ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM THE CHICAGO AREA 49 



these fields on April 8th. The temperature was 33-35 ; the wind 

 blew a gale. It was extremely unpleasant to be out, to see and 

 make headway. Yet on those bleak, bare fields thousands of 

 Longspurs were found, evidently in high spirits, twittering and 

 tinkling, chasing each other and playing as though these were 

 days to their liking. And no doubt they were ; similar weather is 

 perhaps the rule or at least common in their northern tundras. 

 Several that we collected were far advanced in -their nuptial 

 plumage, and by the 5th of May, when the last leave for the north, 

 it is practically perfect. The first warblers I saw, were several 

 Myrtle Warblers on April nth and on the 16th the Palm Warbler 

 arrived. On the 24th at the dunes, Henslows' Sparrow was common 

 uttering his dry tsray tsray, and Fox and White-throated Sparrows 

 were plentiful among many others. At this occasion I saw also 

 the Varying Hare (Lcpits americamis vir ginianus) , showing that 

 these tamarack swamps here are islands of purely Canadian fauna 

 in the transition zore. The last Evening Grosbeak was seen May 

 4th in Jackson Park, after the Whippoorwill, Baltimore Oriole, 

 Bobolink and many others had arrived from the south. A real 

 rarity was the finding of the Mockingbird on May 18th; Woodruff 

 in his " Birds of the Chicago Area" mentions about six occurrences. 



Every observer of birds knows that no two migrations are quite 

 alike, a fact that greatly adds to the interest in the study of bird 

 migration. But also the nesting season usually holds some sur- 

 prises. Such a feature in last spring's nesting was the low placing 

 of nests of certain species here at River Forest, not found to the 

 same degree in other years. While there are many trees about, I 

 found most nests of Robins in bushes two and three feet up, also 

 several Mourning Doves nests on the ground, in fact all except 

 one were so placed. My theory is, that disagreeable experiences 

 in previous years in this vicinity, caused by the pilfering of nests 

 by Crows and Blue Jays, were perhaps the reason for this low 

 placing. 



The lake shore in the dune region is always apt to yield sur- 

 prises in the late summer and early autumn. August 30th presented 

 beside many Black Terns, some of them yet entirely black, Forsters 

 Terns, Gulls, many Sanderlings, Willets, Turnstows, and Semi- 

 palmated Sandpipers also such rarities as two Black-bellied Plovers, 

 still in their breeding plumage, a Caspian Tern and a Buff breasted 

 Sandpiper. Later in the season Mr. H. L. Stoddard of the Field 



