The Season 



51 



small twigs of a hackberry tree while they 

 greedily gathered its still hanging fruits. — 

 Glover M. Allen, Boston, Mass. 



New York Region. — The late fall was 

 unusually mild, the trees becoming bare, 

 grass growing brown, and country assum- 

 ing a wintery aspect without the usual cold 

 snaps. There seems to have been no general 

 tendency for birds to linger late, however, 

 with the one exception of Fox Sparrows, 

 but several isolated cases of individuals, 

 noted far later than the accustomed dates 

 for the departure of their respective spe- 

 cies, are at hand: near Plainfield, N. J., a 

 Woodcock, December 8, and a flock of 

 fifteen Mourning Doves, December 15 

 (W. DeW. Miller); two Barn Swallows 

 migrating westward at Long Beach, No- 

 vember 26 (J. R. P. Janvrinj; a Black- 

 throated Blue Warbler in Prospect Park, 

 Brooklyn, November 2 (Theodore Dreier); 

 three or four Northwestern Palm Warblers 

 at Garden City, December i, and a single 

 one on December 8 and 15 (J. T. N.). There 

 is one other December record for this bird 

 on Long Island, an individual observed 

 in 1914 in the same part of the island, by 

 Messrs. R. C. Murphy and C. H. Rogers. 

 Otherwise it has not been noted after the 

 middle of October. 



During this period Goldfinches have 

 been in larger flocks and more generally 

 distributed than usual, these and the wan- 

 dering flocks and waves of Juncos being 

 often the most abundant species met with 

 on country tramps. Tree Sparrows have 

 been late in reaching their accustomed fall 

 feeding-grounds, having been scarce on 

 Long Island until about Thanksgiving 

 Day, and not being numerous yet south- 

 westward. 



Except for a small flight of Pine Siskins 

 in late October and early November, word 

 has not reached us of the presence of any 

 of the erratic northern Finches, except for 

 a single Pine Grosbeak reported at Sands 

 Point, Long Island, November 23 (Laidlaw 

 Williams). There have been two or three 

 reports of the Saw-whet Owl and Northern 

 Shrike. 



In late November there was a noticeable 



influx of Hairy Woodpeckers to localities 

 where the Downy only is common. The 

 Hairy was frequently observed in Central 

 Park, and a dead one was seen there by 

 Dr. Jonathan Dwight. Of possible bear- 

 ing on this movement of the Hairy is an 

 observation made by the writer in the 

 wooded district of south-central Long 

 Island (Mastic), somewhat earlier, of a 

 straggling, restless, noisy flock of upward 

 of half a dozen birds. The species is com- 

 mon there but almost always occurs singly 

 or at most two together. — J. T. Nichols, 

 New York City. 



Philadelphia Region. — The mild, 

 pleasant days of late October and early 

 November passed with very few unusual 

 occurrences in the bird world. The weather 

 averaged several degrees warmer than 

 common. White-^throated Sparrows and 

 Juncos reached the peak of their abundance 

 about October 20 and remained very 

 common until November 3, when they 

 gradually decreased until they reached the 

 ordinary winter level. During this period, 

 also, hundreds of Robins and numbers of 

 Cedar-birds were present. White-breasted 

 Nuthatches were common, and several 

 Red-breasted Nuthatches were observed 

 (three October 20J. The October flight of 

 Woodcock was very light; most gunners 

 I have interviewed simply say "saw none." 

 Horned Larks were first observed No- 

 vember 10 at Norristown, Pa. A flock of 

 fifty Pipits were seen on November 5 at 

 Camden, N. J. Chickadees and Tree Spar- 

 rows are much more common than they 

 were last fall. To date I have noticed but 

 two Red-tailed Hawks, while other years 

 I have seen large numbers of them. This 

 may be a local condition and due to some 

 extent to the extremely mild weather, 

 there having been no snow up to the time 

 of this writing (December 11). 



The rarer northern visitors are notice- 

 ably absent, although I have a reliable 

 report that a flock of Pine Grosbeaks were 

 seen in central Pike County, Pa., so it is 

 quite probable that this species may be 

 seen at points farther south before the 

 end of the winter. Long-eared Owls were 



