3 THE AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 
It may have been another male of the same species, but only 
one pair of these birds had been nesting in the neighborhoad. 
nor did any other pair take up their abode with us that year. 
In our vicinity the cardinal grosbeak has become subur- 
ban ,building in the vines of porches of our own and our neigh- 
bors’ houses. To tne contrary, English sparrows have almost 
deserted our streets, since automobiles drop but little hali- 
digested grain. Robins with us are abundant and seem to be 
increasing in numbers but the blackbirds, or bronze grackles, 
are by far the most numerous of our feathered populations. 
In September and October they are about us in imposing flocks 
that must contain hundreds of thousands of individuals. 
Our bluebirds fluctuate greatly in numbers. Once they were 
not observed for two successive seasons. During their some- 
times belated journeys south, violent, cold storms no doubt 
destroy many of them. The red-headed woodpecker appears 
of late to be growing very.rare. We wonder if such locally 
new pests as the San José scale may injuriously affect its 
health. The red-eyed vireo is reported by some observers to 
be very common in Pennsylvania, but in our neighborhood, so 
far as our observations go, it is never seen. The warbling 
vireo is common. Purple martins and orchard orioles have 
apaprently gone from us permanently; the former ousted by 
English saprrows, the latter disinherited by the felling of a 
thick-foliaged buckeye tree. 
The list of birds that we have satisfactorily identified in 
our area includes about a hundred different species; the num- 
ber of species seen each year varies from 75 to 85 according 
to our luck and diligence. Obviously our chances for the thrill 
of future discovery, even within the narrow confines of our 
avian territory, “jist here about home,” have not been ex- 
hausted. 
