158 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 10 



Bird Notes of Northern New Jersey. 



liY HKXRY HALES 



Durin;; the early cold spring the regular mi- 

 grations were much interfered with, especiallj' 

 when the cruel cold breath of the blizzard with 

 its banks of snow, came like an avalanche up- 

 on us. It caused much suflering and great de- 

 struction among our early migrants. The Rob- 

 ins, IJluebirds, Fox-colored Sparrows, Black- 

 birds, Tree and Song Sparrows were great 

 sufferers. In the villages as soon as the least 

 clearing was made, or the snow soiled, all the 

 above named s|)ecies of birds came vainly seek- 

 ing foi- food in such a famished condition and 

 so tame that they almost allowed passing teams 

 to run over them. All the out buildings on the 

 farms were swarming with the poor starving 

 birds ; great numbers became an easy prey to 

 cats and rats, even the hardy Blue Jays could 

 not withstand such cruel cold and hunger. I 

 picked up one near the barn and took him in to 

 warm him, but he was too far gone to revive. 

 I found remnants of another one a few rods off, 

 only wings and feet left. Many Song Sparrows 

 were found dead around, but as far as ray ob- 

 servation went in this direction the House 

 Sparrows suffered least. They api)eared much 

 hardier than our native Sparrow; they are also 

 very plentiful here, yet I did not see one dead 

 one. 



Amongst a numlier of smaller birds in the 

 barn was one Crow Blackbird, he ate the grain 

 on the floor, but as soon as one approached 

 him he flew up to the upper part of the barn 

 and out of a suuiU broken pane. This he did 

 very nimbly for such a bird, he would not fly 

 to another pane or window, but patiently wait- 

 ed till one left the burn when he as quickly 

 retuined. 



Later in the season, when the hosts of War- 

 blers usually pass on north, many of them 

 entirely unobserved, by most people in New 

 Jer.sey, the weather proved very cold; snow 

 was reported in Maine as the little nortliern 

 migrants made quite a stay and were very nu- 

 merous over most of the state and Eastern 

 New ^'ork, and (pute plentiful in Central Park. 

 The report was started by some original ama- 

 teur ornithologist that the blizzard had killed 

 nearly all the English, or House Sparrows and 

 these bright birds were now come to take their 

 places. This silly assertion went the rounds of 

 the New York dailies, soon to be dissipated. 



As usual the warblers kept mostly on the 

 trees, but as the cold increased many were seen 



on the ground and in low Inishes, especially 

 currant bushes, which were just in blossom. 

 Such a variety will perhaps rarely be seen 

 again at one time, or wittiin a very few days, 

 (as the earliest arrivals did not move on). 

 There were Magnolia. Blue Yellow-backs, 

 Black Poll, Black cap, Green, Black and White 

 Cerepers, Chestnut-sided Blackburnian, Hed- 

 start. Bay-breasted, Hooded, Summer Y'ellow', 

 and of course the Maryland Y'ellow-throat, and 

 no doubt some of the duller colored specimens 

 amongst them. Those that kept much on the 

 ground besides the last two named were the 

 Kedstart and Black-capped Green ; these fairly 

 lined the ground on road side and gardens. 

 The Kedstart was very often seen on buildings 

 peering in corners for spiders. Often in one 

 apple tree five or six species could be counted, 

 with twenty to fifty birds. After the blossoms 

 left the apple trees they took more to ever- 

 greens, the Black poll bringing up the rear. It 

 was a truly beautiful sight, one to be long re- 

 membered by the most ordinary observer. 



Cowbird's Eggs with Sets. 



Bv .1. r. X. 



It is the custom with many collectors not to 

 pi'eserve any eggs of the Cowbird {Molothrus 

 atcr) which they find in the nests of other 

 birds. This is a mistake, as their eggs should 

 always be kept with the set they are found 

 with, and marked with the same set mark. 

 The fact of their accompanying the set should 

 also be noted on the data. 



We wish to caution our correspondents with 

 regard to being too profuse in the use of scien- 

 tific names. The average reader will recognize 

 what is meant by Barn Swallow, without its 

 being coupled with Hirundo erythroyastra. We 

 find in the Ridgway nomenclature a straight, 

 honest English name for every bird, and even 

 the A. O. LI. (whatever may be its future in- 

 tention,) has allowed the same with a little 

 fancy tampering. While we recognize the im- 

 portance of the si'ientiflc appendage we believe 

 it should be carefully preserved to wag on 

 special occasions. Remember, we are ati Eng- 

 lish speaking people, that space is valuable and 

 life is short. 



Mr. W. Otto Emerson informs us that he is 

 just recovering from a severe illness of five 

 months, and for this reason will not be able to 

 attend to any exchanges for the next six months. 



