The Season 



307 



The fall wild fowl migration is well under 

 way. On September 25, 2 Pintails were seen 

 and on October 9, long lines of Scoters 

 streamed down the coast. On October 15, a 

 newspaper reported a thousand Canada 

 Geese on the beach at Cape May. Twenty- 

 five Pied-billed and one Horned Grebe were 

 noted at Fish House, N. J., on October 15. — 

 Julian K. Potter, Camden, N. J. 



Washington Region. — Ornithological in- 

 terest about Washington during August and 

 September, 192 1, centered chiefly around an 

 unusually early migration of northern birds. 

 The chief autumn migratory movements in 

 this vicinity take place during the period 

 extending from the middle of August to mid- 

 October, and while the general time of this 

 migration has been practically the same this 

 year, many of our transients and winter 

 visitors have been earlier in their first south- 

 ward movements. This was particularly ob- 

 servable among the Warblers, for some of 

 these came in August, far ahead of their 

 normal appearance. Such were the Chestnut- 

 sided and Golden-winged Warblers, noted at 

 Chevy Chase, D. C, August 13, by Dr. A. 

 Wetmore and Mr. B. H. Swales; and the 

 Canadian Warbler, observed at Plummer 

 Island, Md., on August 14, by Dr. Wetmore. 

 Furthermore, one Warbler broke all former 

 records for early appearance — the Bay- 

 breasted Warbler, found bj' Mr. B. H. Swales 

 at Chevy Chase, D. C, on August 17, the 

 previously earliest autumn arrival of which is 

 September i, 1896. Still another, the Myrtle 

 Warbler, seen on August 14, at Alexandria, 

 by Miss Katharine H. Stuart, was a full 

 month in advance of its previously earliest 

 arrival, September 14, 1918, except for a 

 single record of August 7, 1859. 



Two other species were reported earlier 

 than ever before in the autumn: the Lesser 

 Yellow- legs, seen August 15, at Hunting 

 Creek, Va., by Miss Katharine H. Stuart, the 

 hitherto earliest record of which is August 

 2 1 , 1 894 ; and the Philadelphia Vireo, found on 

 September 4, by Dr. A. K. Fisher, at Plum- 

 mer Island, Md., this being three days ahead 

 of its formerly earliest record of September 7, 

 1919, made also by Dr. Fisher. 



Induced perhaps by the very warm weather 



of September, at least three summer residents 

 tarried longer than ever before. These were 

 the Barn Swallow, seen on September 23 by 

 Mr. F. C. Lincoln along the Anacostia River, 

 advancing by two days its hitherto latest 

 record of September 21, 1920; the Purple 

 Martin, noted also on September 23 by Mr. 

 Lincoln in the same locality, the latest pre- 

 vious occurrence of which is likewise Sep- 

 tember 21, 1920; and the Yellow-breasted 

 Chat, reported by Mr. C. H. M. Barrett, from 

 Anacostia, D. C, on September 29, one day 

 later than its very latest previous record, 

 September 28, 1906. 



The Pileated Woodpecker, always a rare 

 species about Washington, was seen on Sep- 

 tember II, by Dr. A. K. Fisher, on Plummer 

 Island, Md. This locality is one of the few 

 in our region from which this bird has been 

 reported during the last twenty-five years, 

 and indications point to its breeding in the 

 neighborhood of this island. 



The American Egret was reported by 

 Dr. A. K. Fisher, on the Potomac River, near 

 Washington, on August 29. This Heron is 

 apparently less frequent of late years than 

 formerly, although seen at least once practi- 

 cally every summer. The Little Blue Heron 

 was noted on the Potomac River, in the 

 vicinity of Washington, by Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 on August 5, but did not appear to be as 

 common this summer as usual. The Red- 

 breasted Nuthatch, which was practically 

 absent from Washington during the autumn 

 and winter of 1920-21, has already put in an 

 appearance, and, it is hoped, will be normally 

 numerous this winter. 



The Bobolink, here regarded as one of the 

 most popular autumn game-birds, was pres- 

 ent in exceptionally large numbers during 

 the first two weeks of September, and several 

 thousands were observable almost every day 

 on the marshes of the middle portion of the 

 Anacostia River. By the 2Sth of the month, 

 however, they had practically disappeared, 

 leaving only a few scattered individuals to 

 represent the former great flocks. — Harry 

 C. Oberholser, Biological Survey, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Oberlin, Ohio Region. — An exception- 

 ally dry summer was followed by an excep- 



