T12 



Bird - Lore 



THE SEASON 

 XII. December 15, 1918, to February 15, 1919 



Boston Region. — Mid-February brings 

 the low ebb of the year, with a brief 

 period of dearth before the awakening of 

 early spring. These first two months of 

 winter have been of extraordinary mild- 

 ness for eastern New England. December 

 and January had many cloudy days but 

 no great cold nor severe storms. The 

 few storms that did pass, nearly all 

 brought rain instead of snow and there 

 were many successive days of sun and 

 mild weather. Sap has dripped at intervals 

 all winter from broken twigs of the sugar 

 maples. Thus a season of most unusual 

 mildness succeeds, in striking contrast, 

 the very exceptional cold of the previous 

 winter. 



The chief interest has centered in the 

 winter visitors. A few reports of Evening 

 Grosbeaks have come in from towns 

 north and west of Boston, particularly from 

 Essex County. Apparently most of the 

 flocks have not been much in excess of 

 twenty-five birds. A few Pine Grosbeaks 

 have been about nearly all winter in the 

 outlying towns, but apparently not in 

 large numbers. Great Northern Shrikes 

 came in the early winter and still remain. 

 Two Red Crossbills appeared in the Har- 

 vard Observatory grounds on January 

 28, sampled the Norway spruce cones, and 

 departed with characteristic notes. But 

 few others have been reported this winter, 

 so that there has not been a marked visita- 

 tion. Other than these, there have been 

 but few northern winter birds inland. 



Of the usual winter residents, there has 

 been somewhat of a scarcity despite the 

 open and apparently attractive winter. 

 The New England landscape would seem 

 strange indeed without Crows and numbers 

 have wintered near the coast, yet seemingly 

 not in the abundance of some winters. 

 The unusual abundance of Hairy Wood- 

 peckers was mentioned in the fall report. 

 These and Downy Woodpeckers remained 

 in force through January, but seem to 

 have slowly filtered away, particularly 



the Hairies, during early February. 

 They had been conspicuous in Cambridge 

 during December and January, frequent- 

 ing the old trees and announcing their 

 presence by their vigorous actions and 

 voices. No doubt many were visitors from 

 somewhat farther north, for such winter 

 birds are often larger than the resident 

 form, approaching the northern leuco- 

 melas. Tree Sparrows and even wintering 

 Song Sparrows have seemed few, and 

 Juncos apparently have been little in 

 evidence about Boston. Purple Finches 

 are reported wintering to the south of 

 Boston, as at Sharon, where many make 

 daily visits to a friend's feeding-shelf. 



Most noticeable has been the almost 

 total absence of Golden-crowned Kinglets 

 and Brown Creepers. These hardy little 

 birds commonly enter the towns, usually 

 accompan3dng the little flocks of Black- 

 capped Chickadees on their regular beats 

 through the village trees. But this winter 

 the Chickadees have come and gone on 

 their rounds alone. A solitary Kinglet 

 appeared in Cambridge on January 14, 

 but no others were observed in the course 

 of several walks. And this has been the 

 experience of others. No doubt the pre- 

 ceding bitter winter brought unusual mor- 

 tality among them. 



A pleasing local feature has been the 

 great congregations of Herring Gulls on 

 the Back Bay Basin in Boston. Owing to 

 the mildness of the season, this has been 

 open most of the winter or at times partly 

 frozen over. On bright forenoons upwards 

 of 1,000 or more birds have gathered here 

 to rest and bathe, sitting in close order 

 on the water, or standing at the edge of 

 the ice. Among them have been a few 

 Black-backed Gulls in the proportion of 

 about one to a hundred of the Herring 

 Gulls. — Glover M. Allen, Boston, Mass. 



New York Region. — This period was 

 remarkably free from winter gales, extreme 

 cold, or snow. The accompanying con- 



