The Season 



355 



Wood Peewees have been infrequent this 

 year, while there have been more Broad- 

 tailed Hummingbirds in Denver than usual. 

 The last Wood Peewee was noted on Sep- 

 tember 7, and the Hummingbird was last 

 seen on August 24. A considerable wave of 

 migrating Plumbeous Vireos spread over 

 Denver from August 24, to September 6. 



A Flycatcher that braves weather which 

 drives away other insectivorous birds is our 

 Say's Phoebe, taking the place here that the 

 common Phoebe does in the East. We have 

 had some quite cold nights during the past 

 week, yet Say's Phoebe is to be seen in the 

 outskirts of the city every day. It occasion- 

 ally winters at Grand Junction. 



One often sees evidences of late nestings by 

 the occurrence of very immature young long 

 after all should have been well developed. 

 This happened to me during the last week of 

 August when a partly fledged Mourning 

 Dove was seen in the street near my home. 

 This is long after the great bulk of this species 

 has ceased housekeeping. 



Recently, while I was in the hills, my atten- 

 tion was attracted by a song much like that 

 of a Mockingbird, although very weak and 

 brief. A patient search showed that it came 

 from a Vireo, which, when collected, proved 

 to be a Cassin's Vireo, a very uncommon bird 

 in Colorado. Shortly after this incident, the 

 song of a Catbird, apparently, was heard near 

 my home, a song which finally was proved to 

 come from a Plumbeous Vireo. These two 

 incidents show anew how much one can learn 

 about species relatively familiar to the ob- 

 server. I have never heard either of these 

 Vireos sing those strains. 



One can count with certainty on seeing 

 Hairy Woodpeckers in the city late in August 

 but not during the previous months. This 

 year was no exception, for several were seen 

 in my home neighborhood and in other parts 

 of the city. They certainly are not driven out 

 of the hills by lower temperatures, for they 

 remain in the city even during zero weather. 

 Perhaps it is merely wanderlust. 



One of Denver's most erratic bird visitors 

 is the Long-crested Jay, which with us takes 

 the place of the Blue Jay. The Long-crested 

 Jay appeared here during the first week of 

 September, tarried a few days, and disap- 



peared. The erratic wanderings of this bird 

 are also a puzzle to me. 



Warblers have been very scarce in the city, 

 in fact, almost absent; Macgillivray's was 

 seen on September 7, and, on several different 

 dates after that, Audubon's appeared in our 

 parks, the last date of its appearance here 

 being October 7. 



Early in September there was an extremely 

 large wave of Robins going South over this 

 region. All were very gray and some had an 

 unusual amount of white about the head. I 

 believe these all are birds from the extreme 

 north, for they follow after and displace the 

 local darker forms. 



During a ten-days' sojourn in the hills 

 recently (at a spot 30 miles by air-line from 

 Denver) I noticed several interesting phe- 

 nomena. For several days, during daylight 

 hours, a steady stream of Brewer's, Clay- 

 colored, and Chipping Sparrows flowed down 

 the canyon of the South Fork of the South 

 Platte River, traveling through the bushes 

 and evergreens with apparently no retrograde 

 movement. It was the first ocular demon- 

 stration I have ever had of such a large 

 number of migrants following, in the fall, a 

 stream downward towards the plains. Later 

 on in the season, thousands of Robins winter 

 in this same locality, yet I saw but two. As 

 I motored home, two Ravens were seen, and 

 a single Dusky Grouse, the first now rare, 

 and the second becoming uncommon in the 

 state. — W. H. Bergtold, Denver, Colo. 



Portland (Oregon) Region. — There is 

 nothing unusual to report from the Portland 

 district this season. The summer birds, such 

 as Warblers, Flycatchers and Hummingbirds, 

 have mostly disappeared. Evening Gros- 

 beaks, Pine Siskins, and Juncos have made 

 their annual appearance. 



The writer has been away from Portland 

 much of the time since August i and conse- 

 quently cannot report accurate dates for bird- 

 movements. 



In August I made a trip through the lake 

 district of eastern Oregon and passed through 

 the Malheur, Warner, and Klamath Lake 

 sections. Ducks seemed to be unusually 

 abundant and such birds as Avocets, Cali- 

 fornia Gulls, White Pelicans, and Farallone 



