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Bird - Lore 



thirty birds, and has attracted no little 

 interest. We hope they have come to 

 stay, and shall watch for them as warm 

 weather appears. Several people have 

 spoken of a strange flock of dark birds, 

 seen late in the fall, after Blackbirds were 

 supposed to have left us, but until De- 

 cember no one noticed them particularly. 

 After once recognizing them, their metallic 

 purplish and greenish plumage, with 

 every feather tipped with cream-buff, 

 makes a bird of great beauty, and one 

 easily identified. 



It has been by far the coldest winter 

 for years here, the thermometer registering 

 often thirty degrees below zero. — Rest 

 H. Metcalf, Hinsdale, N. H. 



Bird Notes from South Norwalk, Conn. 



The past winter was notable because of 

 the long-continued cold (from January 3, 

 to February 17, heavy ice covering the 

 feeding-places of Ducks), the absence of 

 rare winter birds, and instances of summer 

 birds staying into the winter. 



Mr. George Ells watched the tarrying 

 of a Yellow-breasted Chat, which he 

 showed to me on December 24, and that 

 afternoon he saw it again, together with 

 a Catbird, and Mr. James Hall saw the 

 Chat on January i, after which it was 

 not seen again. 



A friend told me of a Brown Thrasher 

 that he had seen off-and-on up to January 

 17, and on Februarj' 11 he guided me and 

 another friend to a cat-briar thicket in a 

 swamp, where he showed us the Thrasher, 

 and I saw it again on February 22. It 

 lived near an open spring, on an abundance 

 of frozen apples and the refuse heaps 

 from two houses. The bird was in excel- 

 lent plumage and very shy, and on both 

 visits dived into the thicket before I 

 could secure a photograph. 



In some places the Horned Larks were 

 scarce, but at the mouth of the Housatonic 

 river I found a flock of more than one 

 hundred and fifty living on the truck 

 gardens, and among them was one Snow 

 Bunting, the only one seen or heard of. 



Fortunately there was little snow, and 



the weed seeds and grasses remained above 

 the snow; else the loss of bird-life would 

 have been appalling. One Bluebird was 

 found frozen beside a stone fence, and 

 five Meadowlarks were found frozen under 

 a corn-shock at Bethel; and Deputy 

 Warden Fauble, of Stamford, found five 

 dead Quail, from a late brood, it would 

 seem, from their small size. 



Not a Shrike or Crossbill has been 

 reported from this section, and but one 

 report of the Red-polls and Siskins, late 

 in February. 



Black Ducks suffered most, as the ice 

 covered their feeding-places, and they 

 sat around on the ice and starved and 

 froze to death. I saw and picked up 

 thirty-eight that had died, and the con- 

 dition of hundreds was critical when the 

 ice broke and laid bare their feeding- 

 grounds. At the mouth of the Housatonic 

 river, the Black Ducks and Scaups gath- 

 ered in immense numbers and, by wearing 

 a white suit and walking among the ice- 

 floes, I was able to get within a few feet of 

 them; showing plainly that, but for the 

 protection given them by the closed sea- 

 son, it would have been possible to have 

 killed large numbers of them at a time 

 when they were hardly able to secure food 

 enough to keep alive. — -Wilbur F. Smith, 

 South Norwalk, Conn. 



Bird Banding 



The Bird-Banding Committee of the 

 Linnaean Society of New York wishes to 

 insert a paragraph here, for the purpose of 

 assuring the members of the American 

 Bird-Banding Association, and others, 

 that, as the nesting season approaches, 

 those in charge of the affairs of the Asso- 

 ciation are making preparations for an 

 active season, and a wide distribution of 

 bands among those who will be good 

 enough to use them. About seven thou- 

 sand five hundred bands of various sizes 

 are now in process of manufacture, and 

 members of the A. B. B. A. will be noti- 

 fied as soon as these are ready for dis- 

 tribution. — Howard H. Cleaves, Secy.- 

 Treas., Public Museum, New Brighton, 

 N. Y. 



