Notes from Field and Study 



267 



while I was within, but I heard them over- 

 head outside. 



I rather think that two or three pairs 

 of swifts were nesting in a large hollow 

 stump standing on the bank of the stream, 

 but I could not get at it to make certain. — 

 Albert W. Honywill, Jr. 



Where Are the Swallows ? 



Have other readers of Bird-Bore noticed 

 an unusual lack of Swallows and Swifts 

 this season ? As a rule, this part of the 

 country is swarming with them during 

 August and September, particularly the 

 Tree Swallows, as these collect at night by 

 millions among the reeds of the Hacken- 

 sack and Overpeck marshes, and scatter 

 over the surrounding country during the 

 day. Usually an early September after- 

 noon will show quantities in the sky, or 

 lines upon lines of Tree Swallows on the 

 telegraph wires, their white breasts fairly 

 glittering in the sunlight. 



This season I have seen almost no Tree 

 Swallows, and few even of the Chimney 

 Swifts, which are almost always plentiful. 

 Is this probably due to a lack of insects, 

 caused by the cool, dry summer? For, 

 according to my observation, mosquitos 

 have been remarkably few in this neighbor- 

 hood, and even house flies have been 

 scarce. — Isabella McC. Lemmon, Engle- 

 wood, N. J. 



A Benumbed Evening Grosbeak 



I noticed an account in the July-August 

 number of Bird-Lore of a pair of be- 

 numbed Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. I had a 

 similar experience last winter, which, how- 

 ever, was not with the Rose-breasted, but 

 the Evening Grosbeak. About noon, Feb- 

 ruary 24, 1909, I received a telephone call 

 from a neighbor, asking me to send over 

 for a bird which he had just picked up off 

 the snow in a benumbed condition. I sent 

 for it, and it proved to be a male Evening 

 Grosbeak, which had by this time revived 

 sufl&ciently to keep its eyes open and to 

 make some vicious thrusts with its strong 

 beak. An examination revealed no wounds 

 of any kind, so we thought it might be 



suffering from hunger. It refused both 

 water and bird seed. As it continued to 

 become a little more active, I carried it 

 outdoors and set it at liberty. It was a 

 minute or two before it realized it was free. 

 Then it flew into a tree near the porch, 

 where it rested, motionless, for an hour or 

 so, then flew a few rods to another tree, 

 where it rested about the same length of 

 time. Then, when I looked out it had gone. 

 There was considerable snow on the 

 ground, but the day was sunny and not 

 especially cold. 



There had been small flocks of Evening 

 Grosbeaks about all winter, and, as they 

 are a cold-weather bird, I cannot under- 

 stand how this one could have been so 

 affected by the cold, and especially on a 

 day much milder than many we had had. — 

 Mrs. G. F. Clapp, Ashland, Wis. 



Early Arrival of Evening Grosbeaks 

 in Southern Wisconsin 



The following note on the Evening 

 Grosbeak is worth recording, as bearing on 

 the movements of the 1908-1909 winter 

 wave of the species. On October 27, 1908, 

 the writer saw three Evening Grosbeaks 

 feeding on the seeds of a box elder in 

 Marquette, Wisconsin. This date of ar- 

 rival seems earlier than usual for southern 

 Wisconsin. — W. L. McAtee, Biological 

 Survey, Washington, D. C. 



Ruby-crowned Kinglet Wintering in 

 Wisconsin 



I was very much interested, in reading 

 Notes from Field and Study in your 

 March-April issue, to see the Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglet reported as a winter 

 visitor in • New York and New Jersey . 

 I saw and unquestionably identified one 

 here in Lake Geneva on December 22, 

 1905. — Eugenie C. Gillette, Lake 

 Geneva, Wis. 



Carolina Wren in Massachusetts 



A Carolina Wren was found in this 

 town by Miss Julia Laws, and was ob- 

 served and identified by others also, on 

 April 4 and 5, 1909. The bird sang freely. 

 — Alpheus D. Smith, Bedford, Mass. 



