Il8 PROCEEDINGS MANCHESTER INSTITUTE 



Generally speaking the bird life of the region was less 

 abundant in 191 1 than usual. Some species quite held their 

 own, but many species were decreased in numbers. Thus the 

 general collection of nesting birds in the fifty-acre piece of wood- 

 land on the Highland was not as large as in previous seasons, 

 while still it remained comprehensive. I do not know of un- 

 toward circumstances to explain the decrease, unless, perchance, 

 it may have been a drought, which beginning in early May 

 continued to late July, made naturally wet places dry, eliminated 

 small streams, and robbed vegetation of much of its freshness, 

 thus to some degree changing for the time the usual nature of 

 the bird haunts with which I make myself familiar, and, perhaps, 

 having an influence in determining the choice of location of some 

 birds. The summer resident species which are rarer in the Jef- 

 ferson Region were almost all much more rare in the season of 

 1911, namely, Prairie Horned I^ark, Cowbird, Field Sparrow, 

 Migrant Shrike, Bay-breasted Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, and 

 Wood Thrush. 



