34 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 8-No. 5 



thickets under a temperature of 38 and 

 42 degrees below zero. 



No. 38 received in Jan. a Harlan's Buz- 

 zard and a Snowy Owl from near his home. 



No. 21 on 2-10 saw two Tufted Titmice, 

 five Carolina Wrens and one Lapland Long- 

 spur. 



No. 22 has shot during the Winter, of 

 Owls : 1 Short-eared, 5 Barred, 2 Saw Whet, 

 3 Great-horned and 1 Snowy, and on 2-10 

 saw a Meadow Lark. 



No. 52 : Contrary to usual custom, a 

 few Crows have stayed with us this Win- 

 ter. Have seen them when the mercury 

 said — 30 degrees. Can see more Crows 

 here during any one week of Summer than 

 I saw during a nine years' residence at 

 Kipon, Wis., only sixty miles from here. 

 Last Fall a flock of 75 to 100 House 

 Sparrows left their usual quarters on the 

 main street of the city and Wintered at a 

 large barn near my house. Their niunbers 

 have constantly decreased until now only 

 three remain. The flocks in other parts 

 of the city have suff'ered the same way, 

 and not more than twenty Sparrows can 

 now be found in a city which last Fall was 

 full of them. Thanks are certainly due to 

 some kind agency for the good work. If 

 it was not for the strict city law against 

 shooting within the city limits I would 

 soon finish those that remain. Perhaps 

 this may account for part of the decrease : 

 2-13 I saw a Shrike swoop down on an 

 House Sparrow and kill it almost imme- 

 diately ; a cat scared the Butcher Bird from 

 its prey and I secured the Sparrow. March 

 1st, while hunting near a river, saw and 

 secured a pair of Evening Grosbeaks. 

 This must be considered a rare exjDerience, 

 as in twelve years' hunting through this 

 part of the State I have never before seen 

 them. In Minn. I found them quite com- 

 mon. Their stomachs contained nothing 

 but the btids of trees. 



No. 58 has found the Brown Creeper in 

 Jan., even so far north as his station. 



No. 32, contrary to all the recorded hab- 



its of that bird, has found this Winter the 

 Cardinal Grosbeak. 



No. 38 foiind Cardinal Grosbeak, Swamp 

 Sparrow, Tufted Titmouse, Crow and Yel- 

 low-shafted Flicker. 



No. 26 shows his more Southern resi- 

 dence byreportingMeadoAv Larks common 

 all Winter, Cardinal Grosbeak, Towhee 

 Bunting Bluebirds, common ; Robins, a 

 few ; Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow- 

 shafted Flicker, Sparrow Hawk, Turkey 

 Buzzard, Black Vulture, Wild Pigeons, 

 Mourning Dove, Wild Turkey, the last six 

 all common and resident. Also a few 

 Blue Herons and Green Herons, together 

 with a few Wood Ducks. The Lapland 

 Longspurs have showed their dislike of 

 the northern weather by appearing there 

 in large flocks, much beyond their usual 

 southern limit. 



As I write, March 6 th, the first real 

 wave of northward migration has been 

 progressing for about fifteen days. It was 

 at first very rapid, the birds spreading in 

 a few days over a large area, but it was 

 suddenly checked, then advanced once 

 more until it reached nearly to northern 

 Illinois. Here again it was stopped by so 

 fierce a polar breeze that most of the birds 

 have returned somewhat to the south. 



A fuller and more accurate account will 

 be given in the next number. — W. W. 

 Cooke, Jefferson, Wis. 



Fearless Criticism. — Gilbert White's ac- 

 curacy and natural modesty made him state 

 facts of which he was not" absolutely as- 

 sured in a hypothetical form. "I think," 

 he says, "that White Owls never hoot." 

 To this Rennie appends a note — "White 

 Owls do hoot. I have shot one in the act." 

 Waterton, who held a low opinion of the 

 professor's pi'actical knowledge, remai-ks, 

 " As Mr. Rennie asserts that he has shot a 

 White Owl in the act of hooting, I admit 

 that that particular Owl did hoot, but no 

 other Wliite Owl since the world began 

 ever did hoot." 



