The Season 



295 



ruined. A Red Squirrel prowling close by 

 was considered the evil spirit in this 

 instance. 



With the coming of August the usual 

 mixed troops of Warblers, Sparrows, 

 Flycatchers, Vireos, Kinglets, etc., began 

 to assemble in preparation for the leisurely 

 journey southward. And by the middle of 

 that month the trees and bushes were ever 

 and anon filled with these twittering, 

 restless aggregations. One day scores of 

 Pine Warblers, old and young, with a few 

 Myrtles mingled among them, appeared 

 from somewhere, probably farther north. 

 Mid-August found these northern lakes 

 deserted by the Great Blue Herons and 

 the Black Terns greatly reduced in 

 numbers. The woods were silent except 

 for the song of an occasional Red-eye and 

 the 'chucking' of the red squirrel. A pro- 

 fusion of composites, the blazing stars and 

 beautiful clusters of fringed gentians on the 

 open hillsides and beside the watercourses 

 marked the passing of the truly summer 

 flowers. All this with a faint golden tinge 

 creeping into the foliage of the aspens and 

 birches gave plain warning that the first 

 subtle influences of fall were already at 

 work. — Thos. S. Roberts, Zoological 

 Museum, University of Minnesota, Min- 

 neapolis. 



Denver Region. — A year ago the 

 writer wrote that during the hot spell of 

 June-August the number of birds seen 

 seemed small, suggesting that such extreme 

 heat lessened the number of birds present 

 in the region. That fewer birds were then 

 noticeable is unquestionable; during the 

 corresponding season of this year far more 

 birds were seen, and the weather conditions 

 have been ideal. The writer does not 

 presume to maintain that it is established 

 as a fact that during a hot season fewer 

 birds are present in a given region than in 

 a cooler season; that these conditions seem 

 to obtain is merely alluded to and atten- 

 tion thereto invited. 



During the season just passed, a few 

 facts of more than passing interest have 

 been noted: the lone Pied-billed Grebe 

 which sta3'ed in one of our park lakes (a 



fact mentioned in the last report) lingered 

 there until driven out (seemingly) by 

 bathing and boating parties. It is rather 

 mystifying how this bird could have found 

 enough food in this small lake on which to 

 keep alive, not to say strong and alert. It 

 was last seen in this lake on June 28. 



Some of the usual late spring migrating 

 arrivals in this region were held back in 

 their journey; the Broad-tail Hummingbird 

 commonly reaches Denver during the first 

 week of June, while this year the first one 

 was not seen until June 20. The cold 

 spell of the late spring very happily had 

 no ill effects on our breeding House 

 Wrens, which were more numerous this 

 year in the Denver Region than in any 

 previous year covered bj' the writer's 

 records, and these records also show, to 

 one's great pleasure, that the Catbird 

 remained in our parks all summer, the 

 first breeding of this species in the city 

 coming under the writer's observation. 

 Manj' species seemed to have been un- 

 usually successful in their housekeeping 

 this season; Yellow Warblers had their 

 young out of the nest by June 27, while 

 full-fledged young Mourning Doves were 

 noticed in our parks by the first week in 

 July, this last date being, however, late 

 for the same species nesting in the foot- 

 hills, and on the prairies. Young Warbling 

 Vireos, Brewer's Blackbirds, and White- 

 rumped Shrikes were unusually common in 

 and about the region, all three species of 

 these young birds having been observed 

 during the second week of July. All these 

 young birds were attended and fed by 

 the old birds. This date for them is late, 

 since the writer has often seen young 

 Brewer's Blackbirds out of the nests a 

 week and even ten days earlier. 



Nesting Pale Goldfinches were more 

 numerous in Denver during this past 

 season of eight weeks than ever before in 

 the experience of the writer, and he never 

 before saw so many young Bullock's 

 Orioles and young Wood Pewees congre- 

 gated together as he did during the second 

 week of August. The writer has no explana- 

 tion for this gratifying increase except that 

 these species are, year by year, becoming 



