236 Wright, Acadian Chickadees in Massachusetts. LApril 



ACADIAN CHICKADEES (PENTIIESTES HUDSONICUS 

 LITTORALIS) IN BOSTON AND VICINITY IN 

 THE FALL OF 1913. 



BY HOEACE W. WRIGHT. 



An unprecedented incursion of Acadian Chickadees into the 

 territory about Boston and in Eastern Massachusetts began to be 

 observed on October 29, and their presence has been recorded in 

 various locaHties throughout the month of November and to the 

 period of midwinter, 1914. On the date above named three indi- 

 viduals were seen in South Sudbury not far from the Wayside Inn 

 at a roadside bordered with a considerable extent of white pine 

 growth. Their characteristic tones in calling at once made identi- 

 fication easy. This occurrence in itself was unusual, for I knew of 

 no previous record of even three birds of this species having been 

 seen together in Eastern Massachusetts. In November, 1904, 

 I had seen four birds in as many different localities between the 

 4th and 25th days (Auk, XXII, Jan., 1905, p. 87). The records 

 of other observers, which are within my knowledge by publication, 

 are of a single individual, or in one instance two birds, and of but one 

 bird, rarely two, in a season, in years rather widely separated. 



It was with increased interest, therefore, that two days later, 

 October 31, I met two more Acadian Chickadees, one in the Law- 

 rence woods at West Medford in growth of red cedar, and the 

 second near the western shore of Spot Pond in Middlesex Fells, 

 Stoneham, in white pine and oak growth. On the following day, 

 November 1, three more birds were found in cedar-grown pastures 

 in Belmont, two being seen together moving from one red cedar 

 to another in company with Black-capped Chickadees, and the 

 third bird a quarter of a mile farther on in similar growth. Upon 

 visiting the Public Garden on the next day, November 2, within 

 a few minutes of my entrance, the voice of hudsoniciLs was heard, 

 and the bird was presently seen in an English hawthorn, calling 

 sufficiently often to reveal its movement from this tree to others, 

 all deciduous, for there are no permanent evergreens within the 

 Garden. Two Brown Creepers were this bird's nearest companions. 



