364 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JiBSE 7. 1833. 



WHEN THE BIRDS RETURN. 



Editor Fori it and Stream: 



It may interest some of the fas/ay readers Of you natural 



history columns to know just when our friends, the birds, 

 r6turh to [heir nesting haunts, or pause with US on their way 

 further northward. The following list has been taken with 

 care, and is reliable for this locality. In most eases urn' bird 

 only would be noticed the first day. the following one the 

 variety would not lie uncommon. * 



Robin— Mi rula tmgmt'irin March S 



Purple Gruekle— QuixrnUis pnrpur, ux " 10 



Phoebe Bird — Bag/amis fusevt " 1*' 



Red winged Blackbird— Agikrux p/inniivut.i ■- 10 



Wuddi lock— Piiii.ib, hi minor " n 



Fox Sparrow— /'/>.wv/',f iliarn ' 11 



Cowbtrd— MolotJinia atar ", SO 



Wilson's Snipe — Qaltinago madia wihtoni April 



Night Heron — Xyr/inrdea grisea »ama ' 5 



Blue Ib-ron— Aril, a Jierodia).., " 6 



Yellow-Bhafted Flicker— GdapUx uwratui 8 



Mourning Dove— .Zi uaidura raniliiuiixix 



yellow-rump Warbler— Dsndrmca wrmwtn 8 



Chipping Sparrow— Sph'lUi ihiu/xtira 



Great-crested Flycatcher— Afip'ari'hw rrinitux. ... " 9 



Field Sparrow— Spitiiln puxitln " 10 



White-bellied Swallow— Dirli i/rhi. In tricolor 13 



Grass Fmch— Poaseetei gramineus " IB 



Savannah Sparrow- — Paw rent un xaniliririanxix 



a " U 



Hermit Thrush— Hylociclda wnulaSca pallaxi " 14 



Redpoll Warbler— 1), •mlnrra pahiuirwttl ' 1|S 



Chewiuk— Pipifo irytlirophthaliu as 20 



Black and White Creeper— Mnwtilta. varia 21 



Brown Thrasher— HarporhyTtch us rufui ' 21 



Swamp Sparn iw— " ' » stl it " 24 



Pine-creeping Witblw—Dendrceeo pinuz -1 



House Wren-7 ; ., " 25 



Black-throated Green Warbler— Deftdrceea rinnx ' 87 



Blue-headed Vireo — TjaMvireo xolitariiu 28 



Spotted Sandpiper — '1'riiaja'ahx nairulaiinx " 38 



Barn Swallow— Him win erytkrogattra ;' 28 



( ihimnev Swift— G/aitma pi>ax,p,;, " 28 



Kingbird— Tyrannua earoanensit -May 1 



Wood Thrush— J/..': ! iiai " 8 



Golden-Crowned Thrush — Sunt* aurirajiiilux, . . ' 3 



Warbling Vireo— Vireaxi/lria r/ilca 4 



Yellow-breasted Chat — /','., •■:,■ " 7 



Blue Yellow -hacked Warbler— Panda (tmtieana " 7 



Baltimore Oriole- . \< 7 



Catbird— Girl,, ixr„/,t,K rar,,lin<;nxix " 7 



Indigo Bird— Potssriiw cyanta - " 7 



Orchard Oriole— leierui spurius 8 



Chestnut-sided Warbler— / .-i/lranim " 8 



Yellow throated Vireo— Laaivir,n jlamfmni 8 



Whippoorwill — CaprivtuU/us wtetferm " 8 



Black-throated Blue Warbler— Ik ndrxea oamtlts- 



hens " 8 



Summer Warbler— Lkialrura assifca " 9 



Haabwlle Warbler— Selmmihophaga rufieapiUa. . " 9 



Maryland Yellow-throat— (leutldypin trirhax " 9 



American Redstart — Sstophaga ruMciUa 9 



White-eyed Vireo — Vino , " 9 



Rose-breasted Grosbeak — Zmnehdia ItidociieiatKt. 9 



Water Thrush— & imu ■■■■• " 9 



Wilson's Thrush— HyUeuMa ftuma ns " 9 



Least Flycatcher— Srnpidona i minim tu 9 



