44 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



common junco with the whole throat, the side of the head, and a spot on the 

 nape, white. The pattern was so symmetrical (both sides being colored 

 exactly alike) that the illusion of an entirely new bird was hard to over- 

 come. A significant fact in connection with this bird is that according to 

 Mrs. Ridgway it was here last winter, proving that migratory birds do 

 return to the same place each succeeding year. This we have long believed 

 because each winter the juncos on their arrival go at once to the feeding 

 boxes at the dining room bay window, while the first winter we were here 

 they were a long time in finding these boxes. 



"There are no doves this year and I fear it will not be long before there 

 are none at any season. There were not one-tenth as many doves nesting 

 on our place last summer as there were five years ago. Can not the Illinois 

 Audubonites make a strong effort to have this wholly inoffensive, useful 

 and beautiful bird removed from the list of game birds? I do not see how 

 any community that tolerates dove shooting can claim to be civilized. 



"The mockingbird that spent the whole of last winter with us put in the 

 last few days of his stay in chasing robins off the place. One day (April 

 2 2d last) he had just returned to his favorite perch from a diversion of this 

 kind when a brown thrasher alighted in a small tree nearby and scolded 

 him. He disappeared at once and we never saw him again until October 

 26 when he returned." 



Mrs. Ridgway adds under date of January 24th : "While I was down at 

 the mail box this morning I was listening to the different bird notes and it 

 seemed as if spring must be here, Bluebirds and Cardinals singing, Tufted 

 Titmice, Flickers, Carolina Wrens, Downy, Hairy and Red-headed Wood- 

 peckers calling, also a Meadowlark singing, Blue Jay whistling in the 

 woods, and Crows cawing overhead !" 



A Day Among the Waterfowl and Its Sequel 



Several years ago a friend and the writer decided to take a walk from 

 Arlington Heights to Elk Grove and back, to see what birds we would 

 meet with. The day fixed, May 30th, 1914, came and we started at five in 

 the morning. It was one of those rare, perfect days, and we commenced 

 seeing things from the very threshold of the house. We saw fifty-six species 

 of birds that day, or rather till about three in the afternoon. Beside the 

 common birds, such as Robins, Bluebirds, Thrashers, House Wrens, Bobo- 

 links, Meadowlarks, Mourning Doves, Redwings, Crackles, etc., we saw 

 Henslow's Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows. Indigo-birds, Dickcissels, 

 Migrant Shrikes, Traill's Flycatchers, Cerulean and Blackpoll Warblers, 

 and many more. After awhile we came to a large "slough," i. e. a swamp 

 with much open water, shallow on the sides but three to four feet and more 

 deep in the centre. While we were hearing and seeing King Rails, Spotted 

 Sandpipers, Killdeer, Bitterns, Redwings, Red-shouldered and Marsh 

 Hawks, a Short-eared Owl, Prairie Chickens and a multitude of other 

 sights and sounds — nature was at her best that day — I suddenly spied 

 several Yellow-headed Blackbirds flying dnto the marsh. That made me 

 excited, as they are becoming rare in our parts, and, throwing aside all 

 impediments, I walked, with clothing on, after them into the water, not any 

 too warm then. I wanted to see the nests of the Yellow heads. When the 

 water reached up to the hips, I suddenly saw a circular, compact mass of 



