J3v Cbc 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN, ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN AUDUBON SOCIETIES 
One Year 25 Cents 
Single Copy 5 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society at Madison, Wisconsin 
Entered as second class matter August 23, 1909, at Madison, Wis., under the act ot Congress of March 3, 1879 
VOL. XIII. 
MARCH, 1912 
NO. 7 
OCCASIONAL WINTER VISITORS 
Were you cast on a desert island, 
and unexpectedly discovered your 
dearest friend shared the same fate, 
you could not help being delighted 
your feelings under such circumstances 
would be much the same, I fancy, as 
those of a bird lover who suddenly 
identifies a new bird in winter. A 
Robin in January looks as large as a 
turkey and stands for more than a 
•thousand Robins seen in July. At this 
moment I am looking out the window 
at one who has taken up his home in 
the juniper hedge. Though he has 
been around for more than a month, 1 
miss him if 1 fail to see him each day. 
With a summer bird out of season the 
whole relation is changed, and even a 
Robin becomes shy and distrustful of 
man. While at work in my garden the 
Robins follow nre for the worms turned 
up, but try as I may I have not been 
able to make friends with this same 
bird in winter. This year we have a 
i Red Bellied Woodpecker wintering 
1 over with us. He is a Southern bird 
f who does not belong in his latitude, 
i and rarely winters further north than 
Virginia, What a delight lie lias been 
to us, with his neat black and white 
uniform and rakish scarlet fez. Some¬ 
thing military in his figure and bear¬ 
ing, as lie lords it over the Cliicadees, 
| Hairy and Downey Woodpecks and 
Nuthatchs. Mr. Dixie, as we have 
named him, may be here, braving the 
| 30 below zero, in mute protest to the 
| growing tendency of human mi gram s 
; to be driven South by Jack Frost. 
Snow Buntings and Lapland Long- 
spurs may be seen in great numbers on 
the same winter day and not again in 
years. They seem to be blown to us 
as the advance guard of a mighty win¬ 
ter storm, and as a rule, are to be con¬ 
sidered distinctively as birds of pas¬ 
sage. However, I have had the rare 
good fortune to identify a pair of 
Snow Buntings near my residence in 
Green Lake Co., on a very warm day 
in October and they remained with 
us for several days. 
The Evening Grosbeak is said to be 
common throughout the Mississippi 
Valley in winter, but is rather a rare 
bird with us. Some years ago they 
appeared in large numbers and at¬ 
tracted much attention, the majority 
of people never having seen them be¬ 
fore. A gentle, confiding, beautiful 
bird, and the tamest of all our occa¬ 
sional visitors. Two years ago they 
remained with us till late April, and 
though I was never successful in get¬ 
ting them to eat from my hand, they 
would come around my feet for hemp 
seed, like a flock of chickens. 
The Bohemian Waxwing is a cosmo¬ 
politan fellow and his visits are few 
and far between. He was once called 
the seven year bird but his ways are 
too eratic to be held down to probable 
human observation. A Turveydrop 
among birds, modish and tailor made 
he looks not unlike his first cousin the 
Cedar Waxwing. 
Victor Kutchin, 
Green Lake, Wis. 
