



There appears to have been a small flight 

 of Bluebirds the first week in January. Six 

 or eight are reported from the vicinity of 

 Yonkers, January 2 (Gladden), and on the 

 same date a flock of upwards of 50 at 

 Oyster Bay (W. B. Nichols). January 9, 

 a number, Oyster Bay — Purple Finches 

 with them; and Bluebirds observed in the 

 vicinity through the rest of the month 

 (W. B. N.). The Purple Finch has been 

 unusually scarce this fall and winter. 

 Its presence with these Bluebirds is in 

 line with the opinion that they had just 

 come in from further north, and form the 

 rear of the southward movement, com- 

 posed of birds which, under ordinary 

 circumstances, would ha\c passed in late 



fall. A male Chewink is reported from 

 Bronx Park, January 15 (L. S. Crandall). 



From up the Hudson (M. S. Crosby, 

 Dutchess County) five Wilson's Snipe are 

 reported on January 16 from "Brick-yard 

 Swamp" where they were observed in 

 early December; a Rusty Blackbird and 

 a Sapsucker, January 16; a Red-winged 

 Blackbird and 24 Crackles, January 22; a 

 Mourning Dove, February 13; and a Coot 

 at Constitution Island, January 7. 



It is interesting to enumerate these 

 unusual instances, but they stand out 

 against an apparent scarcity of passerine 

 bird-life, as compared with an ordinary 

 winter. This scarcity can be explained by 

 the effect of the very severe winter preced- 

 ing on the personnel of birds which might 

 ordinarly winter in the region, and the 

 absence, also, of individuals driven south 

 or coastwise by severe weather. In the 

 interior of western Long Island (near 

 Garden City) Meadowlarks were noticed, 

 apparently in migration, from December 

 15 to 23, after which date they seemed to 

 have gone; but on January 15 there was a 

 flock of 8 or 10 at Garden City, already in 

 song, and a few, perhaps members of this 

 same flock, have been continually present 

 since. No Horned Owls were heard the 

 first of the year at Mastic, a favorite 

 resident locality for them where they were 

 unusually plentiful the winter of 1919 to 

 1920. They likely had wandered because 

 of an observed scarcity of rabbits, and one 

 or more Horned Owls, reported from the 

 outskirts of New York City this fall, 

 and winter, may have been such wan- 

 derers. — J. T. Nichols, New York City. 



Washington Region. — Notwithstand- 

 ing the mild winter weather about Wash- 

 ington during December, 1920, and 

 January, 1921, birds have been neither 

 unusually numerous nor conspicuous. 

 Perhaps the lack of snow, cold and high 

 winds has induced the birds to remain 

 more on the uplands and has less concen- 

 trated them in the valleys and other 

 sheltered places. Be that as it may, the 

 open winter of the northern United States 

 has at least had an influence on the 



