April, 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



39 



38 39 , Meadow Larks, (S. magna,) had been 

 seen Jan. 28, Bluebirds Jan. 31, and Geese 

 and Ducks on Feb. 2. Certainly these 

 could not have gone much farther, as at a 

 point forty miles from Odin, almost due 

 north, no Ducks nor Geese were seen until 

 more than a month later, and at St. Louis 

 all day long on March 2, flocks of Ducks 

 were passing southward, driven away by 

 the guns of the hunters and the refreezing 

 of the waters. 



North of St. Louis, the only migra- 

 tory birds we will find are the Robin and 

 Bluebird. These appeared at Hillsborough, 

 HI., 39 1 ' 2 , on Feb. 25, and at Griggsville, 

 111., 39«, about the 1st of March. 



Turning to Iowa, we find no migration 

 reported, though Coralville, 41 40 , and 

 Mitchell, 43 19 , were rejoicing over the pres- 

 ence of flocks of Evening Grosbeaks, (H. 

 vespertina,) the first ever seen at either 

 place. Moving to Southern Wisconsin, 

 we find a few notes at Lake Mills, 43 06 , 

 where a single Robin appeared Feb. 16, 

 but left immediately. A solitary Red- 

 winged Blackbird also came and was fed 

 by a kind-hearted farmer. "When last seen 

 he had been- staying about the premises 

 two weeks waiting for Spring and looked 

 rather forlorn and discouraged. 



We are now fairly in the land of ice and 

 snow. On March 3. at Heron Lake, Minn., 

 43 4S , the mercury fell to twenty-seven de- 

 grees below zero, and from another point 

 comes the report "the ground is frozen to 

 a depth of four feet four inches." It will 

 be vain to seek here for bird movements, 

 except the quasi-migration of the Shore 

 Lark, (E. alpestris,) which in the middle 

 of .February spread over all this region, 

 even to the middle of the State. — W. W. 

 Cooke, Caddo, Ind. Ter. 



The Twelve-thread Plume Bird, (Empimachus albns.) 

 An illustration and description, from Brehm's Animal Life, 

 of this remarkable bird appears in the Scientific American 

 for March 22d. Rosenberg says not a single collection in 

 Europe has a perfect specimen. We have seen the speci- 

 men advertised by Sir. Frank B. Webster in our March 

 number which certainly appears perfect. 



Notes on Birds of the Northwest 

 Region. 



Water Ouzel (Clnclus mexicanus.) 

 This is undoubtedly one of the most in- 

 teresting birds of this region. It is of a 

 lead color, inclined to brown on the head, 

 but elsewhere uniform in color. It is an 

 aquatic bird and feeds on aquatic animal 

 substances. I have often watched them 

 for hours as they fed in the waters of 

 Clear Creek, Wyoming, being perfectly at 

 home hi the water. They delight in moun- 

 tain streams, where the water rushes over 

 huge boulders or takes a leap from some 

 cliff. Here they build then- nest, which 

 is a wonderful structure, dome-shaped and 

 with quite a large hole in the side for en- 

 trance. The eggs are pure white, elongate 

 and pointed. There is but one place here 

 where their nests have been found, a 

 young naturalist from Chicago tells me, 

 and that is " in Clear Creek Canyon, where 

 the water takes a fall of eighty or so feet. 

 The nest is built under the water, that is, 

 fastened to the rock and between the rock 

 and the falling water. The birds in enter- 

 ing the nest are obliged to pass through 

 the water and the nest is drenched with 

 spray." Their plumage is very compact, 

 wings stiff, tail square and short, bill 

 slender. 



Great Northern Shrike (Lanius borea- 

 lis.) This is another interesting bird and 

 breeds as abundantly here as the Robin 

 (Migrator ia) does in New England. I 

 shot one specimen in December, and have 

 occasionally seen others. Most of them, I 

 think, migrate south, but many stay 

 through the winter. The habit these birds 

 have of impaling then- prey on thorns, etc., 

 is well known, but for what purpose I 

 have never found out. I believe it is 

 only done during the breeding season. 

 The nest is a bulky affair of twigs and 

 finished inside with rootlets, generally 

 placed in dense thickets and not very far 

 from the ground. I have never found one 



