THE SEASON 



Edited by J. T. NICHOLS 



XXXII. April 15 to June 15, 1922 



Boston Region. — Many years ago it was 

 written of this part of our New England 

 spring. "Then seems to come a hitch, — 

 things lag behind, till some fine morning 

 Spring makes her mind," This season the 

 delay came late in April when on five days 

 the temperature fell nearly or quite to the 

 freezing-point and the migration of birds 

 came to a standstill. But immediately after 

 the cold snap, the birds began to move north- 

 ward again, the House Wren, Barn Swallow, 

 Myrtle Warbler, and White-throated Spar- 

 row appearing on the first warm days (April 

 26 and 27). On May 3, following a marked 

 rise in temperature with a west wind, there 

 came another flight, comprising Towhees, 

 Brown Thrashers, Chimney Swifts, and 

 several resident Warblers, a flight which 

 brought the migration up to date. In some 

 cases, as Mr. Nichols aptly says, "the tide of 

 birds was running ahead of the calendar." 

 Another prominent migration-wave, on May 

 10 and 11, again following warm weather, 

 brought the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, King- 

 birds, Ovenbirds, Bobolinks, and other 

 summer residents, and with them came a few 

 transient species, e.g., Blackburnian and 

 Parula Warblers. These were closely fol- 

 lowed by a host of North-breeding birds — 

 Olive-backed Thrush (May 13), Tennessee 

 and Magnolia Warblers (May 14). 



During the migration of Warblers in the 

 latter half of May, the Magnolia was notice- 

 ably abundant and the Blackburnian rather 

 more numerously represented than in most 

 seasons; the Blackpoll, however, a Warbler 

 which is generally our commonest and most 

 conspicuous transient in both migrations, 

 was rare with us here in Lexington. I did 

 not personally see a single one and am at a 

 loss to explain how a bird which year after 

 year over-ran this region — whose unmis- 

 takable song was heard day after day in the 

 spring — how this ubiquitous and abundant 

 Warbler can have so strangely disappeared. 



The Yellow-throated and Warbling Vireos, 



(2 



the Wood Pewee, and the Yellow Warbler, 

 four birds which have markedly decreased 

 locally during the past ten years, are this 

 season fairly well represented here. The 

 Wood Pewee is especially welcome and has 

 returned to many of its former breeding- 

 stations. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo and the 

 Indigo Bunting, on the other hand, are 

 present in small numbers. The rarity of the 

 Cuckoo is not surprising, for its numbers 

 fluctuate widely from year to year, but the 

 Indigo Bunting has for years been a constant 

 and common breeder and its scarcity is hard 

 to explain. 



There has been good evidence of an increase 

 in the number of Killdeers visiting the region 

 this year. Dr. Glover M. Allen tells me that 

 a pair of these birds has frequented the 

 vicinity of Soldiers' Field, Cambridge, during 

 the late spring and early summer. Mr. 

 George Nelson heard a bird calling late in 

 May in Great Meadow, East Lexington, and 

 four birds have been noted lately, also in 

 Lexington, two of which have been under 

 observation for a month. These records are 

 in accord with the statement by Dr. C. W. 

 Townsend in his 'Supplement to the Birds 

 of Essex County,' 1920, p. 93. "This species 

 [Killdeer] has changed in the last seven years 

 from a very rare and somewhat accidental 

 visitor to a summer resident." — Winsor M. 

 Tyler, Lexington, Mass. 



New York Region. — As noted in the 

 previous report, warm weather in mid- April 

 was marked by the arrival of several species 

 of birds well in advance of their ordinary 

 dates. A few House Wrens came at this 

 time, establishing earliest records at several 

 stations: April 10, Glen Ridge, N. J. (Mrs. 

 F. M. Talbot); April 14, Islip, Long Island 

 (Miss E. R. Jenks); April 15, Rhinebeck, 

 N. Y. (M. S. Crosby); April 18, Montclair, 

 N. J. (R. H. Howland); April 19, Garden 

 City, Long Island (J. T. N.). There followed 

 clear but cool weather with protracted 



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