116 



THE OOLOQI8T 



autumn transients appeared and 

 passed on southward. 



On the last few days of September 

 the Blackbirds were in full flocks 

 here and the hardy Phoebe were leav- 

 ing their haunts and appearing in 

 places they were seldom seen in Just 

 at this time we had some heavy rains, 

 ily was restless, the Purple Martin de- 

 parted Sept. 10. I want to make a 

 comment on that Martin. I was in a 

 field at work on September 10th, when 

 one lone Martin passed me, flying 

 swiftly northwest. He was the last 

 to be seen. 



Soon after October 1st the Downy, 

 Hairy, Red-bellied Woodpeckers came 

 'n abundance with the occasional Sap- 

 rjucker and all the summer residents 

 were the Swifts, Hummingbirds and 

 an occasional flock of Myrtle Warb- 

 lers. From October 1st to 5th the 

 weather was warm and stagglers of 

 many species were seen high in the 

 air, and all with one idea in view, 

 "Southward Bound." 



On October 5th all of a sudden the 

 weather changed, became stormy a'nd 

 threatening and a few stragglers re- 

 doubled their energy. I saw several 

 Catbirds and Thrashers passing over 

 but none desired to visit. This cool, 

 threatening state of affairs lasted un- 

 til about the 20th when it changed to 

 storm. This sent all the Cowbirds, 

 Waxwings and Swifts out in a hurry 

 and on the 20th were seen the first 

 wild fowls. Two flocks of rather small 

 Geese were seen. Robins and 

 Meadow Larks became became after a 

 long vacation on the part of the later. 



From October 21st to November 1st 

 the weather grew rapidly worse. The 

 mammoth crow roost was again in- 

 habited. Wild fowl of all sort were 

 seen and especially a family of Bit- 

 terns whom I heard fighting a high 

 v/ind late one night. I could not tell 

 whether they were in trees or in the 



air. But if in the air, I knew they were 

 not very sure of their perch for the 

 trees were bent almost double. On 

 Sunday morning, October 26th, I saw 

 a fiock of ten Water Fowls which I 

 took to be Caspian Terns. I had no 

 chance to kill one, so must only take 

 my best guess with the field glass. 

 During this eight day period there was 

 an exceptional rainfall, greater than 

 for many years and it was a paradise 

 to Ducks and Geese. Whole fields 

 were flooded, wheat stacks floated and 

 the creeks were wild. Had no chance 

 to shoot so my identification of the 

 wild fowl will be rather a guess, but I 

 know that there were three kinds of 

 Geese, Mallards, Pintails, Wood Ducks 

 and likely others, although I know of 

 no others being bagged in this locality 



On October 27th I took a trip to a 

 notable little place, a deserted mill, 

 presumably duck hunting; but it grew 

 cold and the ducks were high so I took 

 a partial list during my trip and it 

 showed that the migration was almost 

 over. I identified the following: Great 

 Blue Heron, American Bittern, Canada 

 Goose, Lesser Goose, Mallard, Teal, 

 Dipdivers, Snipe, Pileated Woodpeck- 

 ers, Swamp Sparrows, Winter Wren 

 and hundreds of Myrtle Warblers. I 

 saw two flocks of sea fowl, both gulls 

 but of different species. I presume one 

 was the Herring an one of the Ring 

 billed Gull. A flock of six white Peli- 

 can were seen about ten mile-:; south 

 and was found by investigation to be 

 wandering about over the countryside 

 apparently lost. 



One unusually large flock of Turkey 

 Vultures came along on the 27th and 

 remained over a day or two, then 

 went on. I saw a' fine Marsh Hawk 

 October 28th and on the 29th I killed 

 a young male Baldpate. It was a new 

 one to me as here on© must kill most 

 wild fowl before identification. Never 

 too many that I can not find a new one. 



