Notes from Field and Study 



153 



A Great Blue Heron was noted January 

 6 and an adult Black-crowned Night 

 Heron on February ii. 



About February 20 the first spring 

 migrants begin to arrive. Favorable 

 weather may bring a few earlier; on the 

 other hand, stormy and cold weather may 

 delay the flight till well into March. 

 Personal observations on these birds this 

 year are as follows: Bluebird and Robin, 

 March 4; Purple Crackle and Fox Spar- 

 row, March 8; Killdeer and Red- winged 

 Blackbird, March 11; Rusty Blackbird, 

 March 18; Mourning Dove, March 21; 

 Kingfisher and Turkey Vulture, March 22; 

 Flicker and Phoebe, March 31. These are 

 all rather late dates and are no doubt due 

 to some extent to the weather conditions 

 of late February and early March, yet 

 records of a large number of observers will 

 probably show that small numbers of 

 most of these birds were in this vicinity 

 anywhere from two to three weeks earlier 

 than the dates given. 



March closed with Evening Grosbeaks 

 still present. — Julian K. Potter. 



Washington Region. — During the 

 winter of 19 16-17 birds as a whole were 

 rather unusually abundant. Further- 

 more, the exceptionally cold weather 

 brought a number of interesting winter 

 birds to Washington. Perhaps the most 

 remarkable of these was the White- winged 

 Crossbill, of which there were only four 

 previous records. It appeared on Decem- 

 ber 10, 1916, and remained irregularly 

 rather common until the latter part of 

 February, 191 7. The Red Crossbill was 

 also present during the same period. The 

 Pine Siskin was unusually common during 

 the winter, appearing October 22, which is 

 earlier than any previous autumn record. 

 Among the unexpected winter occurrences 

 might be mentioned a Ruby-crowned 

 Kinglet, seen on January 20 by Mr. L. D. 

 Miner, and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 

 observed on January 2 by Miss M. T. 

 Cooke. The Whistling Swan and Ducks 

 of a variety of species wintered in con- 

 siderable numbers on the Potomac River. 

 Altogether, the winter, from an ornith- 



ological standpoint, proved to be one of 

 the most interesting for many years. 



The continuously cold weather during 

 March had a rather interesting effect on 

 the bird-life of this locality. It apparently 

 delayed the spring arrival of only a few mi- 

 grants, for many of them appeared about 

 on time. On the other hand, several came 

 very early. Those late in appearing were 

 the Killdeer, first noted March 11, for 

 which the average date of spring arrival is 

 March 6; the Woodcock, noted March 11, 

 average date of spring appearance, March 

 2; Cowbird, observed March 31, usual 

 date of spring arrival, about March 20. Of 

 the species that arrived ahead of their 

 schedule might be mentioned the Phoebe, 

 which was seen March 5, but which usu- 

 ally comes about March 10; the Purple 

 Martin, which came March 25, six days 

 ahead of its average; and the Brown 

 Thrasher, which was seen March 31, three 

 days ahead of its average. Two species 

 arrived earlier than the earliest previ- 

 ously recorded date: the Louisiana Water- 

 Thrush, seen March 17, for which the 

 previous earliest record was April i; and 

 Henslow's Sparrow, seen on March 25, 

 for which the previous earliest date was 

 April 10, 1889. — Harry C. Oberholser. 



Oberlin Region. — The winter was 

 unusually severe in that there were longer 

 periods of continuous cold during January 

 and February than are expected. As a 

 result no birds began to sing until the first 

 wave of migration. Only the usual winter 

 birds were present in the immediate 

 vicinity of Oberlin, but there were 

 reports of the presence of Bohemian Wax- 

 wings, White-winged Crossbills, Pine 

 Grosbeaks, and Goshawks from regions 

 east of Cleveland. A single Cowbird was 

 found with a flock of House Sparrows on 

 January 29. 



The migrations began on February 19, 

 when there was a marked increase in the 

 number of Crows, which is nine days early 

 for the average of this species. The Blue- 

 bird arrived on February 23, Fox Sparrow 

 on the 24th, Canada Goose and Bronzed 

 Crackle on the 25th, Robin, Killdeer 



