Scott on Winter Birds at Princeton, X. J. 83 



the case of the Hermit Thrush and Fox Sparrow, both of which are, 

 to say the least, very rare during so severe a season. The following 

 notes on the Birds of Prey, I think, indicate so unusual an abun- 

 dance of the species noted as to require observations during other 

 seasons of like severity before any conclusions as to the cause of 

 such abundance can be drawn. It is to be particularly remarked 

 that until December 20 the season had been very mild, with but 

 little or no snow, yet their migration, noted below, certainly began 

 two months before, or by October 20. The great abundance of the 

 large Buzzard Hawks has been so conspicuous as to attract very 

 generally the attention of the farmers of the region, and I am thus 

 enabled to supplement my own observations by those of others. 

 "Without following any systematic arrangement, I propose to give a 

 simple record of their migration following the season. 



Late in September I noticed the fall arrival of the Marsh Harriers 

 [Circus cyaneus var. kudsonius), but took no special note of these 

 birds till the first week in October. They were then unusually 

 common, and a few days later became so abundant that it was not 

 unusual to see from five to ten individuals in an ordinary field of 

 from ten to twenty acres. Most of the birds were in the brown 

 plumage, and adults of either sex were rare. For the next four 

 weeks they remained in about the same numbers, and then began 

 gradually to disappear. But all through November they were com- 

 mon, and even early in December. By the 10th of that month 

 most of them had left. One was noted December 14, and another 

 on December 20 ; both of these in the immature plumage. On 

 January 6 I took a female in immature plumage, and on the follow- 

 ing day I saw another. 



I am informed by most creditable witnesses that late in October, 

 or about November 1, there appeared in a field of about forty 

 acres, which was covered with a heavy growth of long dead grass, 

 vast numbers of Owls. A visit to the field in question, which is 

 directly adjacent to the railroad depot at Harlingen, and a talk 

 with farmers living close by gave me the following additional data. 

 The birds were exclusively the Short-eared Owl (Brachyotus 2ialus- 

 tris), as I learned from an examination of specimens in the posses- 

 sion of several farmers. Their number was variously estimated at 

 from a hundred and fifty to two hundred. Many were shot, and as 

 some are still to be found in the field in question, I should think 

 this locality had been fixed on as a wintering point. There are no 



