General Notes 93 



The first record was on January 13, 1918, when at least one in- 

 dividual of this species was seen, with juncos, in a stubble field. 

 Having no gun I could not secure the specimen, but a week later, 

 January 19, I visited the locality again. This time I found five 

 or six tree sparrows in a large weed field accompanying a fiock of 

 twenty-five cardinals. All were busily gleaning weed seed, and I 

 secured two specimens. A small flock of song sparrows were 

 nearby, also, gathering weed seed. 



The following day I flushed an individual from under an old 

 bridge and observed it at ten feet until it flew away. Later on in 

 the day, near the end of a long tramp, I came upon three more 

 feeding among the weeds at the edge of a country lane. A foot of 

 snow was on the ground land the thermometer registered 12 de- 

 grees above zero. Two of the birds flew up and allowed me to 

 approach within ten feet, making the use of my gun unnecessary. 



My next trip afield was on February 3, when toward the end 

 of a day's tramp, and in a locality several miles from the ones 

 above mentioned, I located a group of six tree sparrows. They 

 were in a small hillside thicket flanked by woods to one side and 

 cultivated fields on the other. After observing them for a time 

 I secured a female for my cabinet. The weather in the meantime 

 had moderated, there being but little ice formed during the week 

 pervious. My field work having been curtailed during the balance 

 of the month, I am unable to say how long they remained. 



Under date of January 25, 1918, Mr. Ben J. Blincoe of Bards- 

 town, Nelson Co., Kentucky, wrote me that he had seen a few there 

 during the month. He stated that his only previous record was on 

 March 5, 1912, when he secured a specimen, which he mounted. 



A. F. Ganier. 



Nashville, Tenn. 



LOCAL BIRD NOTES AT AMES, STORY COUNTY, IOWA. 



The notes following are culled from the fragmentary records of 

 my hobby, kept while attending Iowa State College for two years. 

 At all times, I used an eight-power stero-binocular in making ob- 

 servations. 



The locality about Ames is a very favorable one for bird study, 

 the forested valleys of the Skunk river. Squaw creek, and their 

 tributaries, attracting all kinds of woodland birds, while the ad- 

 jacent farm lands are the favored habitat of the prairie loving 

 species. Water birds are scarce as there is only one small pond 

 and no large lakes or marshes in the vicinity. 



I have given the records of the rarer specimens only. 



