8 TRE AUD B:OeNe br aise. 
Park. That was before the South Shore region was built up, and a 
little stream ran through a farm where now apartment buildings stand 
row on row. The waxwings remained to greet the returning red- 
wings in March, and they liked to sit on the small snow patches that 
were left in shady nooks. High bush cranberries bore an abundant 
crop that year and were cleaned up by the waxwings. The grosbeaks 
seemed to feed on buds. I have not seen either of these birds in Jack- 
son Park again, although they usually visit somewhere in the Chicago 
region each year. 
This winter, while returning from McGinnis’ Slough with Robert 
Smart and my son, via Wolf Road, at about 138rd St., our attention 
was attracted to some sparrows in the willow tops, which we at first 
suspected were purple finches. They were silent and were not mov- 
ing around actively and we were surprised to find that they were 
redpolls and different from the common redpoll with which we were 
all somewhat familiar. They were larger, were streaked with dusky 
along the olivaceous flanks, and did not seem to be so well marked with 
white on top. The “red” was limited to a small area on the forehead 
and crown. After looking them up I believe they were the greater 
redpoll. On a Sunday this spring that was rather gloomy, with low 
hung clouds, Mrs. Baldwin, my son and I were returning from the 
forest preserve south of Thornton, where our list consisted of the 
downy and hairy woodpeckers, tufted titmouse, nuthatch, believed 
from its note to be the redbreasted (the light was too poor for color 
discrimination at the distance and position), when Mrs. Baldwin saw 
from the car window a small flock of birds with sparrow-like flight 
over the wet prairie that was once a part of Calumet Lake at 98th St. 
Their abrupt stop and sudden twisting descent to the ground showed 
that they were not the English sparrow, so we started after them. 
After following them in their short flights through the thick weeds 
they turned out to be common redpolls, which none of us had on our 
list so far this year. They seemed to like the seeds of the evening 
primrose which grows tall and profusely in that neighborhood. The 
black and white wing markings were brighter than those noted on 
the greater redpoll, there was a greenish wash on the neck, and the 
apparently slenderer bill and position of the red on the head gave 
more of a high forehead effect. These birds were much more active 
and twittered and gave the canary call constantly. 
The red-bellied woodpecker had been reported at the Morton 
arboretum, but I was surprised when I followed what sounded 
like the cluck note of the grackle and later changed to something be- 
tween the call of the hairy woodpecker and the flicker, to find the 
red-bellied woodpecker. Why this bird, whose principal range is more 
southerly, visits here in winter is hard to explain. That same day 
as we were leaving the arboretum we saw a goshawk in the blue-gray 
mature male plumage sitting low in some European alders near the 
road. When we got out of the car to have a better look he decamped, 
flying swiftly and low through the trees, with very rapid wing beat, 
and took up his perch low down about two hundred yards away. 
