Some Rare or Unusual Birds in Upper 

 Philadelphia. 



BY HENRY W. FOWLER. 



Fourteen years ago my paper* summarizing the more in- 

 teresting notes gathered on the bird-Ufe of the tidal region of 

 the Delaware about Holmesburg chiefly, was published in these 

 pages. Since then a number of records and notes have been 

 published in the migration report of the "Club," which have 

 added considerably to the knowledge of the bird life of the 

 region. My paper f on " Some Local Fish-eating Birds" will 

 be found to contain a few notes. Additional data, together with 

 such records as refer to the more usual land birds, are included 

 in the present account. The ever-encroaching conditions of the 

 city are slowly changing this section of the country, so that 

 now the lower valley of the Pennypack has been largely trans- 

 formed into a public park, with many of the old haunts of the 

 birds quite changed. This has inevitably forced certain species 

 elsewhere, while several species have appeared not noticed in 

 previous years. It therefore appears desirable to place on per- 

 manent record the information given below. 



Acknowledgment is here offered several gentlemen who kindly 

 supplied information used in this paper. The late Charles 

 Smith of Holmesburg, who was familiar with many of the 

 water-birds, kindly furnished some early note^ in 1909, relative 

 to species without definite records in my 1903 paper. Mr. 

 Richard F. Miller kindly placed his numerous notes at my dis- 

 posal, and such as are included are duly credited. Finally Mr. 

 Earl L. Poole sent a few notes on some birds he observed about 

 <;ity reservoirs in Philadelphia. 



*Cassinia, 1903, pp. 43-53. 

 fLoc. cit., 1913, pp. 6-15. 



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