A Second Bird Survey 41 



purple finch. Furthermore, the occurrence of an exceptional 

 number of rare and of occasional visitors at the time our cen- 

 sus w^as taken aided materially in swelling the total of species 

 observed. This peculiar combination of circumstances, which 

 made possible such a great record, is not likely to recur in 

 many years. 



On this day the seven most numerous species, in the order 

 of their abundance, were : chimney swift, white-throated spar- 

 row, English sparrow, song sparrow, American goldfinch, 

 purple grackle, and catbird. It is interesting to note that 

 four of these are sparrows. 



The nineteen species least numerous, of which only a single 

 individual was observed, were : greater scaup duck, blue- 

 winged teal, wood duck, pigeon hawk, marsh hawk, rufifed 

 grouse, king rail, upland plover, woodcock, herring gull, yel- 

 low-billed cuckoo, yellow-bellied sapsucker, northern yellow- 

 throa-t, yellow palm warbler, prothonotary warbler, blue gros- 

 beak, fox sparrow, tree sparrow, and Savannah sparrow. 



The fourteen species of most general distribution, reported 

 by all the parties in the field, were : turkey vulture, bob-white, 

 flicker, crested flycatcher, kingbird, brown thrasher, southern 

 crow, meadowlark, purple grackle, cardinal, chewink, song 

 sparrow, white-throated sparrow, and American goldfinch. 



Thirteen others were observed by every party except one : 

 chimney swift, bluebird, southern robin, house wren, Caro- 

 lina wren, tufted titmouse, blue jay, American redstart, Mary- 

 land yellow-throat, oven-bird, myrtle warbler, field sparrow, 

 and chipping sparrow. 



Several birds were much more than ordinarily numerous 

 for this locality, among which we might mention the white- 

 crowned sparrow, bob-white, mockingbird, Carolina wren, 

 blue jay, and American redstart. 



Among the rarer birds of the District of Columbia, found 

 on May 11, the following seem worthy of special mention: 

 the double-crested cormorant, of which there are only a few 

 other records ; the woodcock, which has become rare of late 

 years ; the pigeon hawk, which is not often seen ; the rufl:'ed 



