DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 27 



Euspiza americana this morning. They are getting rather scarce 

 about here. I should not be surprised if in a few years they 

 would disappear entirely from this neighborhood." 



October 7. "I did not see one this summer, though I did 

 hear them several times." 



1882. W. L. Collins in letter. Last May or early June. 

 "I have not seen nor heard a Black-throated Bunting this 

 season." 



1888. Dr. J. Percy iVIoore, of Philadelphia, furnishes me 

 the following from his journal. The locality is in Montgomery 

 Co., Pa. Under date of Maj' 13, 1888, the following is recorded: 



"A pair of Black-throated Buntings were seen here," and 

 further on "In a grassy meadow along Mill Creek not far from 

 Merion Square a male Black-throated Bunting was observed on 

 the ground apparently feeding on fallen seeds. He perched on 

 a small bush and chirped for a few moments and then flew into 

 a thicket, probably to seek a roosting place as the sun was 

 getting low." Dr. Moore writes me in addition as follows: 



"The first observation was made in a meadow along the Old 

 Gulph road near Arrowmint creek in I^ower Merion township, 

 and among cultivated fields. At the time I was much engrossed 

 in watching the antics of courting Bobolinks which were com- 

 mon that morning in the small trees and bushes along the fence 

 rows, and the duller birds evidently did not' draw my attention 

 for more than a passing moment from their fascinating com- 

 petitors. I am quite certain that the Black-throated Bunting 

 was seen on other occasions in the same region, but the above 

 are the only references in those portions of my notes which have 

 been indexed." 



Extraordinary as these notes may appear, so long after the 

 disappearance of the bird from that region, I have no reason 

 to doubt the correctness of Dr. Moore's identification. He tells 

 me that there was an unusually large wave of migrants passing 

 through that day, and that he did not think the Dickcissels 

 were anything but migrants. They are known to associate with 

 Bobolinks in their winter home as well as in the fall migrations, 

 and were no doubt going farther north. Such spasmodic ap- 

 pearances of migrants are to be looked for, but are rarely noted. 



