46 



Bird - Lore 



Lincoln Park October i6. They spent some 

 time watching the bird which was identiiied 

 as a Pomarine. They also reported a small 

 flock of Lapland Longspurs the same day. 

 The Longspurs were seen again (November 

 I,) by B. T. Gault in Grant Park, together 

 with many Snow Buntings and a small flock 

 of Horned Larks {alpestris proper). Jess; 

 L. Smith reported a Saw- whet Owl found 

 dead in Highland Park November 7, and a 

 Greater Scaup, the i6th. 



The Society closes this year's migration 

 report with 240 species having been iden- 

 tified by the members in this region. — 

 Colin Campbell Sanborn, Chairman, Re- 

 port Committee, Chicago Ornithological So- 

 ciety. 



Minnesota Region. — The mild weather 

 of early October continued throughout the 

 remainder of the month, with a number of 

 beautiful, hazy, Indian Summer-like days 

 when the mid-day temperatures reached 60 

 to 68 degrees. Very little rain fell, and the 

 month was recorded as one of the driest 

 Octobers for many years. The first "killing 

 frost" in the vicinity of Minneapolis did not 

 occur until November i, making the longest 

 'growing season' (197 days) recorded here 

 for fifty years. The usual date is between 

 October 3 and 10. Mild days followed until, 

 on November 7, came the first real winter 

 weather ushered in by a snowstorm. From 

 this date until the 23d, snow fell almost daily, 

 the aggregate amount being 18.5 inches, 

 4.1 inches more than had ever been recorded 

 previously for November at Minneapolis. 

 The total for the whole winter last year was 

 20 inches. The coldest day for the season 

 thus far was on November 20, when the mer- 

 cury fell to minus 4 degrees at Minneapolis. 

 On the 2ist the temperature at Duluth was 

 minus 5 degrees and at Grand Forks minus 

 8 degrees, with nearly zero records in south- 

 ern Minnesota. Thus, the month of No- 

 vember was marked by the greatest fall of 

 snow for that month in the history of the 

 local weather bureau, and it seemed as 

 though winter had come down upon us in 

 earnest. But the 'cold snap' was followed 

 immediately by milder days, and the month 

 ended with a warm, almost spring-like day 



when the snow melted rapidly. There has 

 been no cold weather since and the ground is 

 almost clear of snow. The larger lakes have 

 been frozen only partially until quite re- 

 cently and considerable areas of open water 

 have induced small flocks of the hardier 

 Ducks and a few Herring Gulls to remain 

 until nearly the present date. 



Conditions thus far suggest another open 

 winter like last year. 



The most notable ornithological happen- 

 ing of the last two months has been a re- 

 markable visitation of Magpies into the 

 state from the West. The records received 

 thus far number more than half of the total 

 for all previous years and without doubt 

 there are many more still to be heard from. 

 We have reports from nine different local- 

 ities, widely separated but all in the southern 

 half of the state. The number of individuals 

 seen is thirty-four. The earliest report was 

 for October 10, from Ivanhoe, Lincoln 

 County, near the South Dakota line, where, 

 attracted by a dead hog, ten Magpies were 

 seen together (Mrs. J. A. Campbell). Since 

 that date additional reports have been re- 

 ceived from Pipestone, Lake Benton, Tyler 

 (Peterson), and Ortonville (Chamberlain) in 

 the western part of the state; Dundas (Avery) 

 Dassel (Jensen), Elk River (Bailey), and 

 Red Wing (Densmore) farther east, the 

 last place in the Mississippi River valley on 

 the Wisconsin line. Thus this western bird 

 is distributed entirely across the southern 

 part of the state. 



Nearly all the usual winter visitant birds 

 arrived in the state during late October and 

 November. 



Evening Grosbeak. Brainerd, October 15 

 (Mrs. Thabes); Lake Minnetonka, October 

 17 (Commons); Elk River, October 24 

 (Bailey) ; Miss Torgerson reports them com- 

 mon at Fosston, Polk County, and they 

 have been seen regularly at Brainerd and 

 Elk River ever since their first appearance. 

 It, perhaps, is not quite correct to treat this 

 bird as a winter visitant in the northern part 

 of Minnesota as it now seems certain that it 

 remains throughout the summer and prob- 

 ably breeds in the most northern counties. 



Fine Grosheak. Brainerd, Elk Ri\'er and 

 Minneapolis, mostly single birds. 



