488 Cooke, Winter Birds of Oklahoma. Loct. 



monopolized the free lunch, but one bright Cardinal came occasionally, 

 with a few White-crowns in plain brown head-gear, while the still more 

 humble Tree Sparrow made up for its lack of beauty, by keeping steadily 

 at work and devouring more seeds to the minute than any of the others. 



The numbers of the Tree Sparrow remained unchanged through the rest 

 of January and to February 26. They seemed to have decreased by March 

 1, and the bulk probably left the night of March 9; by March 11, only a 

 few were left and none were seen after this date. 



72. Spizella passerina passerina. Chipping Sparrow. — Should be 

 a breeding bird at Caddo, but none were noted until late in October, and 

 even by November 6 not many had been seen. The species never was 

 common, and although a few were seen in December and January it was a 

 decidedly rare bird through the winter. Spring arrivals had not yet been 

 noted the first of April. 



73. Spizella pusilla pusilla. Field Sparrow. — Seems not to breed 

 at Caddo for none were seen there until several appeared on October 6, 

 from which time they increased slowly for the next month, until they be- 

 came fairly common and then remained so throughout the entire winter. 

 With the opening of spring February 20-23, migrants from the south 

 caused a notable increase, but these passed on almost immediately taking 

 with them the winter visitors and before March 25 all had left. 



74. Junco aikeni. White-winged Junco.— On February 21 one 

 was shot in my yard in town which was a perfectly typical specimen of this 

 form in its highest and brightest plumage. It was in company with a 

 second, and had been seen several times previously since its first appearance 

 February 14. A single one seen March 7 completed the winter's record. 



75. Junco hyemalis hyemalis. Slate-colored Junco. — A single 

 bird appeared October 25, but no more were seen until a small party came 

 November 7, followed November 16 by a further increase. They became 

 common November 26 after the second real norther of the season. After 

 the next norther December 19, that froze everything solid, the Junco be- 

 came one of the commonest birds of the prairie. It was still common 

 December 25, but much less than the previous week and it .soon still 

 further decreased until, during January and February, while not exactly 

 rare, yet it was far from common and remained so until its ranks were 

 swelled by spring arrivals February 23. The largest flocks of the whole 

 season were seen March 1, the bulk of these birds departed the night of 

 March 9, and most of the remained followed the succeeding night. So 

 completely did they leave that on March 19 only a single bird was seen and 

 another one March 26 was the last. 



76. Melospiza melodia melodia. Song Sparrow.— Not only did 

 it not breed at Caddo, but it was not seen there until late — November 6. 

 It would have been expected much earlier, but so conspicuous a bird could 

 hardly have been overlooked. Two days later it had become fairly com- 

 mon, and on November 29 it was one of the common birds found in the 

 heavy timber along the Blue. It was less numerous there a month later, 



