96 



Bird - Lore 



stances. Two other species not commonly 

 found here at this season, the Kingfisher 

 and Catbird, have both been noted, the 

 former in some numbers. A lone Catbird 

 wintering in the neighborhood of the 

 Country Club constitutes the only known 

 local winter record for this species. Cross- 

 bills, Waxwings and Siskins, so common 

 during recent winters, have been noted this 

 season only as stragglers, and not a single 

 Purple Finch has been recorded. 



Ducks stayed late and returned early. 

 The last large flocks of south-bound 

 Mallards were seen late in December, and 

 by the middle of January impatient hordes 

 of Pintails were noted congregating in 

 restless rafts on the Missouri River. 

 William Andrews writes from the Court- 

 ney region that on January 25, at 5 p.m., 

 the river near his cabin was filled with 

 immense flocks of resting Pintails with a 

 few Mallards mixed in. By actual count 

 there were in sight at one time 43 flocks 

 containing from 50 to 500 individuals 

 each, and by dark these were being in- 

 creased by the continual arrival of fresh 

 hundreds. Canada Geese were noted in 

 some numbers in late December and early 

 January, birds that were doubtless winter- 

 ing in this immediate neighborhood. 



Migrating Bluebirds and Robins, im- 

 pelled by the balmy winter weather, moved 

 into the city in numbers, and were singing 

 early in January, perhaps a month in ad- 

 vance of their normal time of arrival. 



Notes of interest received from Mr. A. 

 Sidney Hyde, of Topeka, Kansas, indicate 

 that a few Meadowlarks and Crackles 

 wintered in that region, and that an early 

 movement of north-bound Geese was 

 noted. — Harry Harris, Kansas City, Mo. 



Denver Region. — This report will be 

 of value only because of its negative 

 characteristics, since it shows that this 

 region has shared in the actual or relative 

 paucity of bird-life which has been so 

 frequently reported from the eastern 

 states during the past winter. The writer 

 cannot recall any other winter in Colorado 

 during the past twenty-five years, with so 

 little bird-life about Denver, all of which is 



substantiated by his notes. This cannot all 

 be due to his inability to be in the field 

 as much as he wishes, for during other 

 winters he has been equally busy in his 

 vocation, without noticing so few birds. 

 There have been, for example, no Chicka- 

 dees or Long-eared Owls in the city, and 

 very few Juncos (of the latter), principally 

 the Montana form. Usually the Pink-sided 

 and the Grey-headed Juncos are abundant 

 hereabout all winter, yet during the past 

 eight weeks they have been very rare 

 about Denver. 



A twenty-mile motor ride in and about 

 Denver any time between November and 

 April should disclose hundreds and 

 hundreds of Tree Sparrows and a goodly 

 number of Song Sparrows, yet such a ride 

 on December 25 uncovered but one Tree 

 Sparrow and three Song Sparrows. It 

 seems undeniable, from the writer's ex- 

 perience, that there have been both fewer 

 species and fewer individuals in the bird 

 population of this region all this winter. 

 It is his belief that an ordinary day to day 

 survey of the neighboring foot-hills and 

 adjacent streams would show that our 

 urban winter bird population had this 

 year remained suburban. 



The two months embraced in this report 

 have been mild, sunny, and with but two 

 light snowstorms, all of which may in 

 part account for this suburban drift. 

 Robins returning during the past week 

 (February 13) may indicate the approach 

 of the northward advancing Robin army. 

 Two resident outposts of this army were 

 seen in Denver on December 29, which, 

 however, is not an extraordinary record. 

 The species which delights the writer most 

 by its return in numbers in the early 

 spring is the Meadowlark, ten of which 

 were noticed at the eastern edge of the 

 city on February 9. He believes that our 

 spring migrants will appear earlier than 

 usual this year. — W. H. Bergtold, 

 Denver, Colo. 



San Francisco Region. — After three 

 dry winters, the northern part of the state 

 is rejoicing in an abundant rainfall. It is 

 difficult to estimate to just what extent 



