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Bird - Lore 



dashes after passing insects from the tip- 

 top of some tall dead tamarack or spruce. 

 Twenty species of Warblers, twelve of 

 which are typical Canadian, have been 

 found at home here. The Connecticut 

 is frequent in the cold tamarack and 

 spruce bogs, and the beautiful Blackburnian 

 is one of the commonest among the tall 

 pines. The entire absence of the Yellow 

 Warbler is a singular circumstance, its 

 place being taken by the Chestnut-sided. 

 The Oven-bird, growing scarce in the 

 vicinity of Minneapolis, is here one of the 

 commonest birds and its song is constantly 

 in the ears along all the trails. 



Of the characteristic Sparrows, the 

 White-throat and the Junco are the most 

 in evidence. The Red Crossbill and the 

 Pine Siskin are here and the sweet song 

 of the Purple Finch is heard everywhere 

 one goes. 



The Scarlet Tanager is common. A 

 male was seen on August 7 in the startling 

 pied dress of a half-molted bird. 



Water-birds are not numerous. Loons are 

 common and are to be seen on the lakes 

 early in July, sedulously guarding their 

 pretty black young, which, from the very 

 start, are most expert divers. This year 

 there have been a considerable number of 

 Ducks nesting about the lakes and marshes. 

 In mid-July they were accompanied by 

 broods of tiny young. The most interesting 

 were perhaps the Golden-eyes, the young 

 being especially attractive in plumage and 

 actions. They dive and scatter when close 

 pressed, and the mother duck is very coura- 

 geous in the face of danger. Wood Ducks 

 are frequent and the broods make a great 

 commotion and flap and swim rapidly to 

 cover when disturbed. A few Mallards 

 and a few Lesser Scaups have also raised 

 broods here this year. Great Blue Herons 

 in abundance, a few American Bitterns, 

 many Black Terns, and an occasional pair 

 of Spotted Sandpipers complete the list 

 of water-birds for the present season. 



The Veerys (Willow Thrushes) stopped 

 singing about the middle of July and the 

 Hermits a little later. At this writing about 

 the only bird-song to be heard in the woods 

 is the 'preaching' of the Red-eyed Vireo 



and that only now and then. The forest is 

 well-nigh silent and people coming here 

 now remark how few birds there are. 

 But could they have been here six weeks 

 ago, they would have heard a grand chorus 

 of many and varied voices, with the 

 wonderful melody from innumerable Her- 

 mits and Veerys as an almost unbroken 

 and thrilling motif, running through the 

 whole compelling performance. — Thos. S. 

 Roberts, University of Minnesota. Min- 

 neapolis, Minn. 



Kansas City Region. — Breeding birds 

 in this region, without exception, seem to 

 have had an unusually successful season, 

 notwithstanding a protracted period of 

 drouth. Family parties and flocks of young 

 of all the more common species are seen on 

 every hand in quite noticeably greater 

 numbers than during the last three or four 

 years. It is not recalled that Bell's Vireo, 

 next to the Red-eyed probably our com- 

 monest breeding Vireo, has previously been 

 so abundant in the bottom-lands as dur- 

 ing the present season. On June 8 three 

 nests containing eggs were found in a short 

 stretch of sparsely timbered Blue River 

 bottom, near the Missouri, and dozens of 

 singing males have been heard in this 

 region since early in May. The upland 

 regions are inhabited by the usual numbers 

 of these gurgling songsters. On the same 

 date and in the same neighborhood, a 

 Spotted Sandpiper's nest was discovered 

 containing four eggs. This bird is common 

 enough in summer along the Missouri 

 River, but this is the first authentic nest- 

 ing-record for this county. 



On June 15 a pair of Blue Grosbeaks 

 were found nesting on the same five-acre 

 tract on which they were discovered last 

 June. This year the nest was built in a 

 low shrub about eighteen inches from the 

 ground, and contained four eggs evidently 

 in an advanced stage of incubation. A 

 prolonged and systematic search has 

 failed to discover another individual of 

 this species in this region. A pair of Lark 

 Sparrows were feeding young in the nest a 

 few feet from the Grosbeak's shrub. 



On June 22 two Acadian Flycatcher 



