4:2 The Wilson Bulletin — Xo. 103 



grouse, which has become ahnost extinct in tlic immediate 

 vicinity of Washington; the king rail, which is here of very 

 local distribution ; the upland plover, which has been very 

 rare of recent years, but is now apparently on the increase ; 

 the red-backed sandpiper, which is very irregular here ; the 

 white-rumped sandpiper, which has but two other records ; 

 the laughing gull, with only a few previous occurrences, and 

 none of these in the spring; the black tern, previously noted 

 only once in spring ; the Caspian tern, otherwise but twice 

 recorded ; the common tern, with also but two definite pre- 

 vious records ; the mourning warbler, which has been very 

 infrequent of late years ; the blue-winged warbler, which is 

 also rare ; the prothonotary warbler, of which there are but 

 seven previous records; and the blue grosbeak, which is so 

 uncommon that its presence is always noteworthy. 



So unusual a spring season might reasonably be expected to 

 furnish a number of very late records for migrants and win- 

 ter residents; and in the following list are included those of 

 which the late spring records were broken by our observa- 

 tions on May 11 ; their latest previous known occurrence at 

 this season in this locality being represented by the date after 

 each : 



Mallard, March 19, 1905. 

 Black duck, April 21, 1915. 

 Hooded merganser, April 8, 1906. 

 Pigeon hawk, April 25, 1912. 

 Upland plover, April 24, 1890. 



Red-backed sandpiper, April 24, . 



White-rumped sandpiper, no previous spring record. 

 Herring gull. May 10, 1887. 

 Ring-billed gull, April 28, 1887. 

 Laughing gull, no previous spring record. 

 Caspian tern, no previous spring record. 

 Common tern, May 7, 1894. 

 Rusty grackle, April 30, 1875. 

 Tree sparrovi^, May 7, 1889. 



Comparison of the present census with that of 1913 brings 

 out some interesting points. While the weather on the two 



