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CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 ITHACA. NEW YORK 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 LABORATORY 
 
 OF ORNITHOLOGY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 Gift of 
 
NOTICE, 
 
 The accompanying volume is the first of a 
 «eiies contemplated in the plan of the state 
 zoologist on the zoology of Minnesota, 
 
 The plan contemplates publishing reports 
 on every class of animals, so far as represented 
 in the state, as soon as reliable data and the" 
 material necessary for trustworthy reports are 
 at the disposal of the state zoologist. 
 
 Until otherwise notified you are respectfully 
 requested to address all zooligical publications 
 sjiit in exchange for the publications ol the Geo- 
 logical and Natural Histoid Survey of Minne- 
 sota to 
 
 STATE ZOOLOGIST, 
 
 University of Minnesota, 
 Minneapolis, 
 
 Minnesota, U. S. A. 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022526143 
 
The Geological and Natural History Survey of 
 
 Minnesota. 
 
 FIRST REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 (Ly-£?''?^^'^t^C^i^9-7^'&-^*r-/'ii' /:m/^ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, 
 MINNEAPOLIS. 
 
 MINNESOTA, U. S. A. 
 
 ^Z^-^^x--^ ^^^Te^^-e^^^ f^ur^. 
 
 HEISTUT F. JSTACHTIIIEB, State Zoologist. 
 
 T-u.n.e, 1S32. 
 
 MINNEAPOLIS: 
 
 HARRISON & SMITH. PRINTERS. 
 
 1S93. 
 
The Geological and Natural History Survey op 
 
 Minnesota. 
 
 FIRST REPORT 
 
 OF THE 
 
 STATE ZOOLOGIST, 
 
 ACCOMPANIED WITH 
 
 lVOTES on the birds OE MINNESOTA, 
 
 By Dr. P. I.. HATCH. 
 
 HEIsmY F. ISTACHTRIEB, State Zoologist. 
 
 T-u.H.e, 1.SS2. 
 
 / MINNEAPOLIS: 
 
 HARRiSON & SMITH, PRINTERS. 
 
 i 1S83. 
 
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 
 
 * 
 
 To the President of the Board of Regents of The University of Min 
 nesota: 
 
 Sir. — I have the honor herewith to transmit to your honor- 
 able Board my first report as State Zoologist. 
 
 Nearly all of the matter originally intended for this report 
 Jias been crowded out by Dr. Hatch's ' 'Notes on the Birds of 
 Minnesota," which for several reasons I felt constrained to sub- 
 mit at present in their original form, and which accompany 
 my general introduction. 
 
 Dr. Hatch was years ago requested to write a report on the 
 birds of Minnesota, by Professor Winchell, when the State Geol- 
 ogist had charge of all the divisions of the survey. For this 
 arid other reasons I have not assumed any editorial responsi- 
 bilities and privileges, but simply those of a transmitter. 
 
 A report on the birds of Minnesota is now in process of pre- 
 paration, and just as soon as the ornithologist has important 
 data, not yet in hand, at his disposal, and the mass of notes 
 and material collected during the past thirty years has been 
 thoroughly sifted and arranged, it will be submitted for publi- 
 cation. Very respectfully. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 HENRY F. NACHTRIEB. 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota, 
 was established by a legislative act approved by the Governor 
 of the State March 1st, 1872. "There is no question," to quote 
 the word 3 of the State Geologist, "but one of the prime motives 
 of the law was to introduce another auxiliary force into the 
 State University, by making it a center whence should radiate 
 information concerning the natural features of the state, and 
 toward which should gravitate all collections of natural history 
 that should otherwise be brought to light." Taking the state- 
 ment in its most comprehensive sense, it is undoubtedly true; 
 and the fact that the State Geologist has always been enrolled 
 with the faculty of the University in the catalogue, and that 
 the law explicitly makes the Board of Regents the director of 
 the survey, fully justifies the statement in regard to the rela- 
 tion of the survey to the University, and indicates an element 
 of excellence not to be found in the laws creating similar sur- 
 veys in other states. 
 
 At the time the present survey was organized it seemed de- 
 sirable for various reasons to pay more attention to the geology 
 of the state than to the botany and the zo6logy, and accord- 
 ingly a geologist was appointed to take charge of the survey 
 work. This was in accordance with the spirit of the times. 
 And in accordance with an established custom, the geologist of 
 the survey was generally called the State Geologist, an appel- 
 lation that common usage has given the weight of a title, 
 though it never was officially conferred as such. For many 
 years the "Natural History Survey," existed only in the wisely 
 formulated law, for which excellent and comprehensive law we 
 owe thanks to Dr. Wm. W. Polwell, who was at that time pre- 
 sident of the University. 
 
 Later on the importance and necessity of beginning the botan- 
 ical and the zoological work was now and then recognized in the 
 appearance of papers relating to the flora and fauna of the state. 
 Naturally, however, the botanical and zoological work was not 
 prosecuted with the same vigor and accuracy as the geological, 
 for the day had gone by when one man could master all sciences. 
 And the geologist of to-day finds problems enough in geology 
 to engage all his time and tax all his energy and genius. 
 
