The Season 



233 



ten days or two weeks ahead of time, and 

 that day several Herring Gulls were seen 

 cruising up and down the gorge, looking for 

 food among the floating ice-masses. On 

 March 31 a nest of the Horned Lark, 

 containing young birds just hatched, was 

 found at Cambridge, Isanti County, some 

 forty miles north of Minneapolis, b}^ 

 Lawrence Lofstrom. This bird will nest 

 as soon as the ground is bare of snow, 

 regardless of temperature, and many of 

 the earlier nests are destroyed by freez- 

 ing weather and snows. 



By the end of the first week in April, 

 the ice in the large lakes in the latitude of 

 Minneapolis was adrift and rapidly break- 

 ing up. Farther north it was still intact. 

 The intense cold and absence of snow the 

 past winter caused ice to form on all still 

 or sluggish water to the thickness of nearly 

 three feet. The quiet manner in which this 

 great ice-sheet became honeycombed and 

 disappeared was most fortunate. Thick, 

 solid -ice, loosened from the land, and 

 heavy winds sometimes work terrible 

 havoc along the shores of our larger 

 lakes. 



On March 17, at Minneapolis, Robins 

 were passing by in large companies; Blue- 

 birds had paired and were e.xamining 

 possible tenements; Phcebes were sim- 

 ilarly occupied; flocks of Rusty Blackbirds 

 were making music in the groves ; male Red- 

 wings were conspicuous in the swamps; 

 Song Sparrows were everywhere; a few 

 Hermit Thrushes were silently searching 

 the coverts; Flickers were beginning their 

 noisy love-making, and the bushes were 

 full of Juncos and Tree Sparrows. From 

 this time on the regular procession of the 

 earlier migrants that move on a tempera- 

 ture rather than a fixed schedule, arrived 

 in the usual order but a week or so ahead 

 of time, in correspondence with the earlier 

 season: Fox Sparrows, April 5-9; Pied- 

 billed Grebes, April 9; and on April 14, 

 Yellow-headed Blackbirds, a Migrant 

 Shrike, a Kingbird, Lesser Yellowlegs, 

 Myrtle Warblers, and many Coots; also, 

 on the 14th, many Blue-winged Teal, 

 Shovellers, Pintails, Baldpates, and Gad- 

 walls in a large slough, some ten miles from 



Minneapolis, where they were feeding and 

 seemingly mated. 



By the middle of April, vegetation was 

 fairly started, hepatica, bloodroot, Nut- 

 tail's pasque flower, the catkin-bearing 

 trees, and the hazelnut being in full 

 bloom. 



Up in northern Minnesota conditions 

 are still, at this date, much more wintry. 

 Piles of snow yet remain in sheltered places, 

 the nights are cold, and the Duluth Harbor 

 is piled high with thick masses of winter 

 ice driven in from the frigid waters of Lake 

 Superior. Only the hardier migrants, like 

 the Robin, the Song Sparrow, and the 

 Red-wing have ventured thus far. — Thos. 

 S. Roberts, Zoological Museum, Ihii- 

 vrrsily of Minnesota, Minneapolis. 



Denver Region. — We are told that 

 there is no accounting for taste; sometimes 

 I think that there is no accounting for the 

 seasonal distribution of our birds. T had 

 anticipated an early return of our birds 

 this season because of the mild local 

 weather conditions in the West. Yet, 

 Hawks were not early in getting here but, 

 rather, were a little behind the usual 

 schedule, for it was not until April 7 that 

 many Red-tailed, Ferruginous, Rough- 

 legged and Sparrow Hawks were seen in 

 the southern outskirts of the city. On the 

 other hand the first Sage Thrasher I saw 

 was on time (April 7), though one of my 

 friends reports having seen one nearly a 

 month earlier. Last year at this time there 

 were many Townsend's Solitaires in the 

 various parks of the city, yet I have 

 utterly failed to see even one since last 

 autumn. At the present writing (April 

 15), all the species and subspecies of 

 Juncos wintering here have left, except 

 the Gray-headed, which is an unusual 

 situation, since they linger ordinarily 

 well on toward the end of April. It is 

 always a matter of interest to note each 

 winter that, while a few Meadowlarks 

 remain in the rural districts about Denver, 

 it is seldom or never that one is seen in 

 winter in our parks, or within the city 

 proper; this species reached the vicinity 

 of my home about April i, a date close to 



