112 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



domesticated as a cage bird. It evinced some limited 

 capabilities of melodious song, different, but sweeter than the 

 normal red wing voicings. The owner of the bird seemed 

 proud of the acquisition, and was accustomed to tell his 

 neighbors, who came to the house in some numbers to listen 

 to the dusky-feathered stranger's musical performances, that 

 he believed the acquisition was a genuine American " Mock- 

 ing Bird." 



Odd individuals of the Virginia Rail or Sora Rail we 

 have heard of being left forlorn by the main body of that 

 species. These lingerers sometimes seek shelter and 

 associates among the domestic poultry of the barn-yard, 

 especially if an October snow squall should occur. 



A few stragglers from the groups of migrating Meadow 

 Lark occasionally make the attempt to winter in this latitude, 

 and these "reluctants" usually resort to the shelter of hay 

 stacks, or even big straw stacks, which are sometimes left 

 standing for the wintry months in outlying parts or in the 

 least frequented parts of a farm. 



The curious trait of the snow buntings being semi- 

 nocturnal seems a suggestion of the habit being acquired by 

 these birds during their sojourn in Arctic Latitudes, for the 

 traveller Nansen narrates that birds of this species 

 occasionally visited his "bivouac" place when not many 

 degrees from the North Pole. 



February 27th, 1907. The winter season now drawing 

 toward its end gives one an opportunity to speak of its type 

 or character. 



The normal degree of cold set in and put a peremptory 

 stop to fall plowing on the first day of December, 1906, yet 

 very little snow fell in this district, and we have had no 

 sleighing so far on the highways. 



The degree of cold has been about normal during a 

 number of nights. During January the thermometers 

 indicated ten below zero, although there has been brief 

 alternate mild spells so far in February, On the 15th and 

 J 6th there was a few hours of rapid thaw with a rise of the 



