20 Bulletin No. ig. 



exception of a mottling of snow in the woods sloping away from the sun 

 and a few drifts from two inches to two feet deep in northern and western 

 exposures. The budding spicewood and the hardy swamp cabbage were 

 our first hints of a spring to come. 



My chief difficulty lay in working hedges and briery fence-rows. 

 Two persons working together could readily overcome this difficulty. 

 The birds, with few exceptions, were well out in the sunlight, the balmy 

 weather accounting for the poor showing of the woods and thickets. I 

 was much disappointed in the small number observed in the numerous 

 small orchards, from which I had hoped to take many records. 



As almost all kinds were associated in flocks, the chance of repeating 

 records was at a minimum. Doubtless a substantial percentage was 

 overlooked, particularly in solitary individuals hiding in the grass, weeds, 

 greenbriers and evergreens, or like the Owls or "Sapsuckers" tucked 

 away in the bowels of forest and orchard trees. 



My first find of note was a flock of fifty-six plump little Goldfinches 

 making their morning toilet while perched on a bushy roadside tree. 

 My record is as below : 



6g Crows, i flock of 46, remainder in pairs or detached 155 Juncos, 

 7 flocks of 10, 15, 16, 22, 24, 30, 33, respectively, 5 detached and soli- 

 tary. 18 Tree Sparrows, with Juncos. 8 Song Sparrows, with Juncos. 

 52 Goldfinches, 2 flocks, 6 and 46. i Bluebird. 8 Meadow Larks, i 

 scattered flock. i White-breasted Nuthatch, solitary. 3 Cardinals, i 

 pair, I solitary. 4 Downy Woodpeckers, solitary. Total 319, not in- 

 cluding the English Sparrows, which were most numerous in the vicinity 

 of buildings, but not uncommonly found feeding with the Juncos along 

 the fences and borders of thickets. I have also divided the birds 

 according to location as follows: — Fields, fences and hedgerows, 152. 

 Yards and orchards, 24. Brambly upland thickets, 2. Borders of 

 swampy thickets, 72. Woods, 8. Flying ones, 61. 



Deducting the 61 Crows flying over and the single Bluebird, on the 

 ground that they are not true winter residents of this district, and adding 

 the probable 25 per cent, overlooked, we have in the neighborhood of 400 

 native birds to the full square mile. Doubtless ten times that number of 

 English Sparrows subsist in the same territory. 



The above is a poor showing in comparison with a horizon taken the 

 day previous in a two-mile walk — going and returning — southeast of. Ber- 

 wyn — where both food and shelter are more plentiful. As it was a busi- 

 ness trip I could not loiter, yet I observed 13 species and 197 individuals, 

 divided as following: 7 Bluebirds, i Purple (irackle, 5 Downy Wood- 



