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Bird - Lore 



day I picked that birdie up, the old bird 

 showing no distress whatever. 



The pictures of the White-crowned 

 Sparrows in the May-June, 1919, issue, 

 page 197, are splendid. These little fellows 

 are so numerous around here and so tame 

 that we can walk within four feet of them 

 and talk to them at any time. They seem 

 to be everywhere, and with them is the 

 Rusty Song Sparrow. One of the latter 

 birds walks all over one of our men and 

 eats crumbs from his hand as he eats his 

 lunch by a haystack. Yesterday morning 

 one was found dead in the workshop, hav- 

 ing beaten against the window in a frantic 

 effort to get out, and Bob was worried for 

 fear it was his little pet, but at noon he 

 rejoiced when his little friend joined him 

 as usual. 



The White-crowned Sparrow is certainly 

 a joy through the summer with its delight- 

 ful music. Last spring there were nineteen 

 varieties of birds in our fields around the 

 house, but of them all the Alaska Longspur 

 is the king for beauty. 



A miner who knew of my interest in the 

 birds of the country reported seeing a 

 flock of Bohemian Waxwings just back of 

 the camp recently, but I have not seen 

 them. Every night our clothes-line is gaj' 

 with Violet-green Swallows. — Mrs. G. W. 

 Gasser, Rampart, Alaska. 



American Egret in Connecticut 



Readers of Bird-Lore might be inter- 

 ested to know of the appearance in Con- 

 necticut this summer of the American 

 Egret. In the latter part of July the care- 

 taker at one of our local reservoirs noticed 

 a large white bird wading around the 

 shores of the reservoir. He interested 

 members of our bird club, and a trip was 

 made there. They were surprised and de- 

 lighted to find a beautiful specimen of the 

 American Egret. As far as it is known to 

 the writer, this is the first appearance of 

 this bird in Waterbury. It stayed for at 

 least si.\ weeks, and many hundreds of 

 people had the pleasure of seeing this 

 specimen. 



The reservoir is new, and the damming 



back of the water has created large areas 

 of marsh land. Herons have never been 

 especially common in this vicinity, only 

 three or four of the common varieties ever 

 being reported, and then only in small 

 numbers. This year, for the first time, with 

 the American Egret were seen Great Blue 

 Herons, Night Herons, Little Green Her- 

 ons and the American Bittern. They 

 stayed for a number of weeks, and we are 

 hoping that a heronry is being established 

 here. — Bessie L. Cr.\ne, President of 

 Waterbury Bird Club, Waterbury, Conn. 



Harris's Sparrow at Lawrence, Kans. 



I was interested to read, in theMay-June 

 number of Bird-Lore, Mr. Harry Harris's 

 remarks about the peculiar absence of the 

 usual number of Harris's Sparrows in the 

 Kansas City region during this spring's 

 migrations. 



It may be worth while to record that 

 here, at Lawrence, Kans., and its vicinity, 

 there was probably a normal passage of 

 this species. This is the first spring that 

 I have spent in Kansas, and therefore I 

 cannot, from personal observation, say in 

 what numbers Harris's Sparrow may us- 

 ually be expected in this locality, but my 

 notes for this spring, which begin March 

 30, record many flocks, large and small, of 

 the species in question from that date to 

 May II, when my last record of a flock of 

 these birds was made. No doubt many 

 were also to be seen after that date, but 

 regular field-trips with my ornithology 

 classes ceased temporarily at that time, 

 and when resumed, several days later, 

 Harris's Sparrow was not again observed. 



With exception of May 3 and 7, my ob- 

 servations on the Harris's Sparrow were 

 made daily from April 29 to May 11, and 

 it was during this period that the greatest 

 numbers were seen. — Charles E. John- 

 son, Lawrence, Kans. 



Nuthatch Acrobats 



It is an easj' matter to tame the Chicka- 

 dees, as numerous pictures in Bird-Lore 

 show. The Nuthatch can also be induced 



