Notes from Field and Study 



251 



were sitting. Some of them wore the gray 

 and brownish-green garb mentioned by 

 an observer in the March-April Bird- 

 Lore. All had the large white patch on the 

 wing, which shows so well when they fly. 

 Again, on May 2, I found some of the 

 Evening Grosbeaks in the cemetery, but 

 the flock was much smaller. — Mrs. 

 Arthur F. Gardner, Troy, N. Y. 



The First Evening Grosbeak Record for 

 New York City; also a Prothonotary 

 Warbler. 



In the May number of Bird-Lore ' 

 just received, I notice in 'Notes from 

 Field and Study' that Mr. Harold K. 

 Decker records the occurrence of Evening 

 Grosbeaks on Staten Island, January 9, 

 1916, and that Mr. Lee S. Crandall 

 reports one from the New York Zoological 

 Park, February 15, 1916. Mr. Decker 

 believes his record to be the first definite 

 record for Greater New York. 



Miss Lelia M. Childs and myself saw 

 an Evening Grosbeak on the morning of 

 January 8, 191 1, in Forest Park, which is 

 in the Borough of Brooklyn, Greater New 

 York. I reported this fact to Bird-Lore 

 and my letter was published April, 191 1, 

 in Bird-Lore, Vol. XIII, p. 96, the 

 editor adding "is the first bird of this 

 species to be recorded from Long Island." 

 I have since become acquainted with the 

 Evening Grosbeak in the West, and the 

 bird I saw in Forest Park was a female 

 Evening Grosbeak. Therefore I can 

 definitely record the appearance of an 

 Evening Grosbeak in Greater New York, 

 January 8, 1911. 



I should like to report, too, the Pro- 

 thonotary Warbler seen by Miss Childs 

 and myself May 6, 1916, also in Forest 

 Park. We watched the bird make the 

 circuit of a small pond, feeding about the 

 roots of the trees. It finally came onto 

 an old log within ten feet of where we 

 were sitting, then flew into a low bush 

 directly in front of us and preened its 

 feathers. It showed no fear even when we 

 stood up and walked away. — Mary W. 

 Peckham, Brooklyn, N. Y. 



A Visit from the Horned Larks 



During those dreadful days in March, 

 1916, when the snow fell so thick and fast 

 that the earth was fairly smothered, we had 

 the rare privilege of entertaining, for 

 nearly three weeks, a flock of Horned 

 Larks. Our home stands on the edge of 

 the city — just where city and country 

 meet. One morning, two or three days 

 after our first big snow-storm, we noticed 

 a flock of rather good-sized birds scratch- 

 ing and picking on the top of a pile of 

 stable fertilizer that had been dumped, 

 some time before, on the farther edge of 

 our kitchen garden. At first we thought 

 they were White-throated Sparrows, but 

 when we e.xamined them through a glass, 

 saw they were not marked like any of the 

 Sparrows. They looked so cold and 

 hungry that I prepared them a breakfast 

 of cracked sweet corn, rye and hominy 

 grits. We fed them three times a day in 

 the same place until the next big storm 

 came. Then I swept a bare place right 

 at the foot of the back porch steps and 

 scattered the food there. They soon found 

 it and came for it without the least fear. 

 Then we discovered the little tuft of 

 black erectile feathers on each side of the 

 crown, and these helped us to identify the 

 birds. When my stock of food gave out, 

 I bought canary-bird seed and Scotch 

 oatmeal for them. Several days when it 

 snowed hard all day, I went out every little 

 while and swept the snow away and 

 scattered food for them. They learned 

 to associate the swish of the broom with 

 something to eat, so that if I swept rugs 

 or brushed clothes on the back porch my 

 Larks would come calling for food. Several 

 times I fed as many as 25 and 27. The 

 Larks were good diggers, using their 

 bills only. They never hopped, but walked 

 or ran on the snow. When frightened, 

 they flew up, but never alighted in trees or 

 bushes, always on the snow. They were 

 very quarrelsome when feeding. Before 

 they left, which was March 24, they began 

 to sing. Their song was just a soft little 

 warble, but very sweet and pretty, es- 

 pecially when a number sang together. 