Solitary Sandpiper — JSftj phi vrim 



Blackburnian Warbler— Bttndroxa Uacldwnm. 9 

 Canadian Flycatching Warbler — Myiodloetes carta- 



, " 10 



Bobolink— Dolichonyx oryavarus " 10 



Green Heron— BuUnides W ■■■ " 10 



Blackpoll Warbler— Dendrttca utriata " « 



Black and Yellow Warbler — Ik „,li;,-ra inarvltixil '• 12 

 Ruby-throated Humming Bird— Trat'hilm) eolu- 



bm '. " 12 



Black-billed Cuckoo — Coccyzus erythrophthahiiux ' 13 

 Blue-winged Yellow Warbler — Helminth, >phaya 



pinna " 13 



Scarlet Tanager — Pyranga rubra " 14 



Black-capped" Yellow Warbler — Myi'iditxUx pu- 



(nUia •' 17 



Red-ejedTireo — VireosyMa olivacea " 20 



Yellow-Winged Sparrow — Guhiriiieuliix pax*, ri„ux ' 21 

 Worm-eating Warbler — lldmiathalhrrax rvrmi- 



crux ., " 23 



Mourning Warbler — Geatldypis Philadelphia " 27 



The yellow-billed cuckoo and the night hawk have not 



yet arrived. The bluebird remains all winter. The king- 

 fisher leaves when the streams freeze and returns with open 

 water. Old Turkey. 



Loxg Hill, V J.. May 88, 1883. 



Grows. Robins and Bluebirds Febr'y Ifi 



Song Sparrows " 19 



Purple Grackle March 13 



Meadow Lark 2o 



Carolina Dove ' 28 



Killdrer April 3 



Chipping Sparrow 4 



Red-winged Blackbird ' 6 



Red-headed Woodpecker, Golden-winged Wood- 

 pecker " 7 



Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker 



and Cowbird .' " 8 



Coot. Bittern. Carolina Rail ' 9 



Grass Finch 10 



Kingfisher. Virginia Rail and Snipe ' H 



Loggerhead Shrike 12 



To'whec Bunting " 17 



Brown Thrush " 18 



Bain Swallow, Sparrow Hawk " 20 



Wood Thrush. House Wren " 24 



Loon, Night Heron " 26 



Yellow Warbler, Wood Pewee, White-bellied 



Swallow, Bank Swallow " 30 



Cliff Swallow, Chimney Swift, Spotted Sand- 

 piper May 1 



Warbling Vireo, Kingbird " 2 



While-crowned Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, White- 

 throated Sparrow , Ycllow-ruruped Warbler and 



Catbird " 3 



Purple Martin, Night Hawk " 4 



Redstart, Maryland Yellowthroat, Cterillean 



Warbler, Orchard Oriole " 5 



Great Blue Heron, Green Heron ' 6 



Golden-crowned Thrush, Scarlet Tanager " 9 



Bay breasted Warbler.Chestuut-sided Warbler&nd 



Indigo Bird " 10 



Great-crested Flycatcher. Black and Yellow 



Warbler ' '< 11 



Bobolink " 12 



Ro..o-hreasled Grosbeak, Cape May Warbler, Blue 

 Yellow-backed Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler. 

 Black-throated Blue Warbler and Black-throated 



Green Warbler " 1 



Blackburnian Warbler. Wilson's Trush. Blue-gray 

 Gnaleateber, Hooded Warbler, Canada Fly- 

 catching Warbler, Mourning Warbler. Black 

 and White Creeping Warbler, Blue-winged Yel- 

 low Warbler " " 17 



Yellow-breasted Chat. Whippoorwill '• 18 



Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo and Aca- 

 dian Flycatcher " 19 



Pewee, Solitary Vireo " 30 



Black-billed Cuckoo " 26 



Cl.HVELAXD, OhiO. S. R. I. 



WINTER AND SPRING NOTES, 1882-83. 



