ERE AUDYSBO.NPBUCLETREN 55 
little hope of seeing them. Nevertheless, I continued, and I was rewarded 
by seeing one at a break in the ice, caused by rapids. Standing perfectly 
still on the edge of the ice it occasionally struck at the fish congregating 
about the air hole. 
I observed a flock of ten Purple Finches feeding on the seed-clusters 
of the sycamore, December 30. By clinging to the top of the cluster they 
managed to reach down and get the seeds, though the cluster swung like 
a pendulum. Later in the day I okserved a Red-headed Woodpecker. 
FRANK BELLROSE, JR. 
A, Fall Visit to Orland Marsh 
During the fall of this year | have made two trips to Orland Marsh 
(Cook County) and both times was fortunate in making some good 
records. 
The first trip on September 29th was not a very extensive one, as I 
hiked only half way around the swamp. The marshes were almost dry, and 
very little of the customary aquatic plant life was evident. A small but 
varied flock of about two hundred ducks was crowded into the only patch 
of open water, far out from where the shores are in ordinary seasons. The 
ducks present were: Red-breasted Merganser, Mallard, Black Duck, 
American Widgeon, Blue-wingéd eal, Pintail and Wood Duck. The 
striking Wood Ducks were separated from the others, and gave me an 
excellent chance for observation before they finally took flight. The male 
Baldpates were brilliant among the more drab-colored ducks and could 
easily be picked out at a distance without the use of glasses. 
Farther up the marsh, and in muddy land covered with long grasses, 
a group of twenty-six Great Blue Herons stood like so many fence posts. 
At one end of the swamp a lone American Egret flew from the grass to 
the dead limb of a nearby tree (this date is late for the Egret.in this 
area). 
On an isolated island of cat-tails one hundred yards out in the swamp, 
three Florida Gallinules stalked in and out among the reeds, while over- 
head a Duck Hawk harried a small sandpiper (probably Pectoral). “Uhe 
hawk seemed to be playing with the sandpiper, and frequently dropped 
down at it from above. 
On October 20th, I made the second trip to the swamp. I arrived just 
after dawn in a driving rain which lasted all day. 
The Duck Hawk was again present. ‘This time it flew from the oaks 
on a wooded hill out into the top of a cottonwood, insolated in a plowed 
field. There it was observed at so close a range that with field glasses the 
sharp black and light face markings were seen. The hawk stayed about the 
edges of the marsh for quite a while. 
