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Bird - Lore 



mon among grass and weeds at this sea- 

 son. A second bird was seen October 12. 

 Brown Creepers were seen on October 2. 

 The sunny days of early October seem 

 to have favored the late stay of several 

 birds. A Nighthawk was seen at Lexington 

 on October 5, and a second reported the 

 following evening, in characteristic flight 

 over a meadow. Phoebes were in evidence 

 at least till the second of the month. A be- 

 lated Great-crested Flycatcher was found 

 on the morning of the 12th, and was 

 watched for half an hour as he busily caught 

 flying insects from a perch in the topmost 

 twigs of a maple. A few Sharp-shinned 

 Hawks have passed through, taking toll of 

 the migrating hosts the last few weeks. 

 Song and Savannah Sparrows swarm to- 

 gether on the edge of weed-fields, Titlarks 

 in small flocks have lately appeared in 

 plowed grounds, and a few Rusty Black- 

 birds have been seen. Altogether, the first 

 half of October has fully redeemed the 

 poverty of September in its hosts of mi- 

 grating birds. — Glover M. Allen, Boston, 

 Mass. 



New York Region. — Except for a short 

 hot period in August, the summer was, on 

 the whole, a cool one, and signs of autumn 

 appeared at about the customary dates. 

 On Long Island, the Black Tern, generally 

 present in late summer, were very late in 

 putting in an appearance, and the birds 

 were there a comparatively short time, 

 although one, seen on September 22 (at 

 Mastic), is later than "they generally re- 

 main with us. The Red-breasted Nuthatch 

 almost completely absent last year, has 

 been present in fair numbers, a single bird 

 recorded from Long Island on September 2, 

 and a flight of them reported from various 

 points by various observers in Connecti 

 cut, New York, and New Jersey the end 

 of September. The White-throated Spar- 

 row, in the end of September, was some- 

 what more common and more generally 

 distributed than usual at this time. The 

 southbound flight of small arboreal birds, 

 especially Warblers, was less scant than a 

 year previous, the usually abundant Black- 

 poll Warbler being fairly numerous (in 



October), and the Magnolia apparently 

 scarcest of those which should have been 

 common. The Myrtle Warbler has arrived 

 generally and is common This species 

 was absent from its usual winter haunts the 

 latter part of last winter, and was every' 

 where unusually scarce in the spring. — 

 John T. Nichols, New York, N. Y. 



Philadelphia Region. — August has 

 brought the hottest day ever recorded in 

 the history of the local weather bureau, 

 when the thermometer soared to 106 de- 

 grees (August 7). At this time the tem- 

 perature averaged from 10 to 19 degrees 

 above normal for about a week. Such 

 heat had a decided eiiect on the birds, 

 scarcely a note of any kind being heard, 

 even English Sparrows being much less 

 noisy than is their habit. Toward the 

 end of the month cool days prevailed, and 

 some few migrants were noted. However, 

 the first perceptible Warbler movement 

 was not observed till September 5. From 

 that date, the Warblers were present in 

 their usual numbers, the scarcity this 

 spring having no apparent effect on the 

 numbers this fall, which would seem to 

 indicate that the birds were not as scarce 

 this spring as they were reported, or that 

 the breeding-season was very favorable 

 for the increase of this family of birds. 



Herring Gulls were first noted Septem- 

 ber 25. Red-headed Woodpeckers and 

 Goldfinches were somewhat more nu- 

 merous than usual the latter part of Sep- 

 tember. 



It might not be out of place to mention 

 that there is a very apparent increase this 

 fall in unlawful shooting in this region. 

 I have not only observed a good deal of 

 this myself but several people have told 

 me the same thing. I am glad to say that 

 our local game-warden, Charles Folker, is 

 very much alive and has already appre- 

 hended a number of these indiscriminat- 

 ing and lawless shooters. — Julian K. 

 Potter, Camden, N. J. 



Washington Region. — The city of 

 Washington, though situated in the valley 

 of the Potomac River, is apparently off 