DEO. 9, 1882. — Took a rusty grackle in good plumage. 

 It was found in a thick, bushy swamp; a spring and 

 fall migrant. 



Dec. 12. — Saw a robin feeding on some poke weed berries 

 growing along the edge of a piece of woods. Has been Been 

 several times since in the same vicinity. 



Dec. 13. — Saw eight or ten yellow rump warblers among 

 the cedars. They became quite numerous in a few days i'u 

 I he open woods and cedar thickets, until about Jan. 5, 18*3. 

 when they disappeared. Saw two song sparrows in a 

 swampy thicket. This is a summer resident. 



Dec. '20. —Saw a small flock of meadow larks in the field. 

 The ground is covered with snow. 



Jaii. 1, 1883. — Plue grosbeaks here. Saw twelve or fifteen 

 among the cedar and spruce trees, all in the gray plumage. 

 A few arc seen nearly every wilder here' During the 

 winter of 1874-75 they appeared in large numbers. 



•Jan. 12.— Saw three bluebirds among the cedars. 



Jan. 14. — Saw a golden-winged Woodpecker. 



Jan. IS.— A belted kingljsher shot at Mill Hollow, Pame- 

 chia River, Middletown, across the Connecticut River. A 

 summer resident. 



Jan. 30. — Pine finch: shot one from among a flock of 

 goldfinches and lesser redpoll linnets; the first and only one 

 taken here. 



Feb. 5.— Saw a herring gull flying up the Connecticut 

 River. A few usually seen about the river in fall and 

 spring. 



Feb. 9.— Saw an immense flock of lesser redpoll linnets, 

 numbering thousands; also a very large flock of Arctic snow 

 buntings on the meadows. 



Feb. 20.— A long-eared owl shot. Several barred owls 

 have been taken in this vicinity during the winter. 



March 2. — Took great Carolina wren, of which you have 

 published an account in the Forest and Stream. SSw 

 a flock of robins and two fox sparrows. New arrivals. 



March 4.— A great horned owl's nest found at Gilead, 

 Conn., containing two fresh eggs. 



March 13. — Saw crow blackbirds and redwing blackbirds. 

 New arrivals. 



March 23. — Several rusty grackles in the swamps. 



March 26. — Saw three pewees. 



April 1. — Large numbers of fox sparrows in the woods 

 and swamps; more numerous than I have ever seen them 

 before. Purple finches and cedar birds, which are usually 

 quite numerous here during March, have not yet put in an 

 appearance. Several flocks of wild ducks about the river. 

 A pair of hooded mergansers, male and female, .-hot, 

 March 18. Chari.es II. Nbff. 



Portland. Connecticut. 



[The field notes given above were received long since, but 

 have been mislaid, and only recently come to light. We 

 regret the delay in their publication.'] 



THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 



FAiUa- FunxtandStm,,,,: 



It is with much satisfaction that we have noted the pro- 

 gress of the war made for the extermination of tlAl great 

 nuisance, the English 'sparrow. This bird has made "him- 

 self so extremely obnoxious wherever he has been introduced, 

 that it has become positively evident that he must be got rid 

 of. and that very soon, or he will in time drive every one of 

 our small insectivorous native birds from our cities, village.., 

 and thicklv settled agricultural sections. And what have 

 we in the place of our native birds? The meanest little 

 "devil" of the feathered species that was ever created. For 

 the English sparrow is not an insect eater, that we can dis- 

 cover, neither has he a song note or beautiful plumage. But 

 he is ever ready to devour the grain of the farmer, feed upon 

 crumbs about homes, and feast upon flic offal around barns 

 and in streets. Hence his readiness to make his home where 

 there is the most of this kind of food to be bad. After 

 having satiated his gluttonous appetite he will gather by the 

 thousand upon housetops, telegraph wires, fences and in 

 treetops, or wallow in the dust of streets, for hours, thus 

 idling away valuable time that our native birds industriously 

 devote to the work of insect hunting. He is a pugnacious 

 little animal, readv for the combat at any monienf, not only 

 with other species of birds, but among his own family. 

