Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 87 



They were feeding on the berries of the Coral Berry, 

 Indian Currant or Buck Vine, as the shrub is variously 

 called. They had probably been feeding there all day, for 

 the frozen ground was covered with the pulp of the ber- 

 ries, discarded by the birds in the attempt to get at the 

 kernels, which served them as food for the time being. 



Most of the Purple Finches seen in winter are in the 

 brown dress of the female or young male, but there are 

 always a few more or less crimson colored old males 

 among them. Brown birds seen in the act of singing are 

 probably all young males, though it is possible that 

 females try to sing, as we know that female Cardinals 

 and female Pine Grosbeaks are doing. 



The Yellow-rumped Warbler or Myrtle Bird is not 

 really a winter resident with us. When we see it late in 

 December, as we see it often, we can label it a delayed 

 transient, rather than winter resident, because records 

 of their occurrence in January and February to the mid- 

 dle of March are rare. Some observers insist on calling 

 all birds seen in the month of December winter residents. 

 This is a mistake. A bird may be kept back by an abun- 

 dance of its favorite food, as, for instance, in this case the 

 drupes of Poison Ivy^ or Red Cedar berries, but when 

 these are all gone the birds will leave and not return 

 until spring migration sets in. In the Atlantic states it 

 is the Myrtle Berry or Bay Berry, the fruit of Myrica 

 Carolinensis, which grows in large numbers along the 

 coast, that keeps the bird lingering through a part of 

 winter and has given it the name of Myrtle Bird. To us 

 Yellow-rump seems to be a more appropriate name. Late 

 in fall as well as in early spring Chipping Sparrows and 

 Bluebirds are often their companions. Bluebirds may 

 also be mentioned among our winter birds, for though 

 the real winter home of the species is south of the Ozarks, 

 there are always a few remaining with us in sheltered 

 bottoms and are liable to appear at their breeding stands 

 any warm day, even in January. This year the first were 



