Notes from Field and Study 



151 



commission has recently been formed 

 which plans to circulate leaflets and 

 pamphlets about bird-life and its value 

 to the trees and crops, and to protect the 

 natural life of the city parks. 



America may well be proud of its 

 progress in the work of conservation and 

 its leadership of the world in methods of 

 bird-protection. — Alice W. Wilcox, St. 

 Johnshtiry, Vt. 



THE SEASON 



It is expected that a subdepartment 

 with this title, under the editorship of 

 Charles H. Rogers, will be hereafter a 

 regular feature of Bird-Lore. Its aim 

 will be to give a general idea of the more 

 unusual features of each season in differ- 

 ent parts of the country, and it is hoped to 

 accumulate a valuable fund of data on the 

 fluctuation in the abundance of species. 

 The contents of each instalment will be 

 much like those of the introductory note to 

 the Christmas Census, giving briefly the 

 state of affairs in the world of birds dur- 

 ing the previous two months — such as the 

 lateness or earliness of the migration, the 

 presence of irregular winter birds from the 

 North, the scarcity of certain breeding 

 species, the noteworthy abundance of 

 some transient, etc. Statements of 

 unusual events should be particular; gen- 

 eral statements will suffice for conditions 

 that are normal and to be expected. 



We plan to have in each of several sec- 

 tions of the country a contributor, active 

 in the field, who will send us between two 

 and three hundred words every two 

 months. He will supplement his observa- 

 tions by comparing notes with other mem- 

 bers of the local bird club. Other active 

 field-workers in the regions covered are 

 urged to write summaries of their observa- 

 tions to these men; such contributions 

 should be marked, 'For "The Season," 

 Bird-Lore,' and will in no case he pub- 

 lished, but will be used at the discretion 

 of the contributors in making out their 

 reports. 



The list of contributors follows: 



Eastern Massachusetts: Dr. Winsor 

 M. Tyler, 522 Massachusetts Avenue, 

 Lexington, Mass. 



New York City, within fifty miles of: 

 Charles H. Rogers, American Museum of 

 Natural History. 



Southern New Jersey, southeastern 

 Pennsylvania and Delaware: Julian K. 

 Potter, 563 Bailey St., Camden, N. J. 



District of Columbia, central Maryland 

 and northeastern Virginia: Harry C. 

 Oberholser, Biological Survey, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



Central northern Ohio: Prof. Lynds 

 Jones, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. 



Northwestern Missouri and north- 

 eastern Kansas: Albert E. Shirling, 3849 

 East 62nd St., Kansas City, Mo. 



This first instalment of 'The Season' 

 covers the first three months of 19 17. The 

 next will describe the period from April 

 I to June 15. Thenceforth reports of 

 observations covering the previous two 

 months should reach our contributors as 

 soon as possible after the 15th of Feb- 

 ruary, April, June, August, October, and 

 December, and they in turn are requested 

 to post their manuscripts not later than 

 the 20th of these months to Charles H. 

 Rogers, American Museum of Natural 

 History, West 77th St., New York City. 



Boston Region. — In this region the 

 past winter was one of continuous cold 

 with the ground snow-covered throughout 

 January, February, and the first half of 

 March. The winter was made remarkable 

 by the presence of seven species of irregu- 

 lar winter visitors. Evening Grosbeaks 

 were locally common throughout the 

 season; Pine Grosbeaks were present in 

 small companies until early in February; 

 Redpolls were well scattered through the 

 country districts during the winter and 

 are still present (April i); Pine Siskins 

 appeared in the autumn in good numbers, 

 but the majority passed on, apparently, 

 before January; a flight of Brown-cap 

 Chickadees (nine collected specimens 

 proved to be the new race Fenthestes 



