198 



Bird - Lore 



(g) Species of recent advent as breeding birds. 



House Wren {Troglodytes aedon). — The case of this species has ahcady 

 been mentioned, under Bewick's Wren. 



Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia). — Up to i8go, at least, the Song Spar- 

 row was unknown as a summer resident in the Lower Wabash Valley; it was a 

 common winter resident, coming with the White-throats and Juncos about 

 the middle of October, and departing with them late in April or early in May. 

 1 first learned of its advent as a breeding bird at Mt. Carmel, on the Wabash, 

 in 1902, when Dr. Jacob Schneck, of that place, informed me that it had been 

 a summer resident there for the past two or three years. I was then in Johnson 

 County, in the extreme southern part of the state, and therefore could not 

 verify Dr. Schneck's statement, which I strongly doubted, believing his identi- 

 fication erroneous. Late in June, however, of that year, we proceeded from 

 Johnson County to Richland County, and when reaching Grayville, on the 

 Wabash, eighteen miles below Mt. Carmel, had to change routes; and, having 

 two or three hours between trains, my wife and I employed the time strolling 

 about the outskirts of the town. One of our walks led us along the river bank 

 for perhaps a mile, and it was during this walk that we were surprised and 

 delighted to hear the song of Melospiza; thus not only confirming my friend's 

 statement, but showing that it had even advanced southward much beyond Mt. 

 Carmel. This southward extension of the breeding-range of the Song Sparrow 

 in the Lower Wabash Valley must, however, be confined to the flood-plain of 

 the river (averaging about ten miles in width) and, perhaps, its immediate 

 vicinity, for it is not yet found in summer in any part of Richland County 

 where it still occurs only as a winter resident. 



Before After 



A BLUE JAY'S BATH 



Photographed by Miss C. R. Scriven, Webster City, Iowa 



