8 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



WINTER BIRDS OF SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



The following very interesting notes of the winter bird life of southern 

 New Hampshire are from the Rev. Manley B. Townsend, who is to lecture 

 at the Annual Mass Meeting at Tremont Temple on April 6. They include 

 only the early part of the winter, being dated January 15th, but were un- 

 fortunately crowded out of the February Bulletin by the Annual Report of 

 the work of the Society. 



1. Snowflakes unusually abundant. Several large flocks reported in 

 Nashua. I have seen many more than usual. 



2. Kingfisher wintering at the U. S. Fish Hatchery, living on small 

 fingerling trout in an open brook. As this brook is not a part of the 

 hatchery, and the breeding trout are safe under the ice, Mr. Hubbard does 

 not molest the bird. 



3. Snowy owl reported near Nashua. 



4. Three goshawks reported. 



5. Saw one saw-whet owl, and two others reported. One died, pre- 

 sumably of starvation. 



6. Robin wintering in Nashua. Saw him January 11. 



7. Starlings wintering in old church steeple on Main Street. Counted 

 297 go in from 4 to 4.40 P. M. December 22. They scatter over the country 

 during the day, returning at night for shelter. This will be their third year 

 in Nashua. Increasing rapidly. 



8. Bald eagle seen in Nashua in December. Probably same bird shot 

 next day in Maynard, Mass, as it was devouring a pig he had killed. 



9. Herring gulls, crows and American Mergansers common on the 

 Merrimack, about the open places created by the rapids. 



10. Ruffed grouse remarkably scarce. Foxes unusually abundant. 

 But pheasants also numerous. Their tracks everywhere in the woods. 

 Query: Why the scarcity of grouse and the abundance of pheasants? Do 

 pheasants break up nests of grouse, as sometimes charged? Some hunters 

 report grouse in unusual places, and maintain they are as numerous as ever, 

 but have changed their location. But I find, and all reports agree, that the 

 grouse are very scarce in their usual haunts. 



11. No redpolls, siskins or goldfinches. I attribute this to the fact 

 that the gray birches did not seed this year, and the above birds feed largely 

 on the seeds of the gray birch. Ordinarily, the snow is covered with the 

 bird-like seed-scales of this tree. Not a seed this year. Tree sparrows are 

 quite abundant, and a few j uncos are about, as they are weed-seed eaters. 

 Chickadees, blue jays, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, white- 

 breasted nuthatches (no red-breasted reported yet), brown creepers and 

 golden crowned kinglets about as usual. No evening grosbeaks reported yet. 



12. A chestnut grove in Merrimack is completely riddled by pileated 

 woodpeckers. Every tree has great holes drilled to the heart. As this 

 grove will be cut down soon, I am going to examine the timber. I suspect 

 that the chestnut blight has been at work, that the hearts of the trees are 

 decayed (the trees appear sound externally), and that the woodpeckers 

 drilled for the wood-borers in the unsound hearts. 



