Vol. XX 

 ' 1905 



n ~| Bowdish, Ornithology of a Churchyard. 3^3 



school, and a wing on either side of the church, each about 120 

 feet long by 48 feet wide. A narrow walk completes the circuit 

 of the churchyard, about twenty feet from its outer edge. The 

 grounds contain three large, ten medium, and forty smaller trees, 

 not counting several that were being removed at the time of my 

 count, and a number of shrubs and flowers, grass-plots and grass- 

 grown graves. Even the most nerve-hardened native bird would 

 hardly select such a spot for a summer home, nor attempt to take 

 up winter quarters there. 



Throughout the greater part of the summer and winter the noisy 

 flock of English Sparrows domiciled here holds undisputed sway. 

 It seems probable that the native birds that occur in the church- 

 yard during migrations are such as are attracted to the green spot 

 while passing in their flights directly over it, and that they are in 

 no case stragglers from the temporary residents of the near-by 

 country or parks. I have visited the churchyard many times in 

 summer and winter, and during these periods between regular 

 migratory seasons, I have yet to see or hear of the occurrence of 

 a native bird. I have no spring record later than May, and no 

 fall record after November, save the one of the Tree Sparrow, 

 December 8, in which case it could not be fairly said that the 

 season of migration was past. 



From my data I am inclined to believe, too, that the bird move- 

 ment of this very restricted area reflects, in a small way, that of 

 the outside country. When the greatest number of birds was 

 seen in the churchyard, it generally transpired that a bird-wave 

 was on in the country just outside the city, which was also re- 

 flected in Central Park. 



Misfortune is said to make strange bed-fellows, and certainly 

 migration produces unexpected incongruities between birds and 

 environment. Species whose sociability about the homes of man 

 in the country would lead one to expect them to be among the 

 first and most common to occur in the city parks and green spots, 

 seem in many cases to be strangely wanting in the records for such 

 places, while others of notably retiring habits, surprise one by 

 their unexpected appearance in the crowded marts of civilization. 

 The Woodcock has been recorded on the lawn of the American 

 Museum of Natural History and in Trinity Churchyard, while 



