On the Trail of the Evening Grosbeak 437 



had ripened their seed and the Grosbeaks were no longer so dependent on our 

 supplies. Our first shock came on May 5, when one of the three remaining 

 females failed to appear during the entire day. The next day all three males 

 departed, and by the tenth of the month there was but one female left. She, 

 faithful bird, staid until the fourteenth, when lonesomeness overcame her and 

 she too winged her way to the north. 



It was nearly three months from the time of their arrival. We were sorry 

 they had not reconciled our little city, its parks and thickets, and logs covered 

 with sunflower seed, with the great Northwest, its swamps, its spruces and 

 aspens; but we rejoiced in the opportunities they had brought us and the 

 memories which they left. 



Bird-Lore's Fifteenth Christmas Bird Census 



BIRD-LORE'S annual bird census will be taken as usual on Christmas 

 Day, or as near that date as circumstances will permit. Without wish- 

 ing to appear ungrateful to those contributors who have assisted in 

 making the census so remarkably successful, lack of space compels us to ask 

 each census-taker to send only one census. Furthermore, much as we should 

 like to print all the records sent, the number received has grown so large that 

 we shall have to exclude those which do not appear to give a fair representation 

 of the winter bird-life of the locality in which they were made. 



Reference to the February, 1901-1914, numbers of Bird-Lore will acquaint 

 one with the nature of the report of the day's hunt which we desire; but to 

 those to whom none of these issues is available, we may explain that such 

 reports should be headed by a brief statement of the character of the 

 weather, whether clear, cloudy, rainy, etc. ; whether the ground is bare or snow- 

 covered, the direction and force of the wind, the temperature at the time of 

 starting, the hour of starting and of returning. Then should be given, in the 

 order of the A. O. U. 'Check-List' (which is followed by most standard bird- 

 books), a list of the species seen, with exactly, or approximately, the number of 

 individuals of each species recorded. A record should read, therefore, some- 

 what as follows: 



Yonkers, N. Y., 8 a.m. to 12 m. Clear, ground bare; wind west, light; temp., 38° 

 Herring Gull, 75. Total, — species, — individuals. — James Gates. 



These records will be published in the February issue of Bird-Lore, and 

 it is particularly requested that they be sent the editor (at the American 

 Museum of Natural History, New York City) not later than December 28. 

 It will save the editor much clerical labor if the model here given and the order oj 

 the A. 0. U, 'Check-List' be closely followed. 



