34 



THE OOLOGIST 



The Carolina Wren in Philadelphia. 



The Great Carolina Wren is assured- 

 ly again on the increase throughout 

 North Philadelphia, where it used to 

 be a common bird. Previous to the 

 year 1900 it was not at all rare, though 

 I could not regard it then as common 

 as my records will attest, but for some 

 reason, it practically disappeared and 

 my note books contain no record of 

 its occurrence from the above ye'ar 

 till May 30, 1907, when one was seen 

 at Cheltenham, Montgomery County, 

 Pennsylvania, just across the Philadel- 

 phia County line. It is such a noisy 

 bird that I could not have overlooked 

 its occurrence if it was here during 

 those seven years. 



During IBOS and 1909 I have seen 

 enough of these birds as to warrant 

 a belief that they are becoming com- 

 mon again, and as such I so regard 

 them now, and sincerely hope that 

 they will continue to increase. 



I cannot offer any explanation as to 

 their disappearance during the sev- 

 en years, but am glad that they are 

 here to enliven the winter, for they 

 are one of the few of our winter bird 

 songsters, and whose cheery song and 

 whistle are ever welcome to the weary 

 strolling bird-lover. 



I have said that 1 am glad the Car- 

 olina Wren has come back to me, but 

 I wish I could say the same thing for 

 the Winter Wren, whose occurrence 

 here every winter is becoming less and 

 less. It Is true as yet they have not 

 entirely disappeared, but they seem 

 likely to, as only one bird was seen 

 during the winter of 1907-08 after De- 

 cember. But I shall have something 

 to say concerning its disappearance at 

 another time, when I have studied my 

 records and arranged them for annual 

 comparison of its occurrence here 

 now as compared with former years. 

 Richard F. Miller. 



The Cormorant in Western Pennsyl- 

 vania. 



Along the lake shore and "Peninsu- 

 la" at Erie, Pennsylvania, the Cormo- 

 rant is of occasional occurrence, but 

 inland it is very rare. One was shot 

 here on the river in October about 

 twenty years ago and was mounted 

 and is in posession of a party living 

 here. 



April 30th, 1903, was hot and sultry 

 and the thermometer reaching 80 de- 

 grees right after dinner. Toward even- 

 ing a high northwest wind sprang up 

 and then a rain set in. All night it 

 blew hard and at day light on the 

 morning of May 1st it was 28 degrees, 

 a drop of 52 dgrees in less than twen- 

 ty-four hours. The high wind still 

 continued and there was frequent 

 blinding snow-squalls. 



I took my gun and went down the 

 river to see if the storm had brought 

 anything of interest. The river was 

 very rough and in the big eddy close 

 to the shore I saw as I peered careful- 

 ly down a big dark bird that I took to 

 be a loon. As I had killed three fine 

 adults within a week I concluded not 

 to sneak on it but to let it go. 



I kept on down and seeing me, the 

 bird swam out into the river. Too 

 late I saw I had made a mistake. It 

 sat and looked altogether different 

 and is bobbed about on the waves I 

 saw it was black all over. I could 

 also plainly see the pouch and knew 

 I was looking at an adult Cormorant. 

 I withdrew from sight but was too 

 late as the alarmed bird arose and flew 

 down. The best part of the day was 

 spent in a vain attempt to again find 

 it. I consider this a very good record 

 especially so, as it is a spring record. 

 It is unknown to old hunters and resi- 

 dents along the river. 



The same storm brought in a num- 

 ber of long-tailed ducks in full black 

 and brown breeding dress. A free 

 scaup also appeared. I noted thir- 

 teen new arrivals, including Nashville 

 and Cape May Warblers, but have 

 always felt sore over the easy way I 

 lost such a prize. 



R. B. Simpson. 



