72 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 5 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



A MOXTHLY MAGAZISE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



E9PECIALXT DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OP 



BIRDS. 



THEIR SESTS AXD EGGS. 



DESIGNED AS A MEANS FOR THE INTERCHANOE OF NOTES 

 AND OBSERVATIONS ON BIRD LIFE. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 



PAWTLX'KET, K. I. 



Editor's Notes. 



Since our last issue, a very marked change 

 has come over our local bird-life. The un- 

 seasonable warmth of the third week of 

 April, has gone very far to neutralize the 

 uugenial weather which preceded it. Our 

 early bird visitors are here in full force and 

 activity, and nesting is pi-oceeding with 

 energy. Our reports from various quarters 

 are beginning to show that the bird season 

 has really opened. All concerned — birds, 

 vegetation and observers — seem an>dous to 

 make up for the delayed Springtime by un 

 usually hard work. 



The Council of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union has secured from Congress a 

 grant of $5,000, for the i)urpose of carry- 

 ing out their plans for more efficient obser- 

 vations on bird migration. This grant will 

 enable the committee to carry out the work 

 of the present year, and assist them in pre- 

 senting to the public the results of their 

 last year's work. The report of the com- 

 mittee on classitication of N. A. birds has 

 been presented to the council. 



We recur to the alleged occurrence of 

 Red winged Blackbird var. (/ubeniator in 

 South Carolina, (O. and 0., X, p. 40), to 

 say that the specimen, kindly sent us by 



Mr. Hoxie, has been submitted to several 

 competent authorities, who have come to 

 the conclusion that the identification can- 

 not be sustained. 



Mr. Fred. Corey (Santa Paula, Cal.,) 

 sends us a set of three eggs of the Cactus 

 Wren, the identification of which, he says, 

 is imdoubted. Instead of being " white, 

 uniformly and minutely dotted with sahnon 

 color," (Cones,) they are sprinkled and 

 blotched, thickly at the lai-ger end, with 

 brown and lilac. The three eggs are 

 almost identical in size and marking. 



Kansas Birds — Fall Migration. 



BY PUOF. D. E. LANTZ, MANHATTAN, KANSAS. 



Observations in tbe fiekl during the months of 

 September, October and November of the past 

 two years, convince me that many of our birds do 

 not follow the same route in migrating soutliward 

 that they do in going nortli in Springtime. It 

 will be conceded by all western observers that 

 fewer transient species are seen in the Fall tlian 

 in the Spring. Tliis can only be explained on 

 the theory that they go by otlier routes, or that 

 the movement is by night and made in silence. 

 Among the abundant Spring migrants wliich have 

 not been seen in the return migration at tliis 

 |)oint, are the following: Olive-backed Thrush, 

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, BUack and Wliite Creeper, 

 Tennessee Warbler, Golden-crown Tlirush, Grass 

 Finch, C'lay-cnlored Sparrow, Bobolink, Traill's 

 Flycatcher, and many of the Sandpipers. On the 

 other hand, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Orange- 

 crowned Warbler, Leconte's Banting, and a few 

 others are abundant in the Fall, and not found, 

 or rare, in the Spring migration. 



The southward movement begins with our resi- 

 dent species early in August. The Vireos, except 

 Bell's; tlie Wood Thrush, the Scarlet Tanager, 

 nearly all our Warblers, are gone by August 15th. 

 One of the earliest to depart is our abundant 

 Baltimore Oriole. From August .ith to August 

 23d, not an individual of this species was seen ; 

 but, during a cold rain on the latter date, its fa- 

 miliar notes were heard from the dense foliage of 

 a tall Maple. These came Irom an adult male, 

 which was also seen on the following day. 



About September 1st, they became rather com- 

 mon once more, but did not tarry long. September 

 13th, an adult male was seen, and a last migrant 

 on September 20th. I regard all the Orioles seen 