 There seems to be no good in him, and we cannot see why 

 ornithologists, or an v one else, could have the heart to de- 

 fend this bird in anv way. But we are glad to see those 

 who have made bird science a study taking sides against 

 Ibis miserable pest, and hope the legislatures of the different 

 States will soon follow the lead and take measures to have 

 the English sparrow exterminated from the whole country. 



Here in Titusville, five years ago, the shade trees and 

 shrubbery, along the streets and about grounds, were the 

 homes of'the native wildwood songsters, arid the air was 

 made melodious, morning and evening, with their sweet- 

 voiced notes. Some of these summer visitor were the beau- 

 tiful plumased birds from the sunny South, who strayed 

 North, it seemed, to make us glad with their presence; 

 now they are all none. Seldom one appears since the ad- 

 vent of the sparrow, exe.pt a few robins, a family of which 

 is raising a young brood in the blanches of a tree a few feet 

 from our window. We do uotknow of the nest of another 

 native bird in the immediate vicinity. 



Humming birds used to be plentiful here a few years ago, 

 but they. too. have taken fright and left the English 

 "pirate' 1 10 have full possession. 



What has been the experience here with this bird, seems 

 to hold good Over the country wherever his habits have been 



noted. Hence, where there is so much evidence against, 

 and none far, the culprit, there is certain reason for taking 

 vigorous action in the matter. E. C. Bei.i. 



Tm'sviia.K, fa., May 83, 1883. 



IlAxoiiD nv trans Neck.— Onondaga Hill. May 23, 1883. 

 —On the I7lli day of June, 1880, directly after dinner, 1 

 went out onto the front stoop of our house, and laid down 

 on my back, looking up into the trees and sky, quietly 

 thinking and listening to the birds above me. Suddenly 'l 

 discovered a cedar bird suspended by the neck to the end of 

 a slight limb, and the bird twitching' in the agonies of death. 

 Hastily climbing the tree I nut off the limb which sus- 

 pended the bird and discovered that a string, or rather a tine 

 cotton thread, had been passed through the neck and skin of 

 the bird and twisted about it several limes, and also several 

 times around the twig. I think that the bird was hung b\ a 

 pair of robins who had a nest close by. These are ,, ,, 

 sons. • During the forenoon and a short time before dinner 

 I noticed a pair of robins chasing a cedar bird that had one 

 feather missing from his tail, and when I came to examine 

 this bird I saw that there was one feather missing from his 

 tail also. A not her reason was that there were two robins 

 chirping and making a great ado close bv. tsimposetl 

 must have been over the hanging of I heir tormentor. Know- 

 ing the habits and nature of robins very well, i have reason 

 to believe that these two robins were the execul toners. 

 Snipe have not been very plent v here this spring. I have 

 heard of a couple of good bags being made, one of thlrtj 

 snipe, another one of ten only. I saw some of them;* four 

 of them equaled a robin in size each. At a place on Seneca 

 River called Mud Lock, over "forty ducks and one wild 

 goose were shot in one day. The pla'ce is only about, eight 

 miles northwest of Syracuse, N. Y. The blue jays have 

 comeback to us once more. Out of a flock of twenty-five 

 or thirty I captured twelve and bad four sent to me to 

 mount; also nine scarlet tanagers and a few rose breasted 

 grosbeaks, — Green Wing. 



Wood Ducks eh the Barkvaro. — Saratoga, N. Y., June 

 2.— In conversation this morning with Mr. D, A. Bullard. 

 one of Scliuylerville's solid citizens, the folk wing unusual 

 circumstance' was elicited which maybe of interest! to your 

 readers. A few weeks since some boys passing through" one 

 of Mr. Bullard's orchard observed a wood duck fly fri ana I rce. 

