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Notes on Unusual Birds 
By MILTON THOMPSON 
THERE HAVE BEEN several interesting reports of Western grebes on Lake 
Springfield this year. The first record came from David G. Phillips, a lawyer 
in the Department of Legislative Research in the State Capitol, who is a 
better than average bird observer. After getting reports later from other 
people, I had Mr. Phillips make a note of his observations, as follows: 
“On Saturday morning, March 12th, at about 7:30, I observed a pair of 
Western grebes on Lake Springfield. I was near the shore of the lake in the 
Lincoln Memorial Gardens. The birds were approximately 250 to 300 yards 
from the shore but, through a pair of binoculars, their general shape in- 
dicated that they were grebes, and their black and white coloration indi- 
cated that they were Western grebes. 
“The weather was chilly and the sky was slightly overcast. I watched for 
probably ten minutes while the birds swam close together and were not ob- 
served to dive. I observed these birds as carefully as I could, for I realized 
that they were not common in this area, since the species was not listed on 
the bird list put out by the Illinois State Museum.” 
After receiving Mr. Phillips’ report, I contacted other people to see if 
they had also observed the Western grebe, and the feeling was that ap- 
parently the pair had gone, as no one else had seen them. Then, on May 5, 
6, and 7 one Western grebe was again observed on Lake Springfield by 
several members of the Springfield Nature League. Whether it was one of 
the original two or an additional one is hard to say. On May 5 the grebe was 
observed by Mrs. Bonney, on May 6 by Mrs. Bonney and Lois Hardbarger, 
and on May 7 it was seen by Bill O’Brien, Tom Beggs, Vern Greening, Em- 
ma Leonhard, Lois Hogan, and Lena Hardbarger. No further reports of the 
bird were made this spring, although Mrs. Bonney made a search for it 
again on May 10 without success. 
Since we have been able to find, according to the new Distributional Check 
List of the Birds of Illinois, but seven previous records of the Western grebe 
in Illinois, I feel that this observation is worth adding to our list of ac- 
cidental visitors. Of the seven previous records, one is in 1921, one in 1923, 
two in 1941, one in 1949, one in 1950, and one in 1951, and as far as I can 
tell from the above records, all were observations of a single bird. 
fA Fi fi 
Mr. JAMES M. SANDERS of Chicago writes that three graduate students ob- 
served a Western tanager male and female on July 7, 1955, in a mulberry 
tree on the edge of Maple Lake, at the western end of Wolf Road in the Cook 
County Forest Preserve District. The observers were Ruth Ooykaas, Bertha 
Bannert and Alice A. Smith, all experienced nature students; they had time 
to study the birds at length. The time was 8:15 a.m. The only other record 
for this species is near Carbondale on May 14, 1948. 
Illinois State Museum, Springfield 
