OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 8l 



751. Polioptila cseriilea {Lhm.) 



B1.UE-GRAY GnATCATCHER. 



Observed May lo, 1900. (See Note 4 below) 



NntEs to Bird List, 



NOTE 1, 



357. Falco coluinbarius {Linn.) Pigeon Hawk. 

 Common transient visitant. 



(Erroneously reported in the Preliminary lyist, Vol. I, 1899, 

 as a common summer resident.) 



NOTE 2. 



Winter Visitants, 1899--1900. 



The winter of 1S99 — 1900 was remarkable for the large num- 

 ber of winter visitants observed, some of them being rare and 

 some never before recorded from our area. The White- winged 

 Crossbills, which were recorded at Manchester October 16, 1899 

 and frequently obser\^ed during the remainder of the year, ap- 

 peared in larger numbers early in January, 1900, the maximum 

 number occurring about February 20, after which the number 

 rapidly diminished until their final disappearance in the spring. 

 These Crossbills were seen oftenest feeding on seeds from the 

 cones of the Norway spruce. The proportion of males to femeles 

 was about one to, four. Their call notes and flight notes were 

 very sweet and characteristic but are not easily described. 



The Pine Grosbeaks were abundant all winter. The propor- 

 tion of males to females was about one to seven, and the number 

 of birds seen together ranged from two to thirty. On one occa- 

 sion they were seen to associate quite freely with a pair of butch- 

 er birds, as if not in the least troubled by the carnivorous pro- 

 pensities of the latter. 



The Red-poll Linnets were also very abundant. In addition 

 to the tj'pical Acanthis linaria there were also numbers of the 

 variety A. I. rostT-ata^ especially toward spring. In the middle 

 of the winter there was certainly at least one other species, pro- 

 bably A . hornemannii exilipes, and some of these were so much 



