Notes from Field and Study 



249 



On February 1 1 a mild period began, lasting 

 five days. Every day during this period it 

 sang, usually when the sunshine was warmest. 

 A return of the cold made it silent till the 

 warmth of spring began. Now, on March 

 25, it is singing with all the joyfulness of the 

 summer season. 



Many times this courageous songster en- 

 dured sub-zero weather, the coldest being 

 21 degrees below. Evidently food rather 

 than temperature is the large factor in bird 

 migration. 



River Falls, almost on the forty-fifth paral- 

 lel, is far north of the usual range of the 

 Mockingbird; and, so far as I know it is the 

 farthest north the bird has ever been seen. — 

 Lloyd Goble, River Falls, Wis. 



Robin's Nest on a Trolley Wire 



The accompanying photograph was taken 

 near Neenah, Wis. Cars passed under this 

 nest every few minutes, their trolley being 

 only a few inches below it. On each occasion 

 the Robin stood up, then settled back on the 

 nest. In spite of this disturbance and the 

 exposed position of their home, the birds 

 raised their brood. — H. P. Severson, 

 Winneconne, Wis. 



k(il;l\> NEST ON .\ TRULLEV WIRE 



THE SEASON 

 XXVII. June 15, 1921, to August 15, 1921 



Boston Region. — The notable feature of 

 the present summer was the record rainfall 

 in July. A foot of water fell during the 

 month, chiefly in heavy storms. On the gth 

 a succession of thunder-showers, accom- 

 panied by a drenching downpour, left behind 

 over 4 inches of rain, a remarkable precipita- 

 tion for a single day. Fortunately, the young 

 birds, for the most part, were sufficiently 

 well-grown to withstand such peril. Had the 

 storm come earlier it would, without doubt, 

 have proved disastrous to our smaller birds. 



Fledgling Robins and Bluebirds of the 

 second brood were early on the wing, as these 

 species started to breed sooner than usual 

 after their arrival in the spring. Later breed- 

 ing birds also appeared to complete their 

 nesting activities promptly, aided by favor- 



able weather conditions in June. Indeed, the 

 season of courtship and nesting, when birds 

 are in full song, active, conspicuous, and so 

 very busy, passed quickly this year, and even 

 during the last days of July, after a season 

 of quiet and moult, it was apparent that the 

 birds had begun to move in large numbers 

 toward the south. Thus early the notes of 

 migrating birds were heard frequently during 

 the night, and sometimes in the daytime 

 birds were seen and heard, e\ddently hur- 

 raing southward. On August i I picked up 

 a Water-Thrush which had just struck a 

 window-pane, a bird traveling far in advance 

 of its average migration time. 



Another indication of the early season is 

 the date on which the Baltimore Orioles be- 

 gan their morning piping. For a week or two 



