The Season 



357 



thickly falling leaves and highly colored 

 foliage announce the arrival of fall. Early 

 autumn finds the berry-bearing trees and 

 shrubs with an extra-heavy crop of fruit. 

 The acid berries of the Sour Gum are 

 being devoured by large flocks of Robins, 

 Cedarbirds, and numbers of Flickers; the 

 scarlet berries of the flowering dogwoods 

 remain untouched as yet, their astringent, 

 puckery taste, apparently not being in 

 favor while better viands can easily be 

 found; along the coast an enormous crop 

 of beautiful misty colored bayberries have 

 ripened, with stored- up energy enough to 

 supply all demands made upon them by 

 the hungry host that will devour them dur- 

 ing the coming winter. 



By mid-August the fall migration was 

 well under way, and many bird-voices 

 could be detected almost any night as they 

 made their way through the darkness over- 

 head. About this time a number of trips 

 were taken to the New Jersey coast where 

 fall migration can be observed to greater 

 advantage than inland. The usual number 

 of Terns and shore-birds seemed to be 

 present, though the latter, taken as a whole, 

 were, perhaps, less abundant than last 

 year (a banner shore-bird year). One of 

 the abundant species was the Yellow-legs 

 and from observations and reports there 

 appears to have been a heavy flight of 

 these birds. It is also well within bounds 

 to say, from the number of records, that 

 there was a slight but perceptible increase 

 in the number of Upland Plover passing 

 through during August. Two were noted 

 at Cape May, August 15. At Sea Isle 

 City, N. J., August 22, six Least Terns 

 were noted, three of which were immature 

 birds, and as the youngsters were con- 

 stantly begging one of the old birds for 

 food, it is quite probable that the birds 

 had bred somewhere in the vicinity. On 

 this same date a small flock of Turnstones 

 and a Piping Plover were observed. The 

 only Knots (flock of eleven) seen during 

 the season were noted at Two-mile Beach, 

 August 29. The northward summer mi- 

 gration of Little Blue Herons and Egrets 

 reached marked proportions this season. 

 Numerous reports from along the coast 



and points inland indicate that they were 

 fairly common and widely scattered. As 

 a usual thing, the Little Blues outnumber 

 the Egrets, but it seems this year that the 

 Egrets predominate. On September 19, at 

 Cape May, ten Egrets and six Little Blue 

 Herons were seen at one time feeding in a 

 lagoon, truly an inspiring sight. 



The first week of October brought the 

 usual quota of White-throated Sparrows 

 and Juncos, together with quite a number 

 of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. Most of the 

 Warblers, with the exception of the Myrtle, 

 had by this time passed on. — Julian K. 

 Potter, Camden, N. J. 



Washington Region. — Bird-life has 

 not appeared to be very abundant about 

 Washington during August and September. 

 Fewer distinct waves of migration than 

 usual have been evident, and these, fur- 

 thermore, have been less well marked than 

 those of our autumn commonly are. Per- 

 haps the most important of these, at least 

 in so far as Warblers are concerned, ap- 

 peared early in September, from the 4th 

 to the 6th. 



The moderate temperature and gener- 

 ally fair weather that prevailed during 

 September seemed to have little effect on 

 either the movements or the abundance of 

 birds. Three species of Swallows were ob- 

 served by F. C. Lincoln later in the year 

 than they had previously been seen about 

 Washington: the Barn Swallow, at New 

 Alexandria, Va., on September 21, 1920 

 (latest previously reported, September 19, 

 191 2); the Bank Swallow, at Hunting 

 Creek, near Alexandria, Va., September 21, 

 1920, (latest previous record, Septembe rig, 

 1886) ; and the Purple Martin, at the latter 

 locality, September 21, 1920 (latest prev- 

 iously recorded, September 20, 1918). Also 

 a few other birds tarried longer than cus- 

 tomary, such as the Kingbird, seen at 

 Dyke, Va., September 14, its average date 

 of departure being September i ; and the 

 Wood Pewee, noted at the same place on 

 September 21, against an average date of 

 September 19. On the other hand, a White- 

 throated Sparrow was reported on Septem- 

 ber 29, five days ahead of the usual time. 



