ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 45 



downtown store for final judging. The designs covered houses 

 for Wren, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Robin, 

 Phoebe, Flicker, and Purple Martin. 



The outstanding feature of the exhibit was the fact that al- 

 most all the houses were practical and meritorious. In fact, there 

 were but six entries which disregarded construction principles 

 entirely, and but two of these six proved valueless from the 

 standpoint of the bird. The freak houses of former contests were 

 entirely absent. 



Every house not wanted at the builder's home found a ready 

 sale or was donated to the Park Board. 



Paul B. Riis. 



A Mocking Bird Record at Rockford 



So far as we know, there is no record of a Mockingbird which 

 has stayed for any length of time in this vicinity. 



In the summer of 1918 Miss Celia Whelpley, a Rockford vis- 

 itor from the southern part of the state, declared that she had 

 seen or heard a Mockingbird several times near her room in south 

 Rockford. She said the bird was as familiar to her as a Robin is 

 to the residents of this vicinity, and that she could not be mis- 

 taken. I passed the news on to various bird lovers, but we had 

 never had a record before and it was, I think, given little cred- 

 ence. 



April 18, 1919, Mrs. C. A. Nelson and her daughter, Betty, ob- 

 tained another record, also in south Rockford. The bird was 

 feeding near the ground and obligingly stayed while they exam- 

 ined and compared it with their bird books, establishing its 

 identity beyond all doubt in their minds. 



September 1, 1921, when I came home I found my mother 

 quite excited because she had seen an entirely new bird on our 

 bird bath. It had stayed for some time, so that she was able to 

 get a full description. What she told me made me suspect its 

 identity at once, but without saying what I thought I took the 

 description of the Mockingbird and asked in detail as to its ap- 

 pearance. Everything agreed, and it seems to me, although 

 none of the records are mine, that I cannot doubt the evidence 

 of these three appearances. 



May 18, 1921, Mrs. Sackett saw the Cerulean Warbler. 



April 17, 1921, I have a record for a Ring-billed Gull and a 

 Woodcock. 



Recently Mrs. Ogilby has seen Pine Siskins. 



May 18, 1921, Mrs. Kimball and I identified a Prairie Warb- 

 ler. 



Edith Van Duzer. 



