22 



Bird -Lore 



which had evidently flown against a 

 telephone wire. Boreal birds, such as 

 Siskins, Redpolls, Crossbills, and Even- 

 ing Grosbeaks, which were so plentiful 

 late last autumn, are as yet almost totally 

 absent. One of the surprises of the season 

 is the appearance of the Snow Bunting 

 in southern New Jersey (Corson's Inlet, . 

 November ii, Wharton Huber; Salem, 

 early in November, Dr. Wharton). These 

 birds usually appear hereabouts after 

 blizzard-like weather conditions. 



Goshawks appeared late in November 

 in considerable numbers; several have 

 already reached the hands of local taxi- 

 dermists. A flight of about fifty Hawks, 

 probably Broad-wings, was observed at 

 Germantown, Pa., November i, b}' 

 Arthur Emlen. 



Other interesting records are: Rough- 

 legged Hawk, October 20, Lima, Pa., 

 specimen examined, Delos Culver; Pine 

 Siskin, November i, Gwynned Valley, 

 Pa., Wharton Huber; White-crowned 

 Sparrow, October 25, Chester, Pa., John 

 Carter; Great Horned Owl, Juliustown, 

 N. J., November 17, Emory Bower; Blue- 

 gray Gnatcatcher, Camden, N. J., Octo- 

 ber 7, J. K. Potter. — Julian K. Potter, 

 Camden, N. J. 



Washington Region. — Notwithstand- 

 ing the unusually cold weather of October 

 and November, there was little out of 

 the ordinary to attract the interest of the 

 ornithological observer about Washington. 

 For the non-appearance of rare winter 

 birds, the relatively, if indeed not actually, 

 warmer weather of regions farther north 

 probably accounts. The low temperature 

 brought visions of many rare northern 

 visitors, but up to the present these have 

 wholly failed to materialize. 



The migration during these two months 

 was apparently about normal, although 

 a number of birds stayed rather long, 

 and some winter residents did not appear 

 on time. The Chimney Swift was seen on 

 October 20, which is ten days beyond its 

 average autumn departure, and the Pied- 

 l)illed Grebe was observed on October 26, 

 a late autumn date. One species, the 



Least Sandpiper, however,' broke all its 

 previous records for autumn lingering, 

 as C. H. M. Barrett reported one on 

 November 22, whereas the previous lat- 

 est occurrence was November i, 1917, 

 this latter in itself far beyond any other 

 date. The Herring Gull, on the otlier 

 hand, appeared on November 21, which, is 

 in advance of its previous earliest record, 

 November 25, 1894. 



Although in no sense remarkable, a 

 Long-eared Owl reported by I. N. Gabriel- 

 son, from East Falls Church, Va. , on 

 November 14, and a Connecticut Warbler 

 by A. Wetmore, at Washington, D. C, 

 on October 14, are probably of sufiicient 

 interest to merit notice here. 



Some species have been more than 

 ordinarily numerous this fall, among 

 which might be mentioned the Meadow- 

 lark and the Killdeer. Fully 100 of the 

 latter were noted by C. H. M. Barrett 

 along the Anacostia River on November 

 21-24, in which locality but a few are 

 commonly seen at this season. — Harry 

 C. Oberholser, Biological Survey, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Oberlin Region. — A few Robins and 

 Blackbirds lingered in October until the 

 cold wave and snowstorm of the 30th and 

 31st, when they disappeared. This un- 

 seasonable storm established winter con- 

 ditions as far as the birds were concerned. 

 There followed nearly three weeks of 

 warm weather and fair skies, but no birds 

 returned to enjoy the belated 'Indian 

 Summer' weather. The usual Flickers 

 and other Woodpeckers were present, 

 and in the beech woods, where the crop 

 of beechnuts is abundant, there were 

 many Red-headed Woodpeckers who 

 seemed intent on spending the winter 

 there. This Woodpecker is not a regular 

 winter bird with us, but usually remains 

 when there is an abundant crop of beech- 

 nuts. 



As I write, Oberlin is in the midst of a 

 second cold wave with attendant deep 

 snow for the region. While there has been 

 nothing out of the ordinary in the winter 

 bird-life thus far, I fully expect that 



