teen UUs BeOuN © BrUek Lok Tat oN 11 
Christmas Census — 1948 
AGAIN WE PRESENT Christmas season bird census reports. And again, the 
reports received are concentrated largely in the Chicago area. The Bulletin 
is mailed to many members in other parts of the state, and we hope they 
enjoy reading it, but they could help us make it more interesting, both to 
them and to those of us who do live in or near Chicago, by reporting to us 
on birding activities in the broad prairies, river bottoms and woodlands, 
or in their own backyards, south and west of Joliet. 
The Morton Arboretum is covered by four separate reports. To those 
who know it and the almost unbelievable variety of trees and shrubs grow- 
ing in its 800 acres, such emphasis on this Mecea of year-round birding 
will not seem excessive. Any unusual land-bird that shows up in northern 
Illinois is likely to pause at the Arboretum. The spotted towhee, the cross- 
bills (white-winged reported on one census and red crossbills were seen a 
few weeks earlier), the saw-whet owl which wintered there but was not 
recorded on the census reports, are but a few of the less generally known 
birds in Illinois which have appeared there in recent years. 
Karl Bartel, commenting on the unusual finds at Waukegan, reports, 
“The ivory gull was seen by all nine of the group in flight, but the positive 
identification was made by four of the group when the bird was perched 
on a breakwater about 400 feet away, where the black feet and legs were 
seen. The kittiwake was seen at close range by all nine of the group. The 
glaucous gull was seen by five members.” 
The reports follow: 
‘Waukegan, Lake county; Lake Michigan, harbor, surrounding woods and 
fields, pines and lake shore north of Waukegan, open water at Public Service 
plant; Jan. 1; 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; cloudy; temperature 18° to 25°; north- 
east wind; ground bare; lake and harbor open, but with some ice cakes; 
25 miles (22 by auto, 3 on foot). Mallard, 8; green-winged teal, 1; ring- 
necked duck, 1; canvasback, 4; greater scaup, 10; lesser scaup, 200; golden- 
eye, 60; bufflehead, 2; old squaw, 70; ruddy duck, 1; hooded merganser, 1; 
American merganser, 30; red-breasted merganser, 1,500; marsh hawk, 1; 
sparrow hawk, 1; pheasant, 3; coot, 1; killdeer, 1; glaucous gull, 1; herring 
gull, 400; ring-billed gull, 30; Bonaparte’s gull, 80; ivory gull, 1; Atlantic 
kittiwake, 1; owl (barred or short-eared), 1; blue jay, 7; crow, 6; starling, 
11; English sparrow, 10; junco, 1; tree sparrow, 8; song sparrow, 2; total, 
32 species, 2,404 individuals—Howard T. Dean, Karl E. Bartel, Mrs. Amy 
G. Baldwin, Carlyle Morris, Miss Millicent Stebbins, Dr. J. O. Young, Miss 
Leona Draheim, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Campbell. 
Orland Park, Cook county; Orland Wildlife Preserve; Dec. 24; lake 
frozen except for a hole 25 by 100 feet; partly cloudy; north wind; 
temperature 32°; noon to 3:30 p.m.; 6 miles (5 by auto, 1 on foot). 
Canada goose, 20; mallard, 3; black duck, 8; golden-eye, 3; red-shouldered 
hawk, 3; pheasant, 1; herring gull, 2; hairy woodpecker, 1; downy wood- 
pecker, 1; crow, 3; chickadee, 1; starling, 11; English sparrow, 5; car- 
