i66 



Bird - Lore 



driven further on by the severe weather 

 conditions of late December and early 

 January, the last seen being Canada Geese, 

 Mallards and Canvasbacks on the Mis- 

 souri River on Christmas Day. A hybrid, 

 apparently the common one of Mallard X 

 Black Duck, was taken on December 8. 

 It may be worthy of note that the water- 

 fowl flights at this point have shown a 

 decided increase since the passage of the 

 Migratory Bird Law. It may not be 

 generally known that the sportsmen of 

 this section have opposed the spirit of 

 this law with more effect than those of 

 any other part of the country. 



A troop of perhaps fifty Short-eared 

 Owls spent several weeks prior to early 

 December on an extensive tract of land 

 recently formed by the meandering of the 

 great river. This tract, embracing a thou- 

 sand acres or more, is overgrown with 

 typical bottom-land vegetation, bordered 

 by thickets of young willows, and affords 

 ideal roosting-places for these Owls. An 

 unusual feature of their stay at this time 

 was their feeding on the Tree Sparrows 

 that frequented the willows in droves. 

 Every pellet examined contained some 

 token of the Sparrows. The fact of this 

 unusual diet being resorted to, as well as 

 the favorable locality being refused as a 

 winter roost, may be accounted for by the 

 absence of favorite rodent-prey on this 

 new ground. 



Blue Jays and Red-headed Woodpeckers 

 have been here in greater numbers than 

 usual, perhaps because of an abnormal 

 crop of acorns, notably of the shingle 

 oak. 



A lone Kingfisher was noted on February 

 17, rattling disconsolately along the 

 course of a frozen stream. On this date 

 were seen the only Crossbills of the winter 

 — a flock of five. 



The usual crowd of Sparrows braved the 

 rigors of the severe winter in the deep 

 shelter of the Missouri River bottoms. Not 

 so many Harris's Sparrows, however, 

 were seen as during previous winters. 



Myrtle Warblers, which have been met 

 with nearly every winter in the timbered 



bluff regions feeding on poison ivy drupes , 

 were not present this winter. — Harry 

 Harris, Kansas City, Mo. 



Denvkr Region. — The weather con- 

 ditions in this region during these two 

 months have been most enjoyable and 

 pleasant; there has fallen a goodly amount 

 of snow in our neighboring mountains and 

 foothills, but not an excessive depth in 

 the immediate vicinity of Denver. There 

 have been several spells of low tem- 

 peratures during this time, the minimum 

 in Denver having been 15° below zero. 

 Notwithstanding the proximity of the 

 cold mountains, and the spells of low 

 temperatures, there has been a good deal 

 of 'open water* about the Denver Region, 

 a condition probably permitting a Great 

 Blue Heron and a Kingfisher to stay here 

 all winter, the first having been seen near 

 Denver on December 25, and the latter 

 on January i. The 'open water,' as is well 

 known, also encourages Wilson's Snipe to 

 remain during what would appear, other- 

 wise, to be an unfavorable season; one 

 was seen here on January i, and another 

 by Dr. A. K. Fisher on January 23. This 

 latter day was a very mild one, and it 

 seems strange to be able to record the 

 occurrence, during its afternoon, of a Snowy 

 Owl at the edge of the mountains about 

 16 miles west of Denver, one having been 

 seen there by one of the writer's friends. 



Dr. Fisher and the writer also saw a 

 Mourning Dove near the city on January 

 23, which in this locality is an unusual 

 record for January. Robins have been 

 more common in the city during the 

 period now under consideration than in 

 any other similar period during the writer's 

 twenty-four years of observation here; 

 individuals of this species were seen in 

 December and in every week since 

 January first. Individuals of our ordinary 

 winter bird-population have been common, 

 and this population is well reflected in the 

 Christmas Census for Denver, as given in 

 the January-February (1918) number of 

 Bird-Lore. — W. H. Bergtold, M.D., 

 Denver, Colo, 



