The Season 



147 



the 26th and 28th thousands of Mallards 

 and Pintails were passing, and on March 2 

 another heavy flight of Ducks, including 

 several flocks of Green-winged Teal, was 

 recorded. 



Two Ospreys were seen on March 3; no 

 earlier local date for this species has been 

 recorded. The Phcebe was first noticed on 

 March 6, though it probably arrived earlier, 

 and on this date Walter Cunningham ob- 

 served and heard Lapland Longspurs and 

 Pipits on the rifle range in Swope Park. 

 The first Coots, a flock of about two 

 hundred, were seen on the 8th. For three 

 days following this date Ducks and Geese 

 were abundant on the river and a few 

 Herring and Ring-billed Gulls were seen 

 (Andrews). Geese noted on the 15th and 

 1 6th included a small flock of Hutchins's, 

 25 Blue Geese and 3 flocks of Snow Geese. 

 Scaup Ducks were first noted on the 13th 

 and by the i6th were abundant. The first 

 Great Blue Herons were seen on March 15, 

 on which date great numbers of migrating 

 Sparrows were noted in all favorable 

 localities in the Missouri bottoms. The 

 most numerous species among the Spar- 

 rows on this date seemed to be Lincoln's 

 Sparrow. Purple Martins were noticed in 

 ones and twos on March 13, though earlier 

 arrivals were doubtless overlooked. 



Three nests containing full-grown young 

 Prairie Horned Larks were found on the 

 last two days of March, and on the 30th a 

 set of four slightly incubated Killdeer eggs 

 was taken within 500 feet of the end of the 

 Sunset Hill car line. Brown Thrashers 

 came in on a wave of Harris' Sparrows on 

 April 3, when the thickets and hedges of 

 the prairie regions resounded with spring 

 music. Another of these characteristic 

 waves of Harris' Sparrows was noted on 

 the nth and 12th, when the birds were 

 present over the entire southern part of 

 the city. 



The first local nesting of the Sharp- 

 shinned Hawk that has ever been made a 

 matter of record was noted on April 4, a 

 noisy old female having been flushed from 

 her nearly completed nest in a small clump 

 of trees well within the city limits. In the 

 same region, on April 10, a set of six Crow 



eggs was found. On the same date a Dove 

 was found sitting on her two eggs, and two 

 completed nests of Migrant Shrikes were 

 located. Fifteen Upland Plover and one 

 Woodcock were seen in the Waldo region 

 on this date. Numbers of migrating Vesper 

 Sparrows were seen on the prairie regions 

 on the nth and 12th, and on the 13th 

 several Black-and- White Warblers were 

 present in Swope Park. Downy Wood- 

 peckers, Carolina Wrens, and Bluebirds 

 were found nesting on this date. — Harry 

 Harris, Kansas City, Mo. 



Denver Region. — At daybreak this 

 morning (April 15) three native species 

 were singing near the writer's sleeping- 

 porch, viz., Meadowlark, Robin, and 

 House Finch, and three other species were 

 twittering or calling at the same time, to 

 wit. Pine Siskin, a Junco, and the Flicker. 

 That sentence seems to epitomize bird- 

 life about this region during the past two 

 months — most of the time a few species in 

 evidence and not many of them. 



The Robin, House Finch, Flicker, and 

 Siskin are busy just now beginning (or 

 carrying on) housekeeping; Robins and 

 Meadowlarks have steadily increased in 

 the region since February 15, but have not 

 come in large waves, as is so often the case. 

 It has taken the Meadowlark since about 

 March i to penetrate from the city's out- 

 skirts to its interior parks. The only Juncos 

 present in Denver, so far as the writer's 

 observations have shown during the past 

 eight weeks, have been the Montana and 

 the Shufeldt's Juncos. This makes a 

 noticeable deficiency of Juncos for the 

 season just passing. Ordinarily, up to 

 April 15, one sees hereabouts a consider- 

 able number of Chickadees (Mountain 

 and Long- tailed), Chipping Sparrows, Lark 

 Buntings, Say's Phoebes, and Gambel's 

 Sparrows. None of these birds have been 

 noted here up to date by the writer. There 

 has been a striking absence of Ducks from 

 the lakes of our park system, only one 

 species having been seen, a single female 

 I^esser Scaup on February 24. It is inter- 

 esting and noteworthy that as soon as open 

 water was established in one small park 



