104 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 99 



arrival of some few species and an unusually late appearance for 

 others — there was no reason for predicting what has happened in 

 May. April was also nearly normal up to the last week. But be- 

 ginning with the last week of April and continuing until almost 

 the closing days of May there was almost continual cold weather, 

 with frosts or near-frosts, and no period of warm weather of suf- 

 ficient duration or of wide enough extent to permit the smaller 

 birds to move in safety. 



How widespread this condition was over the interior of the coun- 

 try remains to be learned. It extended at least into central Iowa. 



The most distressing thing about the period of cold was the great 

 destruction of Purple Martins and swallows during the first two 

 weeks of May, and the death by starvation of large numbers of the 

 other small insectivorous birds during the last two weeks. Prac- 

 tically all of the first wave of martins died of starvation in and 

 about their nesting houses, here in Oberlin, and many of the sec- 

 ond wave likewise starved. It may be that some few individuals 

 retreated southward and returned when the weather moderated, 

 but that was not determined. There wer<^ three distinct waves of 

 martins: the first during the first week of April, the second about 

 the first of May, and the last about May 20. Something of the 

 same thing happened with the swallows. 



There was no migration, in the proper sense, of warblers and 

 other small birds until May 18, when for three days they came 

 in numbers, then there was a return of cold and wet weather, 

 which held them until the last day of May. How much longer 

 some will stay remains to be learned. 



Lynds Jones. 



TUFTED TITMOUSE AT IOWA CITY. 



(Baeolophus bicolor.) 



It is interesting to observe the apparent increase in numbers of 

 ihis species in and near Iowa City and the fact seems worthy of 

 mention at this time. 



Anderson, in his "Birds of Iowa" (1907), indicates the Tufted 

 Titmouse as " a rather rare resident in southern Iowa, seldom 

 reaching the northern part of the state, although it has been occa- 

 sionally taken in the extreme southern counties of Minnesota." 

 The increase in the number of individuals locally, not only in town 

 but in the surrounding country as well, has been quite marked in 

 recent years and one can not go on a field without encountering 

 at least three or four and hearing the loud, clear whistle of perhaps 

 several others. They are quite tame and unsuspicious and I have 

 approached to within a few feet of them on many occasions. The 



