50 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Some Winter Bird Notes 



Perhaps at no season of the year is 

 consistent study more remunerative to 

 the ever observant student of ornithol- 

 ogy, than in winter. The spring-time 

 and summer, when the cleared field 

 and the woodland, the marsh and treach- 

 erous slough alike present the activity 

 of a "Cherokee Strip," as the feathered 

 hosts return to take possession and 

 rear their broods, excite our enthusiasm 

 as we note the industry and the thought 

 displayed on every hand. In winter 

 our admiration is great as we note the 

 hardships so bravely met, the reason, 

 tact, and wit, displayed by those daring 

 little fellows who, when the pomp and 

 color of the annual migratory ranks has 

 passed, remain to battle with frosty 

 blast and driven sleet and often look 

 without despair, upon starvation in its 

 many threats. Now is brought out the 

 inherent dispositions, so various in the 

 different species, as each thought, each 

 nerve is strained to procure food and 

 detect the many natural enemies. Not 

 only is the utmost diligence required 

 but reason, undisguised, is made appar- 

 ent in each act. The summer of plenty 

 and content brings forth, in the lower 

 forms as in the highest, the happiness, 

 the gayety, attendant upon success. 

 With man in the arctic wilderness in 

 winter and with birds exposed to the 

 same conditions, we find the natures 

 altered, the altitude changed from one 

 of exuberance to that of grave reason- 

 ing and utmost industry as necessity 

 compels. 



Then in winter we may learn much 

 of a bird's depth of thought which it 

 may command as environment re- 

 quires. 



Very noticeable, during my almost 

 daily walks about the fields, has been 

 the apparent absence of three of our 

 most common and regular winter res- 

 idents: the Tree Sparrow, Spizella 

 monticola, the Junco., Junco hy emails, 



and the Prairie Horned Lark, Otocoris- 

 alpestris fraticola . These are usually 

 to be found in abundance in winter, — 

 the Tree Sparrows and Horned Larks 

 in the fields feeding upon the seeds of 

 weeds, which have been allowed to 

 stand, and the Juncos more frequently 

 about the shubbery and kitchen door. 

 The Juncos came here in the fall as- 

 usual with the Tree Sparrows, but I 

 have seen neither since October 28th, 

 '93. Where these birds are if they are 

 present at all, I am at loss to know. 



Sometime a^o, a laborer came to me- 

 with the information that a "big hawk" 

 was flying round and round a marshy 

 pond which he had chanced to pass. 

 I immediately set forth, for it was al- 

 ready nearly dark. When I came 

 within sight, a large bird which I at: 

 first took to be a male Marsh Hawk,. 

 was soaring above the coarse grass and 

 snow, now and then swooping suddenly 

 down to alight for a moment but as 

 suddenly to take wing again. As I drew 

 nearer I recoguized it to be aBarredOwl, 

 Syrmum nebulosum . Never before have 

 I had so good a chance to study this 

 owl's method of hunting. It is exceed- 

 ingly active in flight, soaring fully two- 

 thirds of the time, as would a hawk. 

 Its agility in turning suddingly upward;' 

 or downward and in wheeling about 

 was remarkable, much after the fashion 

 of the last. It was evidently in search 

 of meadow mice. I was finally detected 

 and his owl-ship made haste in escaping; 

 over the hills to the woodlands near. 



In none of our winter birds is shown' 

 such a lovable disposition, combined 

 with so much of modest beauty, as in 

 our common Mourning Dove, Zenai- 

 dura macroura. This winter a flock, of 

 about twenty, has made a farm yard 

 its head quarters, picking up the corn 

 and seeds, scattered in feeding the 

 stock. These doves increase very fast, 

 but many perish in our coldest winter- 

 weather. Many a cold morning have I 

 found several of these tender birds- 



