Bird - Lore 



the other birds away; though the first two species mentioned found boxes in 

 the woods which they occupied without molestation. 



Our continuous residence at Larchmound from early in June, 1913, to the 

 present time (November 27, 1914), has enabled me to observe for an entire 

 year, or indeed for an entire summer or winter, for the first time in nearly 

 half a century, the birds of that section of our country where, as a boy, I 

 first studied them. What this has meant to me, and how much the privilege 

 has been enjoyed and appreciated, may be more easily imagined than told. 



REAR VIEW OF LARCHMOUND 



Both summers and the single winter of our sojourn at Larchmound were 

 conspicuously abnormal, the former being characterized by severe droughts 

 (the worst in thirty-two years) and excessively high temperature, the latter 

 by unusual conditions. December was slightly colder than the average for 

 that month (the mean temperature being 34.16° against the average of 35.22° 

 for a period of twenty-two years), while January was slightly warmer (the 

 mean being 33.24° against the average of 32.68°); but February, while at no 

 time excessively cold (the minimum being 6°*), was steadily cold, the mean 

 temperature being the lowest ever recorded for that month (23.40°) and eight 

 and a half degrees colder than the average for twenty-two years (32.93°). The 

 first half, or more, of March was nearly as cold as February, but I have not the 

 official records for that month. 



*Tbe minimum for the same date at the Weather Bureau Station in town was 2° 



