FOREST AND STREAM. 
333 
March 2, 1907 .1 
Rare Winter Birds for New Hampshire. 
Dover, N. H., Feb. 16 .—Editor Forest and 
St ream: Last November we were attracted by 
a song sparrow which remained about our door- 
yard, spending much time in a thick spruce 
hedge. Every morning he sang a little, not the 
sweet full song of summer, but a few trills and 
chirps, his little voice seeming to become hoarser 
till at last, near Thanksgiving, he ceased and 
we lost sight of him. We concluded he was a 
young bird who had gotten belated on his south¬ 
ern journey. 
In January, however, the song sparrow' ap¬ 
peared ao'ain and has been feeding about our 
door ever since, generally coming for his meals 
at nine in the moraine and at five at night. He 
is rather thin, and doubtless has been hard driven 
to find enough food, for the snows have been un¬ 
usually heavy; but he is well and lively. One 
day he brought two tree sparrows with him to 
share his crumbs ; but they proved only compan¬ 
ions of a day. We think our sparrow has shown 
great hardiness to live here during this very 
severe winter. One night he braved forty below, 
the coldest night this city has ever known. 
Two vears ago, the winter of 1905, we had 
an even more unusual occupant of the hedge. 
In November, a strange bird appeared; he was 
slightly larger than a robin and had a whitish 
breast and dark gray wings, back and tail. His 
wines were banded with white and his tail 
showed white feathers. Someone suggested that 
he w r as a shrike, but his bill was not curved as 
the butcher bird’s. In manner he greatly re¬ 
sembled the catbird, whose cousin he proved to 
!' be. After some trouble he was identified in the 
natural history rooms of Boston as the mock¬ 
ingbird of the south. 
It seemed impossible that he was an escaped 
cage bird. His tail feathers showed no signs of 
being stubbed off; moreover, he was exceedingly 
wild. He refused to touch any kind of food 
that was put out for him, but would dart to the 
piazza and snatch a woodbine or bittersweet berry 
and hurry off with it. He usuallv spent his 
nights in the hedge, which is a very high, thick 
one, and about daylight he would fly out and 
I chirp so loudly that he served for a rising bell. 
During heavy storms he spent almost the entire 
! day in shelter, only coming out at noon for a 
bit of a berry lunch. 
Our mockingbird stayed with us, being seen 
| nearly every day, till the i/ith of February, when 
he disappeared, never to return. There is a 
legend that birds choose their mates on Valen- 
| tine’s dav, so we hoped that our bird had flown 
to the sunnv south to find his sweetheart. 
Lyle Warp Sanderson. 
-- 
Bronx Parkway Report. 
The report of the Bronx River Parkway Com¬ 
mission, of which Mr. Madison Grant is chair¬ 
man, has just been submitted to the Governor 
■ of New York State. It bears upon an improve¬ 
ment, which while it is surely local, has an in¬ 
terest for the whole public because it shows the 
growing tendency in the United States to pro¬ 
vide for the future by making parks and reser- 
j vations which, at a late date when population is 
still more congested in and about great com- 
I mercial centers, will be of extraordinary value. 
The reservation system established in Massachu¬ 
setts has become extremely popular in that State. 
The great city of Chicago is now acquir- 
j ing extensive area for a new outer park system 
and is providing for her growth during the next 
■ twenty years and for a population increased to 
8,000.000. New York’s system of parks is already 
excellent, and one of the latest to be estab- 
! fished and highly improved is the Bronx Park 
which is occupied by the Botanical Gardens, and 
the Zoological Park. These great institutions, 
which have cost the city of New York $2,500,000 
for their improvement, and which require an 
annual outlay of $200,000 for their maintenance, 
were visited in 1906 by 2,200,000 people. 
Flowing south from the Kensico River Reser¬ 
vation, the Bronx River passes through this 
beautiful'and highly improved region. Its waters 
north of New York city now receive the drain¬ 
age from a dozen little towns along its course, 
and with the increase of population the stream 
which once was pure and lovely is likely soon 
to become a danger to the public health. The 
Parkway Commission recommends the acquiring 
of all the lands on both sides of the Bronx River 
from the Bronx Park to its source in the Ken¬ 
sico Reservation, the stoppage of all drainage of 
local towns into the stream and the establish¬ 
ment along its banks of a park or reservation 
which will thus be about 22 miles north and south. 
The report shows evidence of a careful study 
of the subject, and the members of the commis¬ 
sion are entitled to much credit for the excel¬ 
lent way in which they have done their work. 
A reservation such as they recommend, made 
accessible at all its points by the Bronx Valley 
Parkway, would be a great benefit to New York 
city and to Westchester county. 
The subject is one of great importance, and in 
view of the large territory to be affected and 
the considerable sum of money required to carry 
out the recommendations made, should have a 
full discussion by the citizens of this State. 
J'l.vrr. 
/■*/»✓. luHVfftt.t 
From Goodspeed’s Catalogue. RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. 
From “Audubon’s Birds of America." 
