VERMONT BIRD CLUB 7 



cured me of wearing feathers of any description. From my ex- 

 periences I believe there are no compromises to be made with 

 the milliners and the influence of decking oneself even with 

 guinea feathers is such as to diminish and almost nullify the 

 very principle for which we as members of the Vermont Bird 

 Club stand. You may think I have taken a radical position, 

 but remember that I am merely suggesting possibilities, you are 

 as free as the birds of the air to accept or reject them. 



A RARE BIRD VISITOR. 



(The Connecticut Warbler, Oporornis Jgilis.) 

 BY DELIA I. GRIFFIN. 



On September i, 1908, Prof. Henry Fairbanks of St. 

 Johnsbury, brought to the Fairbanks Museum an unusual visit- 

 or in this locality. It was an olive-green bird, slender of shape 

 and with delicate bill. Its identity puzzled this man who has stud- 

 ied Vermont birds with both gun and field glass for a half cen- 

 tury. We took it to the bird exhibits in the Museum and stud- 

 ied and compared. A warbler it plainly was, but absence of any 

 distinctive coloring made it exceedingly difficult of identification. 

 Finally we looked at a Museum specimen and at the bird in 

 hand, questioning, "Can it really be?" Then we packed the 

 bird up and sent it to Mr. W. W. Cooke of the Biological Sur- 

 vey in Washington with a letter of full explanation in regard to 

 its finding, how the first member of the family astir in the morn- 

 ing found the little dead thing on the piazza floor, every indica- 

 tion pointing to its having flown against a window and so been 

 killed. 



We made this letter most humble as well, for had we not 

 come in contact with Mr. Cooke before, regarding dates of this 

 same warbler? 



The response to that letter certainly did our hearts good, for 

 Mr. Cooke wrote, "It is the Connecticut Warbler as I suppose 

 you had suspected and I want to congratulate you on the record, 

 for it is probably the second sure record for Vermont and not 

 only the most northern record in that state but the most northern 

 for the whole of New England. 



It will be of interest to the members of the Vermont Bird 

 Club to know that this warbler has been reported to the Museum 

 as being in St. Johnsbury on the following dates, nearly every 



