10 T HE? A:U'D U BOWN* BU LD ETE 
however, was ushered in by a lone and very self-conscious palm warbler 
flirting around the park making bows in all directions. We felt distinctly 
let down as we turned away, but assured ourselves that tomorrow was an- 
other day. It was two days later, though, that our blood pressure went up 
as we heard the twittering of goldfinches in the tops of the trees and saw 
those yellow and black bundles of joy flitting excitedly around in the early 
morning sun. By noon they had gone, but we were consoled by our first 
sight of a black and white warbler and a blue-headed vireo. 
From this date on until the first week of June a nice variety of feath- 
ered migrants was seen each day. For the sake of brevity we mention only 
the newcomers. May 4 brought to the park two white-crowned sparrows, 
an oven-bird, and a wood thrush. May 7 came a bluebird, a brown thrasher, 
a veery, a Blackburnian warbler, a Baltimore oriole, and two rose-breasted 
grosbeaks. On the 10th the red-eyed towhee, catbird, black-throated green 
warbler, and grey-cheeked thrush arrived. The Nashville warbler and 
northern water thrush made their appearance the 12th and were followed 
next day by a mourning dove, a yellow-throat, and a chipping sparrow. 
May 19 the scarlet tanager finally arrived and brought with him, new for 
our list, a redstart, an orange-crowned warbler, and a female black-throated 
blue warbler. 
These brought our list to. 50, just one ahead of the number for the 
same date in 1947. The weather about this time was wet and we felt we 
missed some of the migration because of difficulties of observation and the 
brief stops of the birds. However, from the 20th to the 24th we added a 
Cape May warbler, a black-poll, a yellow warbler, a chestnut-sided warbler, 
a least flycatcher, a clay-colored sparrow, three cedar waxwings, and a 
crested flycatcher. A nighthawk and three chimney swifts were observed 
over the park the 26th and 27th, respectively. 
June additions to our list were the wood pewee on the second, the 
Canada warbler the ninth, and the red-eyed vireo the 11th. These brought 
our total to 63 species for the spring, a figure just two less than our 
1947 record. 
Until this year we had not been much impressed with the idea of taking 
the fall migration, but two of us decided to do it and it turned out to be 
just as interesting as the spring project, though a bit more difficult. Be- 
sides the fun of seeing our friends all over again, and in their “new fall 
suits,” we had the satisfaction of adding nine species to our year’s list. 
Among the abundance that we saw, those that were new for the year were 
the Magnolia warbler Aug. 30, the black-billed cuckoo Sept. 7, two Louisiana 
water thrushes and a yellow-billed cuckoo the 13th, a hummingbird the 
22nd, and a yellow-throated vireo the 23rd. April 28 a sparrow hawk really 
surprised us as he sat preening his feathers atop the highest tree in the 
square. Oct. 4 started an influx of golden crowned kinglets, and the 11th 
we delightedly discovered a Harris’s sparrow. 
The tabulation on page 9 summarizes our three years of birding the 
block square park. Covering the fall migration more thoroughly in 1948 
accounts for several increases in number of individuals that year. 
