34 THE OOLOGIST 
The Carolina Wren in Philadelphia. 
The Great Carolina Wren is assured- 
ly again on the increase throughout 
North Philadelphia, where it used to 
be a common bird. Previous to the 
year 1900 it was not at all rare, though 
I could not regard it then as common 
as my records will attest, but for some 
reason, it practically disappeared and 
my note books contain no record of 
its occurrence from the above year 
till May 30, 1907, when one was seen 
at Cheltenham, Montgomery County, 
Pennsylvania, just across the Philadel- 
phia County line. It is such a noisy 
bird that I could not have overlooked 
its occurrence if it was here during 
those seven years. 
During 1908 and 1909 I have seen 
enough of these birds as to warrant 
a belief that they are becoming com- 
mon again, and as such I so regard 
them now, and sincerely hope that 
they will continue to increase. 
I cannot offer any explanation as to 
their disappearance during the sev- 
en years, but am glad that they are 
here to enliven the winter, for they 
are one of the few of our winter bird 
songsters, and whose cheery song and 
whistle are ever welcome to the weary 
strolling bird-lover. 
I have said that I am glad the Car- 
olina Wren has come back to me, but 
I wish I could say the same thing for 
the Winter Wren, whose occurrence 
here every winter is becoming less and 
less. It is true as yet they have not 
entirely disappeared, but they seem 
likely to, aS only one bird was seen 
during the winter of 1907-08 after De- 
cember, But I shall have something 
to say concerning its disappearance at 
another time, when I have studied my 
records and arranged them for annual 
comparison of its occurrence here 
now as compared with former years. 
Richard F. Miller. 
The Cormorant in Western Pennsyl- 
vania. 
Along the lake shore and ‘“Peninsu- 
la” at Hrie, Pennsylvania, the Cormo- 
rant is of occasional occurrence, but 
inland it is very rare. One was shot 
here on the river in October about 
twenty years ago and was mounted 
and is in posession of a party living 
here. 
April 30th, 1903, was hot and sultry 
and the thermometer reaching 80 de- 
grees right after dinner. Toward even- 
ing a high northwest wind sprang up 
and then a rain set in. All night it 
blew hard and at day light on the 
morning of May Ist it was 28 degrees, 
a drop of 52 dgrees in less than twen- 
ty-four hours. The high wind still 
continued and there was _ frequent 
blinding snow-squalls. 
I took my gun and went down the 
river to see if the storm had brought 
anything of interest. The river was 
very rough and in the big eddy close 
to the shore I saw as I peered careful- 
ly down a big dark bird that I took to 
be a loon. As I had killed three fine 
adults within a week I concluded not 
to sneak on it but to let it go. 
I kept on down and seeing me, the 
bird swam out into the river. Too 
late I saw I had made a mistake. It 
sat and looked altogether different 
and is bobbed about on the waves I 
saw it was black all over. I could 
also plainly see the pouch and knew 
I was looking at an adult Cormorant. 
I withdrew from sight but was too 
late as the alarmed bird arose and flew 
down. The best part of the day was 
spent in a vain attempt to again find 
it. I consider this a very good record 
especially so, as it is a spring record. 
It is unknown to old hunters and resi- 
dents along the river. 
The same storm brought in a num- 
ber of long-tailed ducks in full black 
and brown breeding dress. A free 
scaup also appeared. I noted thir- 
teen new arrivals, including Nashville 
and Cape May Warblers, but have 
always felt sore over the easy way I 
lost such a prize. 
R. B. Simpson. 
