Notes from Field and Study 



93 



Maryland on the Prairie Horned Lark 

 which seem to show that they breed in 

 this region, although I believe their nests 

 have not been found. 



In the Maryland Geological Survey of 

 Allegany County, published in 1900, there 

 is a list of summer birds of western Mary- 

 land by Edward A. Preble. He says of 

 the Prairie Horned Lark: "While driving 

 through Garret County [the western 

 County of Maryland], on May 18, I saw 

 a male bird of this species. He was on a 

 fence-rail, singing lustily, and was not at 

 all shy. It was near the town of Accident, 

 about ten miles from the northwestern 

 corner of the county. There can be little 

 doubt but that the bird was breeding." 

 On this page of the report I have noted: 

 "August 26, 1911. Saw a flock on barren 

 hill east of city. Did they not breed some- 

 where in this region? August 24, 191 2. 

 Same locality. Again this year I note, 

 June 23, 1916. The same locality." Rev. 

 Mr. Eifrig, formerly of this city, a well- 

 known ornithologist and naturalist, in a 

 list of local birds, writes as follows of the 

 Prairie Horned Lark: "Often seen in flocks 

 on hills and roads in this vicinity, along 

 with Juncos, Tree Sparrows, and so forth. 

 Breeds in the higher parts." 



My idea has been that they breed in the 

 open 'glades' near Oakland and Mountain 

 Lake, Garrett County. These observa- 

 tions seem to show that they are extending 

 their breeding-range, which has, until 

 recently, been recorded as the prairies of 

 the Middle West eastward to northern 

 New England. It may have ranged east- 

 ward and southward as the country be- 

 came open and more deforested. 



I shall look out for them another season 

 and see if we can positively find their 

 breeding habitat. — Edward Harris, Sr., 

 Cumberland, Md. 



Smoke Trees and Purple Finches 



The seeds of a group of six 'smoke trees,' 

 near my house at Westport Point, southern 

 Massachusetts, are sought before they are 

 fully formed by a flock of Purple Finches 

 and feasted upon as long as they last. It 



is a curious fact that we never see these 

 Purple Finches at any other time. We do 

 not know where they live, but they have 

 come to these same smoke trees every 

 August for more than twenty years. — Mrs. 

 CuTHBERT Hall. 



Is the Cape May Warbler Increasing 

 in Numbers? 



Have any of your readers, I wonder, 

 observed a marked increase, within the 

 last two or three years, in the number of 

 Cape May Warblers migrating through 

 this country.'' My own observations of 

 that species are striking evidence of such 

 an increase. In more than fifteen years of 

 bird-study, covering a very large area in 

 northeastern United States, I had not 

 succeeded, previous to 1914, in recording 

 a single Cape May; whereas, in the two 

 and a half years since April, 1914, I have 

 recorded about twenty individuals of that 

 species, at widely separated times and 

 places, in the states of Maine, Massachu- 

 setts, and New Hampshire. Such an 

 experience seems rather significant. — R. E. 

 RoBBiNS, Brookline, Mass. 



Evening Grosbeak in Ontario 



Having read many articles in Bird- 

 Lore concerning Evening Grosbeaks which 

 have been seen in many parts of the coun- 

 try, I thought that it might be of interest 

 to you to know about a flock that has 

 annually visited this town for the last 

 four years. The flock consists of about 

 fifteen males and females, and they feed 

 on hawthorn berries and the seeds of the 

 hard maple, seeming to prefer the latter. 

 They are now more common than the Pine 

 Grosbeak, of which species I have not 

 seen a specimen for two years, although 

 they used to be regular visitors. — R. B. 

 Chelton, Cobourg, Out. 



Evening Grosbeaks at Morristown, N. J. 



On December 16, 1916, I saw my first 

 Evening Grosbeak. It was a single 

 individual, a male and was near the top 



