The Season 



361 



abundant than usual in their summer 

 homes in our northern forests, and this 

 tallies well with the report that they passed 

 through the southern part of the state this 

 spring in greatly reduced numbers. 



As an offset to this general paucity of 

 birds, it is a pleasure to record the unusual 

 abundance of a few species. Never before 

 have I seen such numbers of Grinnell's 

 Water -Thrush. From May 7 to May 23 

 they were constantly abundant along all 

 wooded streams and bushy lakesides, the 

 height of the migration being about May 

 14, when often several could be seen at 

 once in some favored haunt, daintily wad- 

 ing and wagging along through the shal- 

 lows or flitting from stone to stone, for all 

 the world like tiny Sandpipers. This 

 Water-Thrush is a migrant in southern 

 Minnesota, passing northward to the 

 evergreen forests to nest in company with 

 the Canadian Warblers and Sparrows. 

 Southeastern Minnesota is, however, the 

 summer home of a considerable number of 

 Louisiana Water-Thrushes which push 

 northward from the normal Carolinian 

 surroundings of the species, through the 

 wooded bottomlands of the Mississippi 

 River, to establish themselves at posts well 

 within the Alleghanian Fauna of the 

 Transition Zone. Not a few of these pio- 

 neering birds leave the Mississippi and 

 turn into the valley of the St. Croix River, 

 between Wisconsin and Minnesota, dis- 

 tributing themselves to nest along this 

 deep gorge as far north as Taylor's Falls, 

 about latitude 45 degrees, 20 minutes 

 north, just on the southern edge of the 

 Canadian Zone at this point. Curiously 

 enough, only a rare straggler now and then 

 continues the direct course up the Missis- 

 sippi. There are only two or three stray 

 records for the vicinity of Minneapolis, 

 and this year, for the first time, the nest of 

 the Louisiana Water-Thrush was found in 

 this region. This nest was situated in the 

 bank of a brook running through a wooded 

 ravine some 10 miles south of Minneapolis. 

 When discovered by the writer, on June 6, 

 it contained nearly fully fledged young, 



indicating a surprisingly early date for 

 the arrival of this species in this latitude. 



Another bird that was unusually com- 

 mon this spring was the Solitary Sand- 

 piper, in contrast with the scarcity of the 

 ordinarily abundant Spotted Sandpiper. 

 Hundreds of this species were to be seen in 

 mid- May along the wooded waterways. 

 They leave here to nest in the Canadian 

 Zone farther north. There was also, for a 

 few days, a great flight of Wilson's Snipe, 

 coming about April 16. A few of these 

 remain to breed in this vicinity. The 

 Lesser Yellow-legs was also common in 

 migration, and, as usual, a few stragglers 

 have remained through the summer— un- 

 mated or barren birds. On August i two 

 Least Sandpipers were seen feeding on a 

 mud-flat along the Minnesota River, either 

 very early returning migrants or unmated 

 birds summering far south of their nesting 

 fellows. These summer vagrants among the 

 Waders are of frequent occurrence and 

 caution must be exercised lest exceptional 

 breeding records be thus established. Thus 

 in mid-June of 1915, the writer found a 

 Ruddy Turnstone at Lake Mille Lac, Minn. 

 When shot, on June 22, it proved to be a 

 non-breeding female, summering amid the 

 colony of Common Terns nesting on 

 Spirit Island in that lake. Four Bona- 

 parte's Gulls in immature plumage were 

 also present. Again, on June 22, 1916, two 

 Sanderlings were found on Gull Rock in 

 Lake of the Woods, at home, apparently, 

 among the breeding Herring Gulls and 

 Double-crested Cormorants. One of them 

 was shot and showed no signs of being a 

 nesting bird. 



Very few of the returning migrant land- 

 birds have reached the southern part of 

 Minnesota before the middle of .\ugust. 

 An occasional Tennessee Warbler may be 

 found during the first days of the month 

 and, a little later, the first Magnolia and 

 Blackburnian Warblers. These birds nest 

 in the northern part of the state; the 

 first species sparingly, the others com- 

 monly. — Thomas S. Roberts, Minne- 

 apolis, Minn. 



