1 06 General IVotes. 



an accumulation has seldom if ever been seen before. The streets and 

 parks were full of the birds, and the daily papers all had their saj upon the 

 unwonted apparition. In the Smithsonian Grounds, for example, I saw- 

 one daj a Jlock of a hundred or more Orchard Orioles, mixed with Bal' 

 timores. There were flocks of Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, 

 etc., and any quantity of Thrushes, Vireos, Flycatchers and Warblers 

 — among the latter the rare beauty Dendrxca tigriiia. Of the latter Dr. 

 Prentiss took several — the only ones we have known to be captured here 

 for many years. The cause of this gathering of the clans was doubtless 

 the cold wave Mr. King speaks of in the preceding paragraph. — Elliott 

 CouES, Washington, D. C. 



More Definite Statistics needed in regard to the Abundance 

 OF Birds.— It is deeply to be regretted, it seems to me, that we have so 

 little specific information in regard to the abundance of birds in the 

 various portions of the United States from which lists of species have 

 been published. 



Such terms as ''common, "not common," "abundant." ''rare," "rather 

 rare." etc.. may have such different values in the minds of different observ- 

 ers, as to render them of but little value for any but the most general 

 considerations. They are absolutely valueless in the discussion of such 

 economic questions as. Can birds ever become abundant in thickly settled 

 districts.? and, What birds, if left to themselves, are likely to become most 

 abundant in thickly settled sections.^ 



The table given below indicates the character and kind of information 

 which is much needed in the discussion of many important ornithological 

 questions. 



The first four columns are compiled from notes made in Jefferson 

 County, Wisconsin, between July 31 and August 7. 1877: those in the 

 last four columns are from notes taken in the \i(.inity of Ithaca. N. Y.. in 

 1S78. 



In each column, opposite the name of the species, is given the number 

 of individuals which were observed in travelling the distance indicated 

 near the foot of each column. The item, •birds seen or heard but not 

 named." includes those individuals which were known to exist in the 

 territory passed over, but which for various reasons coidd not be identified 

 with certainty. 



The salient features of the two localities, briefly stated, are these : — 



In the vicinity of Ithaca, there is a long, deep, and narrow valley, having 

 somewhat rolling, glen-cut sides ; in it lies Cayuga Lake, deep and weed- 

 less, stretching, like a broad river, to the northward. Its east and west 

 banks are abrupt and rocky and cut. at intervals, by deep wooded glens. 

 A small grass swamp, bearing a few trees, at the south end of the lake 

 and running up into the city, is about the only low land in the vicinity. 

 Formerly a mixed deciduous and evergreen forest covered the hills. Now. 

 mere remnants stand near together upon small closely packed farms on 

 both sides of the valley. The houses are numerous, the orchards large, 

 and there are few fields not having some trees standing in them. 



