I04 



Bird - Lore 



dropped down and appropriated it for a 

 temporary fishing-station. Its mate, 

 probably trusting it had landed in very 

 shallow water, dropped down also beside 

 it. But it kept on going down until only 

 its head and shoulders protruded. It was 

 a surprised bird, and stood there a few 

 minutes in its awkward predicament, 

 looking around as if vainly trying to grasp 

 the situation. Then, finally giving it up, 

 it managed to spring out and fly off. — 

 John R. Tookee, Babylon, Long Island. 



Winter Notes from Carlisle, Ind. 



We are having a very mild winter, with 

 heavy rains. During last week it has been 

 warm, and numerous Robins have been 

 here. There is a twenty-acre alfalfa field 

 adjoining town, and some eight acres of it 

 was mown only once and the other crop 

 left on the ground. This makes a regular 

 haven for the Meadow Larks, and during 

 the past week they have been having a 

 regular carnival. You can hear dozens of 

 them singing at a time. There must be 

 hundreds of them in this field. Song Spar- 

 rows have also been singing. — J. H. 

 GiLLiLAND, Carlisle, Ind. 



Notes from Nebraska 



What is the most abundant bird in a 

 given locality? This a question often con- 

 jectured upon by both ornithologists 

 and casual observers. The terms "abun- 

 dant," "common," "scarce," or "very 

 scarce," form poor records of actual 

 abundance, as suggested in recent issues 

 of Bird-Lore. So, to get data on actual 

 abundance, I took weekly bird censuses 

 during the months of May, June, July, 

 and a part of August, 19 15, making counts 

 of both number of species and number of 

 individuals. 



Of eight such censuses, taken during 

 June, July, and August, in northeastern 

 Kansas and southeastern Nebraska, Dick- 

 cissels proved to be the most abundant in 

 six, if the exception is made of English 

 Sparrows, which led in numbers in two 

 censuses. This, I should say, would be 



the case over a large part of the middle 

 West, of which the above-mentioned 

 vicinities are typical. 



Here are my figures on the Dickcissel: 



*June 5. Sabetha, Kan., 99 individuals 

 noted in 4%^ hours afield. 



*June 12. Du Bois, Nebr. 64 indi- 

 viduals noted in 5 hours afield. 



*June 19. Pawnee, Nebr., 35 individuals 

 noted in 5 hours afield. 



*June 27. Lewiston, Nebr., 109 indi- 

 viduals noted m. 6% hours afield. 



*July 5. Beatrice, Nebr., 25 individuals 

 noted in 4^ hours afield. 



July II. Beatrice, Nebr., 46 individuals 

 noted in 6 hours afield. 



July 25. Hebron, Nebr., 36 individuals 

 noted in 3^^ hours afield. 



*Aug. I. Ruskin, Nebr., 39 individuals 

 noted in 5 hours afield. 



Dates preceded by an asterisk are those 

 upon which the counts showed the Dick- 

 cissel to be the most abundant species, 

 English Sparrows excepted. These figures 

 indicate an average of Ji'j/i Dickcissels 

 seen or heard per hour. 



And, in spite of this prominent place 

 the Dickcissel holds in our bird life, I 

 have talked numbers of times with intelli- 

 gent people who not only disclaim any 

 knowledge of the bird, but say they have 

 never heard the name 'Dickcissel' 

 before. 



On July II, 1915, in and around 

 Beatrice, Nebr., I counted 5,483 Black- 

 birds, which I am reasonably sure were 

 Bronzed Crackles. Of this number, 

 5,260 were counted from one location on 

 the bank of the Big Blue River, the flock 

 passing continuously for about one hour. 

 This is mentioned as being further indica- 

 tive of actual abundance, and it might be 

 suggested that, in actual numbers, the 

 Bronzed Crackles might outweigh the 

 Dickcissels, their immense numbers in 

 flocks more than making up for the more 

 uniform local distribution of the non- 

 flocking Dickcissels. 



In the May-June, 1915, number of 

 Bird-Lore, I note that Mr. Ridgway 

 classes the Upland Plover as a "species 

 verging toward extermination," speaking 



