26 THEAUDUBONBULLETIN 



Birds in Busy Chicago 



How much it would add to our joy in the glad springtime if 

 we all knew the birds we have with us — right here in busy 

 Chicago, especially during migration. 



In our neighbor's small yard, which boasts of one syringa and 

 a bridal-wreath bush, also a few feet of hedge, and even in the 

 dirt of the alley on the other side of our premises, and within 

 a radius of a block, I have seen 62 different species of birds. 

 We live on a typical Chicago street and only a half block from 

 Ridge Avenue. 



Last spring my bird trips were somewhat limited because of 

 my being on crutches, so eyes and ears were keener and con- 

 stantly on the alert for the birds about us. 



A wood thrush sang two evenings in a nearby yard! What 

 was my surprise while lying in the hammock on the porch to see 

 a warbler in the lower branches of a tree close to the porch rail- 

 ing — it proved to be that rare sprite, the Cerulean Warbler ! 

 On the 14th of September a yellow rail appeared in the middle 

 of the street in front of our house and walked to the curb where 

 it hid in a border of petunias! 



The following is a list of the birds seen: 



Evening Grosbeak, Wild Geese, Woodpeckers : Downy, Hairy, 

 Red-headed, Flicker, Sapsucker; Crow, Bluejay, Junco, Bluebird, 

 Robin, Grackle, Brown Creeper, Sparrows : Song, Swamp, 

 White-throated, White-crowned, Fox, Chipping ; Flycatchers : 

 Phoebe, Pewee, Least, Yellow-bellied, Alder, Acadian; Purple 

 Martin, Kinglets : Golden-crowned, Ruby-crowned ; Catbird, Ori- 

 ole, House Wren, Ovenbird, Thrushes : Hermit, Gray-cheeked, 

 Olive-backed, Wood, Veery, Northern Water, Louisiana Water; 

 American Bittern, Humming Bird, Night Hawk, Goldfinch, Scar- 

 let Tanager, Black-billed Cuckoo ; Vireos ; Red-eyed, Philadelph- 

 ia, Warbling, Warblers : Myrtle, Black and White, Yellow, Cape 

 May, Canadian, Tennessee, Mourning, Ceurulean, Redstart, 

 Nuthatches : White-breasted, Red-breasted ; Brown Thrasher, 

 Yellow Rail. 



Gladys Fowler. 



Decatur Lake 



Decatur Lake has been created a state wild fowl preserve. 

 A popular movement directed to this end led to an appeal to 

 Chief Game Warden, Wm. J. Stratton of Springfield. He at 

 once instructed the local game warden, T. A. Nolan, to secure 

 the necessary data defining the area authoritatively and fixing 

 the state's control through formal leases, etc. The state will 

 post the area thoroughly and through the cooperation of warden 

 and interested citizens it is hoped to make it a well-protected 

 sanctuary. 



