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Bird - Lore 



THE SEASON 

 XXX. December 15, 1921 to February 15, 1922 



Boston Region. — The winter has thus 

 far been mild in the main, and, in the country 

 immediately about Boston, comparatively 

 open, although to the north of us there has 

 been an abundant snowfall and now, on the 

 last day of the present period, snow is falling 

 to a depth of eight inches. 



The promise of a visitation of many of the 

 irregular winter birds was not fulfilled; a few 

 Grosbeaks have been here, both the Evening 

 and the Pine, but only in scattered and roving 

 flocks, and the Redpolls when seen at all 

 have been in very small numbers. Northern 

 Shrikes, to be sure, have remained well 

 represented; Golden-crowned Kinglets, usu- 

 ally rare after January i, have been present 

 all winter; and Brown Creepers, Juncos, and 

 Tree Sparrows are not uncommon, but with 

 these exceptions no land-birds, excepting the 

 permanent resident species, have been seen. 

 That even these birds are to be found only 

 in small numbers is well instanced by the 

 Christmas census from Wilton, N. H., in 

 which Mr. George G. Blanchard, an ob- 

 server of ample experience, records but a 

 single native species seen during a three 

 hours' walk. 



The violent storms which have swept 

 past us over the North Atlantic this winter 

 have apparently driven landward many of 

 the winter sea-birds. In his 'Items of Inter- 

 est' X., February i, Mr. E. H. Forbush 

 reports the record of a Puffin found in a 

 garage at Duxbury Bay, a Brunnich's Murre 

 "at a pond near Boston, and another . . . 

 walking about in a hen-yard on Cape Cod." 

 I am indebted to Mr. Charles B. Floyd for 

 information of a noteworthy and unusual 

 distribution of sea-birds. He reports Dove- 

 kies "positively common," several hundred 

 being in sight at one time off shore. The 

 Purple Sandpiper, a bird which in winter 

 frequents outlying ledges and the rocky 

 shores of our small islands, Mr. Floyd has 

 noted "a number of times" visiting the main- 

 land — a rare occurrence. He has seen 

 Brunnich's Murres, Black Guillemots, and 

 Razor-billed Auks frequently, and names 



three localities (the most central, the Fish 

 Pier, Boston) where Iceland Gulls may be 

 seen "almost any day." 



At this season of the year, when the Star- 

 lings are gathered into flocks, we can form 

 a better idea of the number of these birds 

 inhabiting a region than during the summer 

 when they are scattered over the country. 

 Here, in the rural districts, attracted by the 

 great truck-loads of garbage brought out 

 from Boston, the birds collect at extensive 

 piggeries. In one such midwinter gathering 

 we estimated that 2000 to 3000 birds were 

 feeding upon garbage which had been spread 

 out for fertilizer, and less than three miles 

 away there was another flock nearly as large. 

 These estimates give some idea of the num- 

 ber of Starlings with which the hole-nesting 

 birds of this region have to compete. — 

 Winsor M. Tyler, Lexington, Mass. 



New York Region. — There was some 

 cold weather, some snow, from New Year's 

 to mid-February, but in the main the winter 

 was an open one. It was remarkable in 

 most sections near New York for the scarcity 

 of passerine birds. A Snowy Owl was re- 

 ported again (see Christmas Census) at 

 Long Beach, L. I. (Bicknell), and another on 

 several occasions on the marshes at Elizabeth, 

 N. J. (C. A. Urner). A Razor-billed Auk 

 which had come ashore, oil-marked and dis- 

 abled, at Long Beach was secured by E. P. 

 Bicknell and sent to the American Museum 

 of Natural History. A single Evening Gros- 

 beak was reported at Garden City, L. I., by 

 Roger C. Whitman, December 20. As an 

 excellent view of the bird was obtained and 

 identification corroborated by examination 

 of a mounted specimen, there seems little 

 chance of error here. There was certainly no 

 general invasion of irregular northern species 

 during midwinter. 



Presence of stray Grackles at the end of 

 January proves that this bird wintered in 

 small numbers. One is reported in Central 

 Park, New York City, by Tertius Van Dyke, 

 January 26. W. F. Hendrickson writes from 



