228 



Bird - Lore 



birds, as Prof. Wells W. Cooke so often 

 claimed. — Lynds Jones, Oberlin, Ohio. 



Minneapolis (Minnesota) Region.^ 

 The weather during the latter half of April 

 continued cool with very little of the feel- 

 ing of spring in the air. Raw, cold, north- 

 west winds prevailed. The ice disappeared 

 from the larger lakes during the third week 

 of the month. 



With the coming of May, spring made 

 itself felt in real earnest for the first time 

 this season. During the first three weeks 

 there were many warm, beautiful days, 

 with only occasional brief intervals of cool, 

 raw, east- wind weather; and the month 

 closed with a hot, midsummer-like week 

 which forced forward all the tardy vege- 

 tation at such a pace that it quickly caught 

 up with the usual seasonable develop- 

 ment. 



The first few days of June were cool, 

 with northwest winds, but this was suc- 

 ceeded by a week of excessively and 

 abnormally hot weather with maximum 

 temperatures on several days of over 90 

 degrees. 



Considerable rain has fallen at intervals 

 during the past two months, and this, to- 

 gether with the melting of the deep snows 

 of last winter, has caused the streams, 

 lakes, and marshes to be well filled. 



In spite of the inclement weather and 

 late arrival of settled spring conditions, 

 the bird migration was not especially de- 

 layed. Most species came about the usual 

 time and a few were even in advance of 

 their average dates. The number of indi- 

 viduals was well up to the representation 

 of recent years in most instances, and view- 

 ing the reports of all observers together, 

 it would appear that the full list of regular 

 possibilities was seen. The later Warbler 

 migration exhibited an unusual peculiarity, 

 judging from the experience of the writer. 

 Instead of coming in evenly distributed 

 'waves,' they seemed to be assembled in 

 mixed flocks which drifted about very 

 much in the manner of the fall movement. 

 Thus, an observer who encountered one of 

 these aggregations would have a rich re- 

 turn, while another less fortunate on the 



same date' would have but a scanty list 

 to show. 



The dates of arrival and nesting of a 

 few species will suflice to indicate the 

 progress of the season: 



April 15. Brewer's Blackbirds. 



April 17. First Myrtle Warblers (Thayer). 



April 18. Robin began building nest; eggs 

 on the 24th (Mrs. Lathrop). 



April 20. A female Sapsucker feeding as 

 usual in the early spring among 

 the topmost twigs of poplars. 



April 24. Elm and poplar trees in full 

 bloom. 



April 29. Yellow-headed Blackbirds, many 

 males; one Orange-crowned 

 Warbler; Double-crested Cor- 

 morant, a migrating flock of 

 fifty. 



April 30. Horned Grebes (4). 



May 2. Blue Jay sitting, four eggs; many 

 Ruby-crowned Kinglets and 

 White-throated Sparrows; 

 Rough- winged Swallows nest- 

 ing. 



May 4. First Veery. 



May 6. Baltimore Oriole (Mrs. Albee), 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 

 Wood and Olive-backed 

 Thrushes, Black and White, 

 Tennessee and PalmWarblers, 

 Grinnell's Water-Thrush, 

 Black Terns. 



May 8. Bellwort, Wood Anemone and 

 Three-flowered Geum just 

 coming into bloom. Clay- 

 colored Sparrow, Florida Gal- 

 linule. 



May 9. White- crowned Sparrow, War- 

 bling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, 

 Gray-cheeked Thrush. 



May II. Oaktreesjustcomingintobloom. 

 Least Flycatchers, Scarlet 

 Tanager, Harris's Sparrow, 

 Blackburnian and Pine War- 

 blers, many Blue-headed Vir- 

 eos, Ovenbird. 



May 12. Kingbird, Chestnut-sided and 

 Bay-breasted Warblers, Mary- 

 land Yellow-throat, Redstart, 

 vast numbers of Myrtle War- 

 blers, Sapsucker excavating 

 nesting-hole, Bank Swallows 

 nesting. 



May 13. Catbird, Philadelphia Vireo. 



May 16. Twenty-two Robins' nests/o;(;;</ 

 on a twenty-acre tract about 

 the summer home of Mr. and 

 Mrs. Commons at Lake Min- 

 netonka ; nearly all had young. 

 Yellow Warbler building. 



May 19. Nest of Lark Finch; fresh eggs. 