 A duck in an apple tree was to them unheard" of, and they 

 reported the fact to Mr. B.'sfarm manager, who madi Ml 

 investigation and found in the decayed trunk, eight or ten 

 feet from the ground, a nest c.ortainiiig • li v, t, ,->-. These 

 were removed and placed under a hen. which in due time 

 came proudly from the nest with eleven brownish-black 

 ducklings. The little aborigines are exceedingly lively and 

 shy, darting to places of concealment with the rapidity of 

 mice, ou the approach of any living thing. They regard 

 the voice of the hen as that of" a legitimate patent, ami she 

 in turn displays the usual solicitude when they bathe in the 

 vessel placed for their convenience near the coop where t In- 

 foster mother is confined. It is the intention of tin- gentle- 

 man mentioned to make an intelligent attempt to anrl 



domesticate them, with a view to matrimonial alliances with 

 their civilized relatives. — S. 



A HERON Choked to DEiTn.— A large blue heron 

 was found dead a few weeks since, and upon post mortem 

 examination it was found that his love for fishing and his 

 "credulity" had caused his untimely demise. He had prob- 

 ably read Some of the recent article.-" in Forest and Stream 

 relative to the expansive capabilities of the throats of 

 snakes, cranes, etc., and thought all things possible. It 

 seems that the heron had tackled a .--had fully twelve inches 

 iu length, and had succeeded in Swallowing about half of 

 the fish, head foremost, when it refused to be "put down," 

 and becoming wedged fast in the throat of the bird, caused 

 its death. The fins prevented the disgorging of the delicate 

 morsel. So, there be lay, a victim of scientific research and 

 misplaced confidence. Faet! Moral — Be very careful 

 what yon write in Forest ano Stream, as all sportsmen 

 and "fishermen" read it, and being "naturally credulous," 

 may injure themselves bv experiments.— A. F. R. (Belviderc, 

 N. 'C, May 29). 



A Bear's Winter Sleep. — Mr. James Hopper, of Ed- 

 wardsburg, is the happy possessor of a year-old bear, for 

 which he lias snug quarters prepared in the shed. On Ihe 

 6th of last December, his bearship, no doubt feeling drowsy, 

 retired to his quarters, and much lo the surprise of his 

 owner, refused to be coaxed out again, even savory dishes, 

 placed at the door of his box, had not the slightest effect 

 upon him. Weeks passed into months, and still bruin re- 

 mained in a state of lethargy, until people began to look 

 forward to the 17th of March, when all well-regulated bears 

 are supposed to come forth and look for their shadows. 

 But alas! for the old story, he came not forth, and it was not 

 until the 28th of the month that he condescended to poke his 

 brown nose out and partake of a little milk, and not until 

 the 9th of April that he may be said to have partaken of a 

 square meal. His long fast does not seem to have disagreed 

 with him, as he looks just as well as ever.— Prrxmlt {Out.) 

 Monger. 



The Pike 'Grosbeak's Svmmer Home.— I found pine 

 grosbeaks at 'Second Connecticut Lake, May 24, in pairs. 

 The song of one male I distinguished from a medley of song 

 iters i: leasl 300 yards away. He was perched upon a dry 

 tree on the Caribou Bog at head of kike.— N. U. 



"That reraiads me." 



DIAMOND PONDS, ten miles east of this village, are 

 yielding some fine creels of trout, as usual with all 

 tributaries of'the Androscoggin. A camp will soon be com- 

 pleted there for the accommodation ol sportsmen, under the 

 auspices of Martin Noyse, a new hand but a royal fellow. 

 Last week, while in temporary quarters across the lake, he 

 was aroused by a call from the terminus of the road, as one 

 half awake would imagine. His loud "hello" in reply aroused 

 one of the guests inside, who quickly recognized the voice pi 

 Bubo and" exclaimed, "Come in, Mart, and let him go 

 around if he can't swim." 



A few deer had seen -I oreal the lowi r mC ol 



the pond. Mart, anxious to show the attractions ol the lo- 

 cality to one of biseuc.-K di-covered, as he fondly imagined 

 the form of a deei partly visible through the brush, and 

 while trying to draw attention to it the fog It 1 6& 

 alighted in the top of a convenient tree, as blue herons do. 



Colcbku.*. N. n. Ned Norton. 



