Notes from Field and Study 



347 



roost or leave it in a vast, twinkling, cloud. 

 If they have reached this number in seven 

 years, what will fifty years bring? — Edgar 

 Bedell, Waterford, N. Y. 



Notes on the Red Crossbill and Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak 



While I was camping on Sand Lake, south 

 of the Algonquin Park Reserve, great flocks 

 of the Red Crossbills, male and female, were 

 seen on August 15, and from that day on 

 until I came away, on the 26th, they could be 

 seen and heard at any time of the day, and on 

 both sides of the lake for several miles. They 

 were constantly uttering their Goldfinch- 

 like calls to each other, and every now and 

 then one would sing a sweet song consisting 

 of four or five notes, starting on the dominant 

 of the key and going down to the tonic in 

 triplets. This sweet little song I heard many 

 days before I identified the bird. Looking 

 at the birds from a short distance, they 

 looked quite like small Parrots as they 

 turned almost upside down in their search 

 for cones. Some of the males were bright 

 red and others well speckled with red and 

 green, and the females were olive-green 

 and brown. 



Have any of the readers of this magazine 

 noticed that the female of the Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeak sings? I heard her, to my astonish- 

 ment, several times this summer, sing a 

 beautiful soft song, similar to that of the 

 male, but shorter. She would then utter a 

 peculiar call to her young, and be answered 

 by them as they surrounded her^ Me-up, me- 

 up, me-up. — Anna E. MacLoghlin, Hamil- 

 ton, Canada. 



Evening Grosbeaks in 1921-22 



On November 9, 1921, we saw a flock of 

 about ten male Evening Grosbeaks feeding on 

 wild cherries across the road from the house. 

 On February 27, 1922, a neighbor called us 

 to see the strange birds feeding on his sun- 

 flower seeds. We saw three male Evening 

 Grosbeaks. He said they had come for several 

 days. On March 30, 1922, we had a snow- 

 storm and the morning of the 31st Mr. Bates 

 shoveled patches of snow away and put out 



mixed chicken-feed. During the three days 

 the snow stayed on the ground the following 

 birds came to the cleared spots of ground: 

 flocks of Juncos, Tree Sparrows, Horned 

 Larks, several Song, Fox, and English Spar- 

 rows, Evening Grosbeaks, Grackles, Robins, 

 one Meadowlark, one Cowbird, one Starling, 

 a White-breasted Nuthatch, and a Downy 

 Woodpecker. The latter two had come all 

 winter to feed on suet which we had on the 

 tree trunks. All the birds, except the Mead- 

 owlark came to the cleared space next to the 

 porch. After the first Evening Grosbeak had 

 found the sunflower seeds on the ground, on 

 April I , the flock increased until, they left on 

 the afternoon of May 9th, when there were 

 ten males and three females. They came 

 every morning between 6 and 7 o' clock and 

 fed off and on all the morning. We had a 

 feeding-shelf built in each of two trees and a 

 long one fastened to the porch. As we have 

 studied birds for only a year we were de- 

 lighted to make the acquaintance of the Gros- 

 beaks, and we shall look for them again next 

 winter. — Mrs. Frank Bates, Glen-field, 

 Lewis County, N. Y. 



A Stray Flock of Martins 



The Purple Martin is one of our most 

 regular migrants, both spring and fall move- 

 ments being conducted with great regularity. 

 The southward movement begins soon after 

 August I, and my latest previous record is 

 September i, 1917. Professor Barrows, in 

 'Michigan Bird-Life,' also gives September i 

 as the latest probable date. This year the 

 movement took place as usual, the last ones 

 seen in this vicinity being three on August 

 20 near Salem, Washtenaw County. Auto 

 trips through the surrounding country failed 

 to reveal others. 



On September 3, I was returning from 

 Kingsville, Ont., by steamer. As we came to 

 the lower end of Bois Blanc Island, at the 

 mouth of the Detroit River, at about 6.30 

 P.M., I saw a few Martins. Soon their number 

 increased until we were in the midst of a 

 whirling, chattering cloud of them. They 

 extended as far as the eye could see and their 

 numbers seemed endless. But we soon passed 

 through them and within a mile from where 



