old and young birds, flew over my home in Danvers one day 
in July. Nothing like that ever happened in the old days. 
The Mourning Doves in Topsfield are perhaps less striking 
but none the less welcome additions. This and the preced¬ 
ing species I had become more or less familiar with in the 
West, and it was quite a surprise to find them both in 
Essex County. While the Prairie Horned Lark is rather 
credibly reported to have bred in Topsfield for the “last 
twenty years,” I never found it until this spring, and it 
seems fair to include it in the list of birds that have 
increased the frequency of visitation to this County, though 
that increase may be only slight. There has been a striking 
increase in the number of Bronzed Grackles hereabouts. 
I certainly never saw such an invasion of the thickly settled 
portions in the spring, or such large flocks in the outlying- 
districts in the fall. It has been my experience this spring 
and summer to encounter more Vesper Sparrows than I 
ever saw before, and the impression prevails that they are 
considerably more numerous than formerly. I have a feel¬ 
ing that this may be an accident of observation. It was a 
little surprising to hear a White-throated Sparrow in Tops¬ 
field near the middle of July. I had previously never 
encountered the bird except on migration. This instance 
is hardly evidence of any decided change. I do not know 
the bird bred here, but presume it did. Nor can one con¬ 
sider the Grasshopper Sparrows that I found in Middleton 
more than flimsy evidence of any change, in spite of the 
fact that I had only once previously seen the bird. But 
when, on the annual “River Trip,” a strange note pierced 
the air, and several observers shouted Tennessee Warbler, 
I had real evidence of a change. That was a new one to me, 
and I later learned that only in the last four or five years has 
the bird been observed on spring migration. The Chicka¬ 
dee seems to me to be much more common during the sum¬ 
mer than formerly. I have run across many little families 
of them this year. Last but not of least importance, we 
come to the Hermit Thrush. Now these birds like the Prai¬ 
rie Horned Larks may have been breeding here for the last 
48 
