58 The Wilson Bulleitin— No. 70. 



Notes from Illinois. — The first Bluebird call was hoard March 

 4th, Inaugurating spring, as it seems, and a most pleasing sound 

 to hear after our long, cold winter, the hardest for nearly thirty 

 years, so it is said, barring possibly, the season of 1892-'93. 



Mr. Isaac E. Hess, of Philo, Champaign county, reports the first 

 Robin February 14th. 



Miss Elizabeth Eldridge writes of seeing a Flicker about their 

 place, near Plainfield, Will county, 'til.1 the very last of December, 

 notwithstanding the arctic spell of weather which reigned through- 

 out the month. 



We naturally would expect some far northern visitors this win- 

 ter, and, for the first time in many years, the Snowy Owl has been 

 reported as spending a portion of the season here in DuPage 

 county, one having been seen in Addison township, December 29th, 

 by ISllr. G. A. Abbott, of Chicago, and later, for the first two weeks 

 of February another appeared quite frequently on the outskirts of 

 this village. T^nfortunately it w'as not the writer's privilege, owing 

 to illness, to witness this visitation. 



In some portions of the state Quail are said to have suffered. 



Glen FAJjiu, HI. Ben.t. T. Gault. 



PERSONAL. 

 OiR Members Here and There. 



Our president, Frank L. Burns, is very busy with his mono- 

 graph of the Broad-winged Hawk, which promises to eclipse his 

 former monographs of the Crow and the Flicker. 



Mr. Isaac E. Hess of Philo, 111., whose recent article in the 

 "Auk," " Breeding Birds of Central Illinois," has caused so much 

 favorable comment, has joined our ranks. We bid him a hearty 

 welcome in our midst. 



Send your Field Notes to the Wilson Bulletin ! 



The Farmers' Bulletin ?.S?, of the U. S. Dept. of Agricult. entitled 

 " How to destroy English Sparrows," was prepared by our fellow- 

 member. Dr. Ned Dearboim. It is a good piece of work, practical 

 and useful to the farmers. The only fault — not MV. Dearborn's to 

 be sure — is the poor picture, but we have never seen a good pic- 

 ture in any of the Government's publications to the farmers. 



Rev. Gustave Eifrig has moved to Addison, 111., where he now 

 holds a professorship. We hope to have an article on birds from 

 his pen ere long. 



Don't hide your Field Notes in the pigeon holes of .vour desk ; 

 send them to the Wilson Bulletin ! 



Our member, the Hon. R. M. Barnes, of Lacon county, 111., the 

 able editor of the " Oologist," enjoyed a California vacation trip to 



