304 



Bird - Lore 



mimeroiis. Notwithstandiiij^ this, some 

 birds have been remarkably scarce. This 

 is notably the case with all the Swallows, 

 the Carolina Wren, the Solitary Vireo, 

 Least Flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 

 Vesper Sparrow, Solitary Sandpiper, and 

 the Lesser Yellow-legs, the last mentioned 

 of which has entirely escaped observation. 

 It would be interesting to determine 

 whether this scarcity is merely local or 

 more or less general, as some species 

 affected are transients, others are summer 

 residents. 



On the other hand, a number of species 

 have been more than ordinarily numerous; 

 notably the Tennessee, Kentucky, Bay- 

 breasted, Blue-winged and Wilson's War- 

 blers, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, 

 Rose -breasted Grosbeak, Olive -backed 

 Thrush, Bob-white, and Bonaparte's (Jull. 

 The first-mentioned of these is usually a 

 rare bird during the spring migration, but 

 this year it has been one of the common 

 Warblers. 



A few birds this season have appeared 

 in great numbers for a short period, 

 apparently representing waves of migra- 

 tion that affected but a species or two at a 

 time. Conspicuous among these have been 

 the Purple Finch, Scarlet Tanager, 

 Kentucky Warbler, and Indigo Bunting. 

 The duration of their greatest abundance, 

 however, has been usually but a day or 

 two. 



In point of time, the spring migration 

 this year has been about normal, though, 

 as is often the case, somewhat irregular. 

 The remnants of the great flocks of Ducks 

 that wintered on the Potomac River 

 lingered rather long in their winter haunts, 

 a few species longer than ever before. The 

 Baldpate, the latest previous spring record 

 of which was March 31, 1912, was seen by 

 Lieut. Ludlow Griscom on April 14, and 

 the Pintail, by the same observer also on 

 .April 14 (latest previous date, April i, 

 1842); the Canvasback remained until 

 March 31, which is the latest definite date, 

 although there is an old record for some 

 time in April, 1843. Mr. C. R. Shoemaker 

 also reported the Red-breasted Merganser 

 on April 12, which constitutes our only 



definite s|)ring record for the species. 

 Another water-bird, the N'irginia Rail, was 

 observed on May 11, more than a month 

 beyond its previously recorded latest 

 date, .\pril 6, 1892. Some of the other 

 birds which remained beyond their usual 

 time, a few of these equaling or approach- 

 ing their latest records, are: Junco, seen on 

 May 3; Savannah Sparrow, May 11; 

 Wilson's Snipe, May 11; Golden-crowned 

 Kinglet, April 2; American Coot, May 11; 

 and Bonaparte's Gull, May 13. 



Likewise a few were rather late in 

 putting in their spring appearance, such 

 as the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, which came 

 on April 16 (average date of arrival, 

 April 7); Tree Swallow, April 14 (average 

 date, April 7); Solitary Sandpiper, May 5 

 (average date, April 28); and the Rough- 

 winged Swallow, .\j)rii 17 (average date, 

 April g). 



Early arrivals were, however, more 

 numerous, several of them being consider- 

 ably beyond previously known dates. The 

 Louisiana Water-Thrush was observed 

 on March 31 (earliest previous date, 

 April I, 1910); the Bank Swallow on April 

 4 (earliest previous date, April 10, 1904); 

 Lincoln's Sparrow, April 21 (earliest previ- 

 ous date. May 3, 1885); and the Nashville 

 Warbler, April 23 (earliest previous date, 

 April 29, 1885). A single Indigo Bunting 

 was noted on April 18, four days ahead of 

 its previous earliest record, April 22, 1917, 

 but no other individuals were seen until 

 April 30. Two of our rarest spring birds 

 also appeared earlier than ever before: 

 the Philadelphia Vireo on May 6, the 

 earliest previous date of which is May 12, 

 1902, and the Prothonotary Warbler, 

 which Lieut. Ludlow Griscom and Mr. 

 Francis Harper saw at Dyke, Va., on April 

 28, two days ahead of its earliest previous 

 published record, .\pril 30, 191 1. Other 

 early birds were: the American Osprey, 

 April 6; Barn Swallow, April 6; Henslow's 

 Sparrow, April 14; Yellow-throated Vireo, 

 April 18; Northern Water-Thrush, April 

 2 1 ; Crested Flycatcher, April 21 ; Tennessee 

 Warbler, May 5; and Bay-breasted 

 Warbler, May 6. 



The appearance of two birds \'ery rare 



