THE OOLOQI8T 



131 



TEXAS BIRD MIGRATION NOTES 

 No. 3 



Wliat a' wonderful and exciting feel- 

 ing it must be for the birds to get to- 

 gether and the captain of the bunch 

 says all aboard for the warmer cli- 

 mates. And off they go with some 

 old heads and mostly young that have 

 never seen the South and its bunch of 

 guns. But it's either face a freeze-up 

 or guns and they say, let's try the 

 guns. 



The Swallows and the Jays come 

 and go. It's funny to watch their 

 actions; it's easy to tell that all the 

 following birds are strangers. The 

 Cardinal jumps here and there during 

 October morns, while farther south 

 Cardinaes, Wrens and Jays that are 

 breeders around here are happy in the 

 warmer climates. But we observe the 

 strangers of the Crows, Robins Mock- 

 ing Birds. A Towhee is seen scratch- 

 ing in the leaves ; these are new leaves 

 to him. But he's happy. Gold Finches 

 are in the tree tops. Juncoes in 

 bunches are happily playing in their 

 new souhern homes. While away in 

 the air the Sandhill Cranes are heard 

 and are on their way to the sandy 

 southern country. And the Pelicans 

 are observed feeding in the shallow 

 waters of the lake making a collection 

 of whatever comes in reach of their 

 seine. Bugs, insects of all kinds, now 

 and then a small fish; sometimes a 

 catfish. A few Brown Pelicans take a 

 chance on stopping for a rest. But 

 mighty few have been observed here. 

 Great Blue Herons are found in 

 singles all over the lake. Loons are 

 getting more bold and stop to try their 

 diving ability, to some of them sorrow. 

 A few Water Turkey or Cormorant fly 

 back and forth over the rough waters. 

 The Kingfisher sets silently over a 

 prospective fishing place. Sandpipers 

 and Killdeers are around the water's 

 edge. Herring gulls and Common 



Terns are flying and dipping now and 

 then. The coots that are plentifully 

 scattered here and there are in more 

 danger than they think. Some hunters 

 don't know a Duck from a Jack Snipe. 

 The little Pied-billed Grebe is having 

 fair luck with his diving. Bluebirds, 

 Flickers and Woodpeckers are here 

 and there in the tree tops. Cowbirds, 

 Meadow Larks, Horned Larks and 

 Rusty Blackbirds are found in the 

 plowed lands close by. Chickadees 

 are dee deeing in the tree tops. 

 Robins in small bunches are up every 

 creek. There used to be hundreds of 

 them. But now they are not as plenti- 

 ful as usual. Not a Waxwing in sight. 

 Maybe they haven't migrated yet. 

 Now^ comes over the lake like a dark 

 cloud. Crows lined up like aeroplanes. 

 Crow after Crow all going South. It 

 takes these old November days to 

 make bird life plentiful and migration 

 sure in and around the lake. All that 

 the bird lovers can wish is that nine- 

 tenths of all the migratory birds get 

 back safely to their breeding grounds, 

 after their stay in the South. 



Ramon Graham, 

 1919 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



BIRDS OF DUCK LAKE, MICH. 



I am sending you a list of birds ob- 

 served by myself and Mr. B. Purdy of 

 Milford, Mich, on a trip to Duck Lake. 



Duck Lake is one of the many lakes 

 in Oakland County and is well suited 

 for shore and marsh birds. Part of 

 the lake is marshy, grown up to cat- 

 tails and bull rushes. While the other 

 part is a hard sand beach, with rolling 

 meadows, surrounding wood lots of 

 oak, maple, beech, situated some little 

 distance back from the lake with 

 swamps still farther back. 



We found Pied-billed Grebe, Loon 

 and myriads of Red-winged Black 

 birds nesting. 



