The Season 



53 



No winter visitants have thus far been 

 observed in this locality, but it should be 

 said that the writer has been too much 

 occupied of late with other duties to keep 

 in close touch with bird matters. Carlos 

 Avery, Game and Fish Commissioner, re- 

 ports that he saw two Pine Grosbeaks up 

 near Lake Vermillion, close to the Inter- 

 national Boundary, during the last week 

 of November. This bird is of regular 

 occurrence in the winter in the northern 

 part of the state, but south of the Canadian 

 Zone it appears so infrequently that it is 

 but little known to bird students in the 

 Transition Zone. A Snowy Owl was taken 

 October 14, near Bruno, Pine County, and 

 several others were seen about the same 

 time in Cass County. These localities are 

 in the Canadian Zone, far north of Minne- 

 apolis. 



A feature of special interest this fall, 

 already referred to in my last report, was 

 a marked falling off in the numbers of 

 migrating Ducks. While the flight was 

 fairly good for a day now and then in some 

 localities, and hunters were satisfied with 

 their bags at such times, it became plainly 

 evident, as the season advanced, that the 

 general abundance of nearly all species 

 was much below the normal. Mr. Avery, 

 closely in touch with the situation, as 

 Game and Fish Commissioner, agrees with 

 the estimate at which I had arrived that 

 the bulk representation this fall was prob- 

 ably not over 25 per cent of the normal of 

 recent years. Various conjectures as to 

 the reasons for this most unexpected con- 

 dition have been offered. The abnormally 

 low stage of water the past summer in all 

 of the sloughs, ponds, and lakes of the 

 breeding-area has been advanced as a 

 possible cause. But this does not seem a 

 wholly adequate explanation, and there 

 must be other reasons. Wild rice and wild 

 celery were unusually abundant this year. 

 l)ut this was of little avail, as the failure in 

 the number of birds must have occurred 

 from conditions operating further north 

 earlier in the summer, before these crops 

 were ready. The subject is worthy of 

 special investigation, as it is a really im- 

 portant matter. The situation was wholly 



unlooked for, coming as it did just when 

 the increased protection of the past few 

 years led everyone to expect that exactly 

 opposite conditions would prevail. It is 

 sad to think that the good old times are 

 past, when, each October, the Canvas- 

 backs and Redheads rose from the shallow 

 waters of Heron Lake in such numbers 

 that the sound made by their wings re- 

 sembled the noise of a rapidly moving rail- 

 way train. While it is probably true that 

 the increased and systematic hunting of 

 late years has played its part, it is reason- 

 able to believe that the chief factors in this 

 destruction have been the extensive drain- 

 age operations, the tilling of both uplands 

 and lowlands, and the presence of many 

 men and their habitations in that great 

 Northland which was once in quiet and 

 undisturbed possession of these birds as a 

 safe and congenial sanctuary for rearing 

 their young. — Thomas S. Roberts, M.D., 

 University of Minn., Minneapolis, Minn. 



The Oberlin Region. — The most 

 striking thing about the months under re- 

 view has been the return of the bird-life to 

 winter conditions in the third week of 

 October, notwithstanding the lack of any- 

 thing approaching wintry weather, even to 

 the date of writing. Two large flocks of 

 wild Geese, species not determined, but 

 probably Blue Geese, were seen passing 

 southwestward on November 23, and a 

 smaller flock on the 25th. 



Ducks were reported as being excep- 

 tionally scarce in the marshes in the 

 vicinity of Sandusky. None visited the 

 Oberlin waterworks reservoir, and only 

 two Pied-billcd Grebes were seen there 

 during the autumn months. 



The first Snowy Owl which the writer 

 has ever seen in this vicinity visited the 

 western outskirts of Oberlin on the after- 

 noon of November 30. One Bronzed 

 Crackle and one Robin remain in the 

 village, but there appear to be no Red- 

 headed Woodpeckers anywhere in the re- 

 gion. Northern Flickers are in their usual 

 winter numbers. Chickadees have in- 

 creased over the numbers of the two pre- 

 ceding winters. Song Sparrows are also 



