Notes from Field and Study 



95 



served the first seen here on December 12, 

 near BlutT City, Tenn. They were in com- 

 pany with Meadowlarks, feeding in the 

 open fields. — Bruce P. Tyler, Johnson 

 City, Tenn., I) :c. 1 3, 1Q21. 



The Starling in Louisiana 



1 was rather surprised recently by coming 

 upon a flock of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) 

 at a point on the Mississippi River about 

 twenty-five miles above Baton Rouge. 



As proof of my competence to identify the 

 European Starling I might state that I have 

 observed and studied them at West Englewood, 

 N. J., where there are numbers of them. 

 Furthermore, only four or five months have 

 elapsed since I was at home (Morris Plains, 

 N. J.), where the Starlings are quite a nui- 

 sance. I am certain that I have not mistaken 

 any other bird for the Starling, for I am very 

 well acquainted with all the members of the 

 family Icteridse, with which this bird might 

 be confused. During the several years that 

 I have spent along the Mississippi River in 

 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, I 

 had not noted the bird before, and, in fact, 

 could be positive in stating that it has not 

 been in my locality, for the nature of my 

 work (civil engineering) gives me excellent 

 opportunities to observe. The particular 

 location where this flock stays (T saw it 

 regularly all the time I was in the vicinity] 

 is at Grand Bay (post office, Hermitage, La., 

 railway station Glynn, La.) on the Mississippi 

 River; and still more specifically I might 

 state that it remained in a piece of pasture- 

 land that lay between the levee and the 

 bank of the river. 



A theory that presents itself to me and 

 which will account for the presence of the 

 birds is the following: I have noted before 

 and in localities where there art numbers of 

 Starlings, that they sometimes associate 

 rather closely with Red-winged Blackbirds. 

 In view of this I think it possible that several 

 Starlings might become separated from their 

 own kind, due to the indiscriminate asso- 

 ciating that I mention, and in their wan- 

 derings stray outside the usual geographical 

 range of the Starlings, and then, in accord- 

 ance with their flocking instinct, remain with 

 the Blackbirds and follow them on down South. 



The birds I noted had all of the usual 

 characteristics of Starlings such as the 

 peculiar soldier-like evolutions which they 

 perform when on the wing, the whistled 

 notes (including the note which you consider 

 as resembling that of the Wood Pewee — 

 which it does), and it is also fairly hard to 

 approach. — Walter C. Carey, Baton Rouge, 

 La., Dec. 16. 1921. 



A Michigan Winter Red-wing 



The Red-winged Blackbird is common but 

 not an abundant bird in this vicinity. It 

 nests in June and July and leaves its nesting- 

 grounds about the middle of August. After 

 that it is found in flocks, which leave for the 

 South in September. 



On November 21, 1921, a male bird in 

 winter plumage came into my feeding-station 

 and has been around daily since. He seems 

 to be very much at home and acts as though 

 he intended to stay for the winter. As Sault 

 Ste. Marie is in latitude 46 30' north, the 

 latitude of northern Maine and almost the 

 latitude of Quebec, Canada, this may be a 

 northern record for the wintering of a Red- 

 wing. — M. J. Magee, Sault Stc. Marie, 

 Mich., Dec. 9, 1921. 



The Evening Grosbeak in Michigan 



In the various bird books I have looked 

 over, the Evening Grosbeak is given as a 

 western bird, which occurs irregularly east 

 of the Mississippi River in winter. This I 

 do not believe is strictly correct, at least for 

 the upper peninsula of Michigan, and for 

 the following reasons: 



The Evening Grosbeak was made known 

 from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., by Schoolcraft 

 in 1823. That shows that these birds were 

 in the upper peninsula of Michigan at that 

 early date. 



I came to Sault Ste. Marie in 1888 and 

 saw my first Evening Grosbeak in the winter 

 of 1889-90. I found the bird was quite well 

 known to a number of people and was seen 

 here frequently in winter. Up to the winter 

 of 1915-16, never over two consecutive 

 winters went by without my seeing some of 

 these birds. 



The winter of 1915-16 I started putting 



