The Season 



2.^1 



February 24; Fox Sparrow, March 7; 

 Robin, March 2; Bluebird, February 24. 



The Northern Shrike was last noted 

 February 16. Long-eared Owls were last 

 observed at their winter roost March 3. 



During the second and third weeks of 

 March there were a good many Ducks on 

 the Delaware River. On March 17 a flock 

 of about two hundred and fifty were 

 observed, composed of Mergansers, Pin- 

 tails, Scaups, Black Ducks and several 

 Redheads. Again this spring the Wood 

 Duck has been a comnjon sight at some 

 points. 



A great Blue Heron was seen February 

 24, and an early Brown Thrasher March 3 1 . 



Taken as a whole, February and March 

 offered very few unusual sights to the bird 

 student. — Julian K. Potter, Camden, 

 N. J. 



Washington Region. — Of all the 

 months, February and March offer, 

 generally speaking, least to attract the 

 ornithological observer in the vicinity of 

 Washington. Most of the interest in 

 winter residents has waned, and but few 

 spring migrants put in their appearance. 

 This year, however, these months have 

 been unusually interesting by reason of the 

 large numbers and great variety of Ducks 

 that have frequented the Potomac River. 



In our last report mention was made 

 of the thousands of Ducks of various 

 species that occurred on the river during 

 the winter. Species seen in February and 

 March, additional to those reported in 

 December and January, are: Green- 

 winged Teal, Pintail, Baldjiatc, Ring- 

 necked Duck, and Shoveller, making a 

 total of 17 kinds of Ducks observed thus 

 far this season. Of these the most numer- 

 ous have been the Greater Scaup, Lesser 

 Scaup, Golden-eye, Canvas-back, Black 

 Duck, and Redhead. The Baldpate, in 

 recent years, has been one of the rarer 

 Ducks, and there arc apparently only two 

 previous definite records for the carliir 

 part of the year, these being February 1 1, 

 i8q9, and March 31, igu. Six individuals 

 of this species were seen by Mr. Raymond 

 W. Moore at Hclnionl, \'a., on .Manh 30. 



The Shoveller, for which no previous de- 

 finite spring dates have been obtained, 

 was observed on the Anacostia River on 

 March 24 by Lieut. Ludlow Griscom; and 

 12 individuals were seen at Belmont, 

 Va., on March 30 by Mr. Raymond W. 

 Moore. A few species of Ducks remained 

 considerably beyond their normal time of 

 departure, such as the Mallard, the usual 

 date of de{)arture of which is March 17, 

 but which was seen at Dyke, Va.,on March 

 31. Two lingered beyond their previous 

 known latest dates: the Green- winged 

 Teal until March T)"^ (latest previous date, 

 March 25, 1917); and the Canvas-back 

 until March 30 (latest pre\ious date, 

 March 25, 1881). 



The severe winter gave place, about 

 the middle of February, to much milder 

 weather, and indications point to an earlier 

 spring than we have had in this region for 

 the past two or three years. Its effect is 

 already noticeable on the bird-life, al- 

 though some of our common species, like 

 the Carolina Wren, Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Winter 

 Wren, and Red-breasted Nuthatch, are 

 more than ordinarily scarce. A number of 

 the early migrants have occurred con- 

 siderably ahead of their schedule. The 

 American Coot was seen at Belmont, Va., 

 on March 9, its earliest previous record 

 being March 14, 1910; the Phoebe appeared 

 on March 3 (average date, March 10); 

 the American Pipit on March 10, at 

 Kensington, Md., (average date, March 

 21); Purple Crackle on February 13 

 (average date, February 20); Vesper 

 Sparrow on March 1 1 (average date, 

 March 24); ("lii|)i)ing Sparrow on ALirch 

 18 (average date, Ahirch 26); and the 

 Catbird, seen along the ,\nacostia River by 

 Mr. C. .M. Shaw on March 14 (average 

 date, .\pril 21). \ very few Robins have 

 remained all winter, but only in the most 

 sheltered places. The first certain migrants 

 ai)|ieare<l on February 13. 



The following notes on other s|)ecies 

 may also be worthy of mention in this 

 connection: Homed i-arks and I'rairic 

 Horned Larks, mostly in small flocks con- 

 taining bolh forms, were reported by Mr. 



