204 



Bird -Lore 



mentioned. Mr. I-'ord found a nest of Wood- 

 cock hatched in the snow April 17. Dr. 

 Eifrig reported two nests of the Migrant 

 Shrike at Addison April 28, and a young bird 

 was caught by Mr. Coale in Highland Park 

 June 7. No birds had been seen by either 

 Mr. Coale or Mr. .Sanborn previous to this 

 time, so it was a surprise to find a yoimg bird 

 hopping about the yard. Dr. Eifrig found 

 250 nests of the Black-crowned Night Heron 

 in a colony at Orlando May 19. Mr. Ford 

 reports the Piping Plover breeding in the 

 Dunes again this year May 14. Mr. Hunt, 

 May 8, found a nest and four eggs of the 

 Savannah Sparrow in the Dunes, and June 

 5, in Lincoln Park, Mr. Gault found a nest 

 of the Spotted Sandpiper. 



The Society now has a list of 211 species 

 and hopes to be able to report some interest- 

 ing nests in the next paper. — Colin Camp- 

 bell Sanborn, Chairman Report Committee, 

 Chicago Ornithological Society. 



Minneapolis Region. — The weather 

 during the period covered by this ar- 

 ticle has been characterized by rather fre- 

 quent and abrupt changes in temperature 

 which have disturbed the normal progress of 

 the spring's development. The early awak- 

 ening of vegetation and premature activity of 

 animal life that resulted from the unseason- 

 ably mild weather of March and early April 

 was checked somewhat by cool nights and 

 cold northerly winds in late April and earlj' 

 May, but occasional hot days during that 

 time and continued very warm weather with 

 frequent rains from mid-May on, stimulated 

 the woodlands, meadows, and fields to such 

 an extent that summer conditions were 

 anticipated by fully two weeks. 



The effect of the early and irregular spring 

 upon bird-life in this locality was to break uj) 

 somewhat the usual sequence of events. Most 

 of the earlier migrants came ahead of schedule- 

 but those journeying from afar were in many 

 instances delayed until, for a time, it seemed 

 as though we were not to exi)erience the 

 great May movement, so eagerl\' awaited Ijy 

 all bird-lovers. And when it did finally come, 

 on May 19, it was deficient both as to species 

 and number of indi\'iduals and passed by so 



quickly that in two or three days nearly all 

 traces of the migration were gone. Previous 

 to this date some of the common summer 

 residents had appeared in very limited num- 

 bers, and it was not until this 'wave' of 

 north-bound migrants came along that the 

 missing quota was supplied from laggards 

 traveling in its ranks. This, the only large 

 and the final 'wave' of the season, reached 

 the vicinity of Minneapolis on the morning 

 of a warm and beautiful day immediately 

 following a spell of cold and stormy weather. 

 Cireat numbers of birds must have been held 

 up somewhere in the mid-Mississippi Valley, 

 and when they were released they hastened 

 to their destinations with greatly increased 

 speed. 



A brief statement of actual weather condi- 

 tions will give a better idea of just what the 

 bird-travelers had to encounter hereabouts, 

 though it is probable that conditions farther 

 south had more to do with irregularities in 

 this latitude. Mid-April presented two days 

 with freezing temperature, thin ice forming 

 on the nights of the 15th and i6th. The 

 remainder of the month was cool at night 

 and warm, or even hot, at noon. May came 

 in with three days so cold that ice nearly an 

 inch thick formed on bird-baths out at Lake 

 ]\Iinnetonka on the night of the 3d, and light 

 flurries of snow occurred on the ist. Hot 

 days and warm nights followed until on the 

 13th to the i6th it was again so cold that 

 light frosts occurred, this kind of weather 

 extending over a wide area in the upper Miss- 

 issippi Valley. In northern Minnesota it was 

 still colder, the mercurj' dropping to 27 de- 

 grees at Duluth and to freezing at Fargo. 

 From this time on the weather became in- 

 tensely warm, with thermometer readings at 

 times over 90 degrees at noon. This has 

 continued with but little interruption imtil 

 the ])resent date. 



Tiie progress of the season will l)e most 

 clearly and easily shown by arranging the 

 data in the form of a nature calendar. I have 

 again to thank Mr. and Mrs. F. \V. Commons 

 for the generous use of their spring notes 

 which form a not inconsiderable part of the 

 following record. A few dates have also been 

 supplied by Miss Fetter, Miss Humiston, 



