42 The Wilsox Bulletix — Xo. 08 



FIELD NOTES 



OBSERVATIONS ON SOME OF THE JUNE BIRDS IN THE 

 VICINITY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



During the first two weeks of June, 1916, spent at Cincinnati, 

 I made eleven trips into the surrounding districts, identifying 

 over sixty species of land birds. Six of the trips were made to 

 Ault Park, a bird paradise, where over fifty species other than the 

 Mockingbird were found. 



Excellent chances were afforded to study the Summer Tanager 

 and the Mockingbird, unfamiliar birds to the writer. About a 

 dozen of each species were found and many were observed at close 

 range. The two birds, especially the Mockingbird, are rather 

 scarce around Cincinnati, except in certain neighborhoods pointed 

 out by a local bird authority. The status of the Mockingbird in 

 the vicinity is interesting. The Queen City bird-lovers say that 

 this w^onderful songster is extending its range northward, which 

 movement is largely controlled by the food supply and not by cli- 

 matic conditions. This was verified by inquiries in the field. One 

 farmer, a resident along Muddy Creek, told me that about five 

 years previously the first Mockingbirds appeared in his neighbor- 

 hood, and since then they have gradually increased in numbers. 

 While talking to him a gray bird with a long tail flew from- a 

 cherry tree, displaying the tell-tale white w^ing-bars and tail feath- 

 ers four broad streaks of white, making a conspicuous field mark 

 in flight. At a long distance the birds resembling the Mockingbird 

 are the Blue Jay and the Mourning Dove, which may be differen- 

 tiated by studying the three species together. At ordinary range 

 the Mockingbird is unmistakable. 



The Summer Tanagers were very tame along Hillside Avenue 

 below Sedamsville, where most of the Mockingbirds and Tanagers 

 were found. One female Summer Tanager, perching on a weed 

 stalk in the full sunlight, was approached within six feet, where 

 the light orange-yellow hue of the bird seemed almost perfect. The 

 somber greenish-yellow shade of the Scarlet Tanager cannot 

 compare with this color. Only three Scarlet Tanagers were seen: 

 a single male was a pleasant incident of an all-day trip along 

 Muddy Creek and a pair were noted near Ault Park. One never 

 tires admiring the beautiful tanagers: the matchless and gorgeous 

 rose-red of the Summer Tanager and the flaming scarlet of the 

 Scarlet Tanager that seems ready to burn up his coal-black wings 

 and tail, the most vivid contrast in the bird-world. I always think 

 of these two shades of red as the piranga reds. 



