The Season 



47 



Snow Bunting. Elk River, Cannon Falls 

 (Swanson) and the Red River Valley near 

 Crookston; common in flocks in the last 

 locality (Miss Torgerson). The Snow Bunt- 

 ing is no longer a generally abundant bird 

 in Minnesota as it was in former times. 



Redpoll. Common throughout the state 

 since early in November. 



Lapland Longspur. Elk River and Pipe- 

 stone (many). 



Bohemian Waxwing. Elk River on No- 

 vember 30 and after that from Minneapolis, 

 Cannon Falls, Pipestone, and Fairmount 

 (Dr. Luedtke). Small flocks only have been 

 seen. 



Great Northern Shrike. Elk River October 

 30, Pipestone and Cannon Falls. 



Snowy Owl. Only one record thus far — 

 from McLeod County, far south in the state 

 (Peterson) . 



Goshawk. Elk River, October 12 (Bailey). 



Rough-legged Hawk. First seen at Elk 

 River September 26, and on October 26 Mr. 

 Bailey wrote "see Rough-legs every day." 



Mr. Bailey reported that a flock of about 

 100 Swans was seen flying over Elk River on 

 November 18. 



Several Bald Eagles have been killed this 

 fall in various parts of the state — two of 

 them far out in the western prairie region, 

 Rock and Norman Counties. Mr. Carlos 

 Avery informs me that at least three Golden 

 Eagles have also been shot. It is unfor- 

 tunate that these great birds should be killed 

 as they are getting very rare. A Golden 

 Eagle was reported by Mr. Bailey as having 

 been seen at Elk River on December 12. 



The mild winter has induced some of the 

 half-hardy birds to remain and so frequent 

 mention is made of the Junco, Tree Sparrow, 

 Brown Creeper, Blackbirds. Bailey writes 

 that Red-headed Woodpeckers are "gen- 

 erally distributed" about Elk River and that 

 "two or three can be seen during a walk of 

 five or six miles in any direction." From 

 Fairmount, Martin County, down on the 

 Iowa line comes the following from Dr. G. 

 H. Luedtke under date of December 15: 

 "Frost all out of the ground and many of the 

 lakes partly open at this date. About 5 

 inches of snow fell during November. De- 

 cember has been sunny and warm to date. 



Meadowlarks, Juncos, Brewer's and Rusty 

 Blackbirds are still quite common." — Thos. 

 S. Roberts, Zoological Museum, University 

 of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn. 



Kansas City Region. — In late October 

 and early November several flocks of Pipits 

 were noted in the Missouri bottoms where 

 this species is only occasionally seen during 

 migration. From October 19 until late No- 

 vember Harris's Sparrows were increasingly 

 abundant, but have evidently passed on 

 through, as but a very few wintering individ- 

 uals have been seen during early December. 

 All the other large Sparrows, save the Tow- 

 hee, have accompanied them. The Towhee 

 rarely winters here, but is common enough 

 this season up to mid-December. 



Short-eared Owls appeared during the 

 last ten days of October and are still here 

 feeding on prairie rodents. A characteristic 

 wave of Harris's Sparrows was noted on 

 October 31, when for over a week these 

 birds were drawling and clinking in hvmdreds 

 from every thicket and weed-patch. On No- 

 vember I an immense flock of feeding Red- 

 winged Blackbirds was discovered in the 

 region of the mouth of Big Blue where they 

 had apparently been established for some 

 time. This flock, estimated to contain be- 

 tween 3,000 and 4,000 birds, evidently all 

 females, has remained in this neighborhood 

 for six weeks feeding on the abundant crop 

 of weed seeds there. It will be interesting to 

 note how long the apparently inexhaustible 

 supply of food will sustain this horde. A 

 series of specimens is being collected to de- 

 termine the subspecies of this wintering 

 form. Red- winged Blackbirds are also com- 

 mon this winter on the uplands and prairie 

 regions, though the flocks will doubtless 

 move on before the season of blizzards ar- 

 rives. It has been noted in previous years 

 when this region has been favored with win- 

 tering throngs of this species that the prairie- 

 feeding flocks almost invariably fly long dis- 

 tances to roost in the Missouri Rive/ bot- 

 toms. From the fact of their not roosting 

 even in large flocks this year it is presumed 

 that these prairie birds are merely loitering 

 here during the fine weather. 



On Novembsr i, from a station on the 



