The Season 



233 



ten days or two weeks ahead of time, and 

 that day several Herring Gulls were seen 

 cruising up and down the gorge, looking for 

 food among the floating ice-masses. On 

 March 31 a nest of the Horned Lark, 

 containing young birds just hatched, was 

 found at Cambridge, Isanti County, some 

 forty miles north of Minneai)olis, by 

 Lawrence Lofstrom. This bird will nest 

 as soon as the ground is bare of snow, 

 regardless of temperature, and many of 

 the earlier nests are destroyed by freez- 

 ing weather and snows. 



Hy the end of the first week in April, 

 tlie ice in the large lakes in the latitude of 

 Minneapolis was adrift and rapidly i)rcak- 

 ing up. Farther north it was still inlact. 

 The intense cold and absence of snow the 

 past winter caused ice to form on all still 

 or sluggish water to the thickness of nearly 

 three feet. The quiet manner in which this 

 great ice-sheet became honeycombed and 

 disapjieared was most fortunate. I'liick. 

 solid ice, loosened from the land, and 

 heavy winds sometimes work terrible 

 havoc along the shores of our larger 

 lakes. 



On March 17, at Minneapolis, Robins 

 were passing by in large companies; Blue- 

 i)irds had paired and were examining 

 possible tenements; Phoebes were sim- 

 ilarly occupied; flocks of Rusty Blackbirds 

 were making music in the groves; male Red- 

 wings were conspicuous in the swamps; 

 Song Sparrows were everywhere; a few 

 Hermit Thrushes were silently searching 

 the coverts; Flickers were beginning their 

 noisy love-making, and the bushes were 

 full of Juncos and Tree S[)arrows. From 

 I his time on the regular procession of I he 

 earlier migrants thai move on a tempera- 

 ture rather than a fixed schedule, arrived 

 in the usual order but a week or so ahead 

 of time, in correspondence with the earlier 

 season: I-'ox Sparr(>ws, .\pril .s~0; I'ied- 

 l)illcd CIrebcs, April q; and on .\pril i.j. 

 N'ellow-headed Blackbirds, a .Migrant 

 Shrike, a Kingbird, Lesser Vellowlegs, 

 .Myrtli- Warblers, and many Coots; also, 

 on the i4lh, many Blue-winged Teal, 

 Shovellers, I'intails, ISaldpates. and (iail 

 walls in a large slough, some ten miles I'mni 



Minneapolis, where they were feeding and 

 seemingly mated. 



By the middle of April, vegetation w.is 

 fairly started, hepatica, bloodroot. Nut- 

 tail's pasque flower, the catkin-l)earing 

 trees, and the hazelnut being in full 

 bloom. 



Up in northern Minnesota conditions 

 are still, at this date, much more wintry. 

 Piles of snow yet remain in sheltered places, 

 the nights are cold, and the Duluth Harbor 

 is piled high with thick masses of winter 

 ice driven in from the frigid waters of Lake 

 Sujierior. Only the hardier migrants, like 

 the Robin, the Song Sparrow, and the 

 Red-wing have ventured thus far. — Thds. 

 S. Roberts, Zooloi^ical Museum, Ihii- 

 vrrsily of M iniirsola, .\f luihti /xilis. 



Di'.NVEii Region. — We are told that 

 there is no accounting for taste; sometimes 

 I think that there is no accounting for the 

 seasonal distribution of our birds. I had 

 anticipated an early return of our birds 

 this season because of the mild local 

 weather conditions in the West. N'et, 

 Hawks were nol earl\- in getting here but, 

 rather, were a little behind the usual 

 schedule, for it was not until .\pril 7 that 

 many Red-tailed, Ferruginous, Rough- 

 legged and Sparrow Hawks were seen in 

 the southern outskirts of the city. On the 

 other hand the first Sage Thrasher I saw 

 was on time (.•\i)ril 7), though one of my 

 friends reports having seen one nearly a 

 month earlier. Last year at this time there 

 were many Townsend's Solitaires in the 

 \arious parks of the city, \et I lia\e 

 utterl\- failed to see e\-en one sinei' last 

 autumn. At I lie pvesenl writing (.\|)ril 

 IS), all I he spe( ies and subspecies of 

 Juncos wintering here have left, except 

 (he (iray-headed, which is an unusual 

 situation, sime they linger ordinarily 

 well on toward (he end of .\pril. it is 

 always a matter of interest (o no(e each 

 winter lli.it. while a few Meadowlarks 

 ri-inaii\ in I he rural disi rids about I )en\-er, 

 it is seldom or never that oni" is seen in 

 wind-r in our p irks, or within (he ci(y 

 l)roper; (his spei ies reached (he \icinity 

 of m> iioine about April 1, a dale close lo 



