The Season 



iS9 



the bare floor of a cavity in an immense 

 cottonwood tree and were nearly ready to 

 hatch. This is late for eggs of this species in 

 this region. 



Water-fowl began to move north early this 

 year. By late February eleven species of 

 Ducks and the Canada Goose had been 

 recorded. The heaviest early flights were on 

 February 19 and 22. On February 23, the 

 first movement of Sparrows was noted, when 

 numbers of Song, Swamp, and some Lincoln's 

 were seen and heard, followed on the 26th by 

 the first large flocks of returning Harris's 

 and White-throats with a few Fox Sparrows. 

 At least a thousand Siskins and a few small 

 flocks of Purple Finches, all silent, were 

 noted between these two dates. Immediately 

 after the blizzard of February 28 a dozen 

 sizable flocks of Ducks were seen on the 

 Missouri River just above the city, and from 

 this date until March 5 a general movement 

 among the early land-birds seemed to be 

 under way. 



Meadowlarks, singing, and fighting, ap- 

 peared in numbers on their breeding-stands 

 on March 6. It will be remembered by local 

 observers that this is nearly three weeks 

 later than these birds came in numbers last 

 year, which was an abnormally early season. 

 Robins and Bluebirds took up their breeding- 

 stands about the same time this year, and 

 Prairie Horned Larks had been carrying 

 nesting material for some time. Nine pairs of 

 these Larks were under observation daily 

 but no nests were found until the 1 2th of the 

 month. Purple Martins arrived in force on 

 March 15, though scouts had been seen as 

 early as the 8th. 



Owing to a far more backward season than 

 last year, the first full spring chorus did not 

 burst forth until March 11. By and on March 

 17 species too numerous to list were present 

 and passing through, and singing and mating 

 birds were making every grove and pasture 

 ring with wild melody. A typical wave of 

 thousands of the larger Sparrows came in on 

 the 1 8th to add to the already crowded 

 thickets and weed patches. Harris's Spar- 

 rows of course predominated, and it is good 

 to see this fine species returning in its old- 

 time abundance. 



The horde of Red-winged Blackbirds 



referred to in the January-February letter 

 from this point remained in their winter 

 quarters until some time during the first 

 week of March. It will be recalled that these 

 birds were all females, and it is interesting to 

 record that their place was taken immedi- 

 ately by returning flocks of males. The 

 inference is that these wintering females 

 were of a northern subspecies the males of 

 which had wintered north of here. A good 

 series of specimens was taken and it is con- 

 fidently expected that the form will turn out 

 to be A . P. fortis. 



During the first three weeks of March at 

 least a dozen nests of the Prairie Horned 

 Lark were under observation, but owing to a 

 period of cold and wet weather, results were 

 far from satisfactory. However, records con- 

 tinue to slowly accumulate, indicating that 

 three-egg sets are the rule in this region for 

 the early laying of this species. 



A breeding pair of Killdeers was seen on 

 March 20 when the usual broken-wing tactics 

 were used to lure the observer away from the 

 eggs. Another wave of returning Sparrows 

 of several species was observed on March 25, 

 and on the 28th a flock of nine migrating 

 Prairie Horned Larks was noted coincident 

 with the finding of a nest of this species con- 

 taining three slightly incubated eggs. On 

 the 29th Chipping Sparrows were seen car- 

 rying nesting material, and on the 31st the 

 height of the Flicker flight was on, noticeable 

 this year owing to unusual numbers of these 

 flashy and noisy birds. 



A hard freeze on the night of the last day 

 of March doubtless endangered the eggs of 

 some of the early nesters, though the danger 

 was not to compare to the Easter blizzards 

 of the past two years. 



The arrival of several species was noted on 

 April 2, including Ruby-crowned Kinglets 

 (weakly singing), Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 

 Least Flycatcher, a single Chimney Swift 

 (early), and a single, silent Brown Thrasher. 

 A barn Owl, extremely rare in this neighbor- 

 hood, was flushed from a pine tree in Forest 

 Hill Cemetery on April 9. Juncos are still 

 (April 13th) present in abundance over the 

 entire region. This is late even for stragglers 

 and may be accounted for by the recent two 

 weeks of wet weather, though other small 



