Monthly Bulletin 5 



year after year that I would like to speak of. On the estate of Mr. F. B. Rice 

 there was a large purple grackle last year which had only one leg. Hd fed 

 around on the lawns a great deal and they were quite interested in him. This 

 year when the birds began to come back, they were wondering if they would 

 ever see anything of him again, when one day looking out they found him 

 hopping around on the lawn just as he had been the year before. He was 

 one of the first grackles to return from the South." 



EVENING Rev. Manley B. Townsend, State Secretary of the New 



GROSBEAKS Hampshire Audubon Society, is keeping sharp watch 



of the coming and going of the evening grosbeaks in 

 that State. Reference has been made in a previous niunber of the Bulletin 

 to the report of one of these birds spending the summer in New Hampshire, 

 or at least being seen there by Emma Johnson, of Nashua, about the middle 

 of August. Apropos of that Mr. Townsend writes in "Bird-Lore," "Has Not 

 the Prairie Horned Lark worked eastward until it has reached New Hamp- 

 shire and become a permanent resident? If we can hold the grosbeaks at 

 our food stations late enough in the spring, perhaps the breeding instinct 

 will seize upon them before the migrating instinct, and they might remain 

 and breed. The coniferous forests of northern New England offer ideal nest- 

 ing facilities." In support of this interesting theory Mr. Townsend sends 

 the following letter: 



"Rev. Manley B. Townsend, 



"Dear Sir: — Your article concerning the evening grosbeak in New 

 Hampshire, published in the July-August number of 'Bird-Lore,' brings to 

 mind some observations of my own. 



"In the upper peninsula of Michigan where I formerly lived, the evening 

 grosbeak was common nearly every winter. Flocks remained as late as the 

 middle of May. Aug. 18, 1912, seven were seen. Aug. 10, 1913, two were 

 seen. 



"In 1911 they remained in numbers as late as May 18. On July 16 a 

 number of adults, also some young birds, were seen. One was seen Sept. 7. 



"Very truly yours, 



"RALPH BEEBE, 



"600 Hilger Avenue, 

 "Aug. 20, 1917. "Detroit, Mich." 



One is often struck by the readiness birds show to take advantage of 

 opportunities. The Billings Field Playground in West Roxbury was flooded 

 by heavy rains in August and early September, and, sewer construction 

 interfering with the drainage, a pond of perhaps three or four acres in extent 



