52 



Bird - Lore 



we had a beautiful view of it. We could 

 not think what kind of a bird it was at 

 first, but it soon uttered a soft whistle 

 something like that of a Robin, and was 

 immediately answered from a nearbj^ 

 bush. We soon discovered the bird that 

 answered and instantly identified it as a 

 male Evening Grosbeak. 



It was very brilliantly colored, the yel- 

 low almost orange, and the black on the 

 wings and tail shone out very conspicu- 

 ously. They were very tame and did not 

 seem to fear when we approached within 

 a few feet of them. 



On November 22, we saw in the same 

 place two old males and one young male. 

 The birds were all tame and we man- 

 aged to get a photograph but the image 

 on the plate was very small and there was 

 no detail. 



The bird is a very rare winter visitor, 

 and we know of several other people who 

 saw these same birds. — Locke Macken- 

 zie and Wilfred Lyon, Chicago, III. 



Evening Grosbeak and Acadian Chick- 

 adee at Hartford, Conn. 



The undersigned, who has been a close 

 observer of birds for many years and is a 

 member of The Hartford Bird Study 

 Club, wishes to report a most excellent 

 observation on January i, 19 14, of a 

 flock of eleven Evening Grosbeaks. These 

 birds were seen, with a fellow bird student, 

 in the outskirts of one of our city parks. 

 Much of this park is primeval forest with 

 the usual variations brought about by 

 the landscape gardener in parks of several 

 hundred acres which are oftentimes, as 

 in this case, extended beyond the city 

 limits. All the birds were in most excsl- 

 lent plumage, but there was one fuU- 

 plumaged male whose colors exceeded in 

 brilliance the pictures in any of Chap- 

 man's books or 'Reed's Handbook' in 

 that the yellow was more nearly that of 

 the Goldfinch; but this may have been 

 partly because the birds were sitting 

 directly in the sunlight, — it being at 

 half after one o'clock that the observa- 

 tion was made. We watched this flock as 



long as we cared to, observing every ^ 

 detail of plumage of both species, but we 

 did not identify more than the one male. 

 The birds showed no fear, either because 

 they were too stupid or because lack of 

 association with man had not taught 

 them that he might be dangerous. This 

 flock has since been seen by several other 

 members of the club and several photo- 

 graphs have been taken. 



On November 25, I saw in Wethersfield 

 a pair of Acadian Chickadees, and two 

 days later, or on Thanksgiving Day, I 

 observed for. forty minutes another pair in 

 West Hartford. As these towns are 

 several miles apart there is no doubt but 

 that there were two pairs of these birds. 

 Each pair was subsequently seen by other 

 members of the club. 



Redpolls are at present reported to be 

 quite common in Windsor, a town about 

 six miles north of this city. — Geo. F. 

 Griswold, Hartford, Conn. 



Acadian Chickadee at Hartford, Conn. 



A rare treat has been furnished to some 

 of the members of The Hartford Bird 

 Study Club during the past week or ten 

 days in observing at exceedingly close 

 range the Acadian Chickadee. A pair of 

 these extremely rare visitants have been 

 fed at the hospitable feeding-tray of Miss 

 Katherine C. Robbins in Wethersfield 

 (about three miles from Hartford) almost 

 daily since about November 13, 1913. Mr. 

 Albert Morgan, Treasurer of our Club, 

 and myself, observed these interesting 

 "creatures for nearly an hour during the 

 early afternoon of November 22, all of that 

 time within a distance of ten to twenty 

 feet. They are most active in their move- 

 ments, and it was difficult to say which 

 species was more sprightly, the Acadian 

 Chickadee or the Golden-crowned King- 

 lets, whose company they seemed to 

 enjoy. The Chickadees seemed to be 

 particularly fond of the suet placed in the 

 tree for their use, and they would feed for 

 a time on the suet and then feed on small 

 bits of something gathered from the boughs 

 of a large spruce tree nearby. In their 



