SHOOTING BIRDS FOR THE PURPOSE OF IDENTIFICATION 229 



difficult thing to approach near enough to observe the bird's 

 markings accurately. And a further difficulty will be experienced 

 by the constant movements of the bird while nycatching. But by 

 persevering efforts I shall sooner or later obtain a good view of 

 the Acadian Flycatcher, which will fully satisfy me as to its identi- 

 fication. 



Another species, so rare that but a single record of it was made in 

 all my observations, will now be taken to decide its identification. 

 This is the Montana Junco, which was seen in a flock of slate- 

 colored Juncos early in autumn. The plumage of this junco was 

 strikingly beautiful compared with the sober coat of the common 

 junco. And with the assistance of Mr. W. B. Barrow's description 

 of the species, I felt satisfied that the specimen I saw was the 

 Montana Junco. 



Few pleasures are greater to an ornithologist than when he sees 

 for the first time a new spec'es of bird. The writer had this pleasure 

 on five different occasions in the spring of 19 18. The new species I 

 found were the Rusty Blackbird, Franklin's Gall, Fish Hawk, 

 Orange-crowned Warbler and Bullock's Oriole. The last named 

 species was seen on a morning after a very high wind that blew from 

 the west. Fortunately, a friend, who is also an observer of birds, 

 was with me, and he saw the strange oriole first. We approached 

 quite near the apple tree in which the bird was perched and obtained 

 an excellent view of it. We saw at once that it was not a Baltimore 

 Oriole, nor were the markings identical with those of the male 

 Bullock's Oriole. Mature consideration, then, made it clear to us 

 that our bird was a female of this species, which probably had been 

 carried before the storm during the preceding night. 



The Orange-crowned Warbler is a species that arrives rather 

 late in May, and is partial to orchards. These two facts were useful 

 to me in identifying this species. On May 27, 1918, I saw a pair of 

 these warblers in an orchard. Now, my identification of this warbler 

 was based on my knowledge of warblers in general, and a comparison 

 of this species with what I knew of it from reading. And I felt 

 satisfied that these birds were Orange-crowned Warblers. 



In sending a report of the spring migration of our birds for 19 18 

 to Mr. Amos Butler, author of the Birds of Indiana, he was partic- 

 ularly interested in my record of the Franklin's Gull. He wrote to 

 me requesting the facts connected with my identification of the 

 species, and further stated he thought that the species had not 



