20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



chance for novelties is afforded and offers that incentive which 

 spurs the ornithologist on. Here the Short-eared Owl comes in 

 search of field mice, Redpolls and Prairie Horned Larks make 

 erratic visits, while the commoner species, Crow, Sparrow Hawk, 

 Downy Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Kinglet, Song Sparrow, Tree 

 Sparrow, and an occasional Junco, take their turns, either as 

 marauders or innocent haunters of the willows. Meadowlarks 

 were observed and taken here all through the winter of 1909, as 

 well as the Wilson Snipe, which even in ordinary years lingers 

 far into December. The latter finds here a suitable feeding 

 ground and during the spring may be found singly or io bunches 

 of from two to ten. So, too, the Killdeer is nearly resident, 

 being obtainable from late February to December. 



With the first vernal breath appear the earliest Bluebirds, 

 Robins, Phoebes, and Flickers, followed by the hordes of Red- 

 wings, Cowbirds, Rusty Blackbirds, and all the gradations be- 

 tween the Purple and the Bronzed Grackles, mixed in a motley 

 noisy flock. Along the creek I have shot the Green-winged 

 Teal, while others have secured the Pintail, Mallard, American 

 Merganser, and Pied-billed Grebe. Late April and earlj^- May 

 bring the Spotted and the Solitary Sandpiper, the former as a sum- 

 mer resident and the latter as a transient, and with them flocks 

 of the less common Pectoral and the Least Sandpipers. Both 

 species of Yellowlegs have been taken and also the Black-bellied 

 Plover, the rarest of all. The willows along the stream furnish 

 admirable haunts for many of our rarer warblers and here dur- 

 ing the migration I have secured the Nashville, Orange-crowned, 

 Blackburnian and Canadian besides all the more common 

 species. The undergrowth below has yielded such birds as the 

 White-throated and the White-crowned Sparrow, as well as the 

 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. 



The summer residents, however, have been the source of 

 most interest to me and have caused more than one memorable 

 trip to the swamp. On one of these I made my first acquaint- 

 ance with the Virginia and the Sora Rail, as nesting birds. 

 Their presence all through the spring of 1909 made us hopeful 

 that they might breed, and we also had expectations for three 

 American Bitterns and some Swamp Sparrows. The bitterns 



