6 hird Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



pie finches have become very numerous, large numbers collecting daring the 

 "glacial period" in every place where the coral berry or Indian turnip grows. 

 During those cold days, when everything, even their favorite sycamore buttons, 

 was covered with a sheet of ice, they had to put up with this meager food. They 

 worked hard all day to appease their hunger, and then were not satisfied. 

 Hard, unsatisfactory work it was for them, as they do not eat the whole ber- 

 ry, but merely the small seeds within, and even these they have to husk before 

 swallowing. After the birds had worked there a few days, the ground was 

 coveredwith the husks, skins and pulp. On six acres, overgrown with patches 

 of this plant, I found about a hundred purple finches. About ten per cent, 

 were in crimson while the rest were in plain brown. When the weather mod- 

 erated they left the coral berries. The American goldfinch braved the cold 

 of January, but the freezing process of February 3 was too much for them. 

 They have almost wholly disappeared ; a walk of nine miles in nine hours re- 

 vealing only two birds. White throated, white-crowned, song and tree spar- 

 rows, and the black snowbird still remained in their winter quarters. Old 

 Pipilo has braved the cold well, and his call comes from the same thicket as 

 in December, while Mrs. Pipilo is seen not a hundred yards ofE. The car- 

 dinal grosbeak is a hardy fellow, still he likes warm days in Winter better 

 than cold ones. When the sun shone brightly on the 12th inst. he was much 

 pleased with it and gave vent to a lovely song. 



The crow seems to degenerate I It cannot stand so much as it used to. I 

 found them badly starved and frozen with a terribly empty stomach, and the 

 whole bird not more than half its usual weight. Blue jays still know how to 

 keep themselves from starving, or else they manage to live on noise-making. 



The downy and hairy wood-peckers remain at their places, and are bound 

 to make love the first warm day, no matter how deep the mud is. Mr. Red- 

 head tried his best to stay and live on ice-cold acorns, and such like, but when 

 I met him on cold days he did not say much, and seemed to suffer remorse 

 for not going with his brethren. The flickers remained, and were doing well 

 on the 12th inst., but they looked as if they were resolved not to stay with us 

 next Winter. 



The following is a list of the new species I have seen since my last report : 



Pine Goldfinch — One bird on January 18. 



Golden-crowned Kinglet — Two pairs on January 6. 



Brown creeper — One bird on January 6. 



Redpoll Linnet — One bird on February 7, and a flock of from thirty to 

 thirty-six on the 12th. They were wholly unacquainted with such a thing 

 as a shotgun. 



Lapland Longspur — On January 6 there was a flock of thousands on a field 

 grown over with sedge, upon the seeds of which they were feeding eagerly. 

 It appeared as though thej^ had made a contract with the owner of the field 

 to clear it of every seed in che shortest possible time. And how they did 

 work ! A pretty hard work it was, too, as they had to husk the minute seeds. 

 They were unwilling leave their task undone, and a shot had no other ef- 

 fect than to make them go up in a cloud with a noise like thunder, circle a 

 few minutes and then come down again near the same spot. They seemed 

 too, to do the work systemat-ically ; every few minutes the rear portion of the 



