52 NEBRASKA ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION 



722. OlhiorcliUiis hicmalis (Vieill.). — Winter Wren. December 23, 1900; 

 December 2, 1901; January 12, 1902. On each occasion it was in 

 a pile of brush. 



726. Certhia familiaris americana (Bonap.). — Brown Creeper. Seen on 



almost every bright day that T visited the woods. 



727. Sitta carolinensis Lath. — White-bellied Nuthatch. Quite numerous. 



728. Sitta canadensis Linn. — Eed-bellied Nuthatch. Kare. January 19, 



1902. 

 7S1. Parus iicolor Linn. — ^Tufted Titmouse. November 10, 1901; January 



15, 1902. 

 735a. Parus atricapillus septentrionalis (Harris). — Long-tailed Chickadee. 



Very common. 

 761. Meriila migratoria (Linn.). — -American Robin. Saw one on December 



22, 1901, in a sheltered draw. 



Summing up, I find that the list includes nineteen permanent residents, 

 eight winter visitants, and five stragglers. I am satisfied that this does 

 not represent nearly all of our winter birds, and I hope, in time, to be 

 able to add to it. 



OUR WINTER BIRDS 



MYRON H. SWENK, LINCOLN 



Beginners in the study oi field ornithology are generally advised to 

 commence their observations in winter when the bird life of our 

 northern states is at a minimum, and the different species are more 

 easilj' distinguished. At this season it would not be impossible for 

 them to walk for miles without seeing a single bird. To such persons 

 it must be surprising to state that more than one-fourth of the entire 

 avifauna of Nebraska is made up of winter birds. 



These fall naturally into two distinct classes; those which are present 

 in the same locality throughout the year, or resident birds, and those 

 which are present only in winter, or winter residents and visitants. The 

 species of birds, as well as the number of individuals present, depends 

 in manjr cases directly upon the weather, and a list of birds of a certain 

 locality found in a mild winter differs materially from a list of those 

 found in a severe one. The presence of other birds dej)ends upon the 

 food supply, and they remain with us only when food is unusually 

 abimdant, or, in the case of those birds that breed far north, when the 

 food supply is deficient in their summer home. This often forces birds, 

 usually non-migratory, into our boundaries, and at rare intervals brings 

 down certain species in immense numbers. 



Many aquatic birds such as gulls and ducks remain imtil the small 

 streams and ponds of our state are frozen over, when they retire just 

 far enough to find open water. Sandpipers often remain well into 

 November, or until the edges of the ponds become too frosty to be 

 probed by their bills. All owls, most hawks, and our land game birds 



