Shufeldt — On Some Washington Bird Notes. 95 

 SOAIE WASHINGTON BIRD NOTES. 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT. 



For the past seven years, and more, I have been residing 

 in the city of New York, engaged upon special art and medi- 

 cal work which afforded me; but little opportunity to see much 

 of the birds anywhere. Prior to that time I had been living 

 in Washington, D. C, where both autumnal and vernal mi- 

 grations were always carefully studied by me for miles about, 

 and there was no question in my mind, the last few years 

 that I was here, as to the fact that both land and water birds 

 were rapidly decreasing in numbers. Some species were 

 rarely or ever seen, either in the spring or in the fall. Several 

 papers were published by me on the subject, and some of the 

 probable causes for the falling ott given, one of which I re- 

 member was the killing by boys by means of an air-gun 

 which was very popular at the time with them. Recently 

 I have returned to Washington to live and taken a home with- 

 in three or four minutes walk of the Zoological Garden 

 (3356 18th St.). It is practically surrounded by open country 

 and extensive tracts of heavy timber. After becoming settled, 

 which required several weeks, I discovered that Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway owned his home across the street, and was at the 

 time away on a vacation in the west. 



The spring migration of birds had just about commenced, 

 and it was not long before I made very early morning visit'^ 

 to the neighboring woods to note what species were here and 

 especially as regards their abundance (April 10, May 12). 

 Judging from the chorus that saluted my ears before arriving, 

 they had not been wiped out altogether, and as I had not 

 had such a treat for many years, my feelings may be easily 

 imagined by any thorough-going ornithologist who has 

 ever been submitted to a similar term of starvation of that 

 character. 



Great was my delight when I discovered that a very marked 

 change had taken place during my years of absence, for not 

 only had birds become numerous again, but were evidently 



