148 



Bird - Lore 



lake there appeared in it a Pied-billed 

 Grebe, which clung closely to the area in 

 which was seen an individual of the same 

 species most of last year. Perhaps the 

 birds of last and this year are the same 

 individual. 



There have been very few Bluebirds in 

 the city and its outskirts since February 15. 

 A Batchelder's Woodpecker remained 

 about my home neighborhood for two 

 days (April 3 and 4) ; this is the second time 

 the writer has detected the species in 

 Denver during the last twenty-five years. 

 A Richardson's Merlin was seen in the 

 city on March 22. A review of the writer's 

 notes shows that this little Hawk can be 

 depended on to visit this region every 

 spring, and often in the fall, too. 



The writer has had little opportunity to 

 spend time in the hills or on the surround- 

 ing plains. It is quite likely that his vision, 

 more or less restricted to the city and its 

 immediate environs, has given him an in- 

 adequate and an impjerfect picture of the 

 existing regional bird conditions. Never- 

 theless, past experience has shown that a 

 fairly good idea of the bird-life of a con- 

 siderable area about Denver can be gotten 

 from a study of that within Denver and 

 its outskirts. — W. H. Rerotold, Denver, 

 Colo. 



San rR.ANCisco Rkgion. — Warm spring 

 weather reached us the last week of Feb- 

 ruary, but it was anticipated by Allen's 

 Hummingbird, which was first seen on 

 February 18, though a suspicious buzz was 

 heard on the loth and the nth. Febru- 

 ary 22, being a holiday, was spent on the 

 bay, and one of the rewards was the sight 

 of a flock of some three hundred Surf 

 Scoters off Point Richmond. The colora- 

 tion was so bright that I was deceived for 

 a time into believing that I was watching 

 Tufted Puffins. The only other bird event 

 of the month was a glimpse of a dozen 

 Band-tailed Pigeons as they flew low 

 directly over my head and off over the 

 brow of the Berkeley Hills. March came 

 in like the proverbial lamb, but did not 

 remain lamblike throughout its course. 

 Ratlier was it like an eastern .•\i)ril with 



its frequent showers followed by blossom- 

 ing flowers. A House Wren was merrily 

 singing on March 4, ha\Tng beaten the 

 Lutescent Warbler again for second place 

 among spring arrivals — this time by five 

 days. As I stood watching the Lutescent 

 W'arbler on the 9th, my attention was 

 attracted by an exquisite warbling song 

 which sounded far away. I was much 

 puzzled by the song and I was surprised 

 and delighted when I discovered that it 

 was being uttered by a Townsend's Soli- 

 taire, distant not twenty feet. This whisper 

 song was continued for a full half-hour, 

 being interrupted only by a couple of 

 meals which consisted of five or six 

 Crataegus berries hastily swallowed in 

 Thrush fashion. 



March 16 was one of the lamblike days 

 and was spent on the lower reaches of San 

 Francisco Bay where a gun club has con- 

 structed a fresh-water pond. A flock of 

 seventy Avocets were in an excited state 

 which suggested the approach of the mat- 

 ing season. In addition to these handsome 

 birds, there were 8 to 10 Yellow-Legs, 

 30 Killdecr, a W'ilson's Snipe, a Bittern, 

 4 Great-Blue Herons, 6 Black-crowned 

 Night Herons, 8 Tule W^rens, 4 Barn 

 Swallows, and a Tree Swallow, sufiicient 

 reward, one would say, for the rough walk 

 over marshy cow-paths. For full measure 

 there were added 300 to 400 each of Pin- 

 tails and Green-winged Teal, about 

 60 Ruddy Ducks, 50 Shovellers, 10 Bald- 

 pates, 10 Lesser Scaup, 4 Cinnamon Teal, 

 and 300 to 400 Pipits, bringing the total 

 up to 40 species and about 2,000 indi- 

 viduals. 



Warbling Vircosand PilcolatedWarblers 

 were seen in Claremont Canon on March 26 

 by Mr. Storer, and Western Flycatchers 

 were quite common on .\pril i. Tolmie's 

 Warbler was heard singing on .\pril 11 

 reminding me that a second winter record 

 for him was made by Mrs. Kelly and Mr. 

 Bassctt on February 22. 



On April 1 2, a second trip to the marshes 

 and lower bay showed the number of 

 Avocets, Ducks, Coots, and Pipits very 

 much reduced, while Yellow-Legs had in- 

 creased from 8 or 10 to 30. Species not 



