January, 1S93.J 



AND OOLOGIST. 



similar, are easily distinguished after lis- 

 tening to them together for a short time ; 

 there is not much music about it, but it is 

 strong and lively, and they seem to put 

 their whole strength into it. When the 

 Short-bill's song is heard, the short grass 

 and the nests are not far off, and that is 

 how I first found them. When the nest 

 is approached, they give a very deep, 

 gutteral c/irr-c/irr-c/irr, which appears to 

 be their alarm note. 



If in hunting for a Short-bill's nest one 

 finds a Long-bill, or vicc-vcrsa, the better 

 plan is to hunt somewhere else, as, for 

 some reason, the two species never build 

 anywhere near each other. Altogether 

 the two differ almost as much in habits as 

 their eggs do in color. 



I will also add that if, while hunting, 

 the bird comes close and scolds, the 

 chances are nine out often that the nest is 

 nowhere near, the tenth chance being the 

 case wiien there are young in the nest. 



C_ W. Boxvles. 



■Winter Notes from Stephentown, 

 New York. 



"Better late tiian never." 



A few days ago, while looking over a 

 box of notebooks, I found a few notes 

 which I wrote up last winter with the in- 

 tention of sending them to the "O & O." 

 Other matters engaged my attention at 

 the time, and they were forgotten. I 

 looked them over; they did not seem un- 

 seasonable at that date, November 5, with 

 a howling northwest wind and the air out- 

 side thick with frosty flakes of the first 

 snow. They interested me. Perhaps they 

 will you, should the editor deem it best to 

 impose them upon his readers. 



Winter Notes, 1S91-92. 



On the whole, we have had a rather 

 mild winter in this locality. The mercury 

 has dropped to fourteen degrees below 

 zero several times, but the cold snaps 

 were of short duration. 



Flocks of Black Ducks noted as late as 

 Christmas. 



A few Belted Kingfishers have remained 

 with us all winter. It seems rather odd 

 to hear their rattling notes, and see them 

 flash by over the ice-bound streams. My 

 first record of their wintering here. 



Tree Sparrows have been here in abund- 

 ance since their arrival from the North 

 last fall. Every morning I am greeted 

 with a medley of their low, sweet notes, 

 wafted across the creek from a tangle of 

 alders, rank weeds and vines on the op- 

 posite bank from the store. 



Slate-colored Juncos have also wintered 

 here in small numbers. 



Mourning Doves noted up to date. One 

 has stayed around the grist mill the past 

 two weeks, feeding on the grain thrown 

 out to it by the miller. 



In Deceinber one of our local trappers 

 caught a magnificent specimen of the Bald 

 Eagle in a fox trap. The same man has 

 taken several fine Red-tailed Hawks in 

 the same manner. 



Meadow Larks noted Febuary 2, and 

 several times since. 



It is with great pleasure that I record 

 the presence of Redpolls in considerable 

 numbers. Not a single specimen was 

 noted last season, while in the fall of 1S89 

 they commenced to arrive in large flocks 

 about the 15th of November, and were 

 here in multitudes all winter, staying un- 

 til late in the spring of 1S90. 



My time afield has been very limited 

 this winter. Have seen no Snowy Owls, 

 Pine Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins or Crossbills 

 myself. All, with the exception of the 

 Pine Siskin, have been reported to me 

 several times by hunters. A flock of 

 twenty Horned Larks, the true Alpestris, 

 were seen February 5. 



Snowflakes have been seen in immense 

 flocks, at intervals, since the middle of 

 December. 



Prairie Horned Larks were again noted 