 It was the recognition of ^ these facts as well as the desire to 
 make a more efficient ' ' auxiliary force " of the survey contem-' 
 plated in the law that prompted the Board of Regents to relieve 
 the State Geologist of the excess of requirements and put the 
 
4 FIRST REPORT 
 
 botanical and the zoological work of the survey under the 
 charge of, respectively, the professor of botany as State Botanist 
 and curator of the botanical museum, and the professor of 
 animal biology as State Zoologist and curator of the zoological 
 museum. 
 
 The present State Zoologist was appointed by the Board of 
 Regents about three years ago. Nothing was done during the 
 first two years, other University duties taking me abroad one 
 year, and sickness making work impossible the other. Last 
 summer (1891) a party of three spent not quite four weeks on 
 Lake Vermilion, as much as the funds remaining after purchas- 
 ing apparatus and chemicals would permit. The exceedingly 
 bad and disagreeable weather reduced this time to about two 
 weeks. Nevertheless, some valuable data and experience were 
 gained that are of value for the future. 
 
 It has been a surprise to .me that so few of our "posted" citi- 
 zens know anything about the existence of a law creating The 
 Geological and Natural History Survey, and to dispel a little of 
 this ignorance where it ought not to be, I quote here the sec- 
 tions relating to the Natural History division of the Survey. 
 
 " Section 1. It shall be the duty of the board of regents of 
 The University of Minnesota to cause to be begun as soon as 
 may be practicable, and to carry on a thorough geological and 
 natural history survey of the state. 
 
 Section 3. The natural history survey shall include, first, an 
 examination of the vegetable productions of the state, embra- 
 cing all trees, shrubs, herbs and grasses, native or naturalized 
 in the state ; second, a complete and scientific account of the 
 animal kingdom as properly represented in the state, including 
 all mammalia, fishes, reptiles, birds and insects. 
 
 Section 6. It shall be the duty of said board of regents to 
 cause proper specimens, skillfully prepared, secured and la- 
 beled, of all rocks, soils, ores, coals, fossils, cements, building 
 stones, plants, woods, skins and skeletons- of animals, birds, 
 insects and fishes, and other mineral, vegetable and animal 
 substances and organisms discovered or examined in the course 
 of said surveys, to be preserved for public inspection, free of 
 cost, in the University of Minnesota, in rooms convenient of 
 access and properly warmed, lighted, ventilated and furnished 
 and in charge of a proper scientific curator; and they shall 
 also, whenever the same may be practicable, cause duplicates in 
 reasonable numbers and quantities of the above named speci- 
 mens, to be collected and preserved for the purpose of ex- 
 changes with other state universities and scientific institu- 
 tions, of which latter the Smithsonian Institution at Washing- 
 ton shall have the preference." 
 
STATE ZOOLOGIST. 5 
 
 Certainly no zoologist will complain that this law is too nar- 
 row and irrational, for section 3 alone commands for him a 
 field so wide as to call for all lines of zoological investigation. 
 There are, however, certain lines of investigation universally 
 recognized as coming particularly within the scope of such 
 state surveys. But even, such investigations almost invariably 
 demand others that at first sight seem foreign. 
 
 The intensely practical man is almost always really the most 
 unpractical, and the greatest obstacle to progress. He will pooh 
 — pooh the investigation of the habits and life history and 
 structure of an unpalatable sucker or the "insignificant" 
 stickle back and demand the investigation of the bass and 
 other food fish only, entirely loosing sight of the fact that the 
 one serves as food for some of his favorite fish and the other 
 wages ruinous war against them. 
 
 Many similar examples clearly show up the folly of trying to 
 consider only that which we can immediately utilize, and usu- 
 ally convince the short-sighted that we can not intelligently 
 and successfully manage the one in ignorance of the other. 
 Too many of us forget that what we now call applied science 
 was at one time considered pure science, and that it is a ques- 
 tion whether the Edisons or the Webers, Paradays and Frank- 
 lins have done most for the comfort of mankind, and whether 
 the zoologists, who through years of patient work gathered 
 the life histories of many of our parasites, thus dispelling the 
 dark cloud of superstition and suggesting a rational treatment 
 for many diseases and giving to every one the simplest means 
 of protection, should not be classed among the most practical. 
 
 If the results of the patient work of honest investigators of 
 past generations are to-day wielded by the most mechanicaj, 
 laborer, what is to keep the work of the so called scientist 
 from becoming a tool for the comfort and happiness of future 
 generations ? Indeed are we not reminded on all sides that 
 the more thorough our knowledge of the things and phe- 
 nomena about us becomes through observation and experi- 
 ment, the better do we utilize them and the more uniform and 
 generally accepted become our interpretations. And does the 
 intellectual work and triumph mean nothing to any or all of us? 
 
 The universe is a whole and not a collection of absolute in 
 dependents, and no line or kind of work, however purely 
 scientific it may appear at the time, can be carried on without 
 sooner or later becoming evident and universally tangible in 
 some practical form. 
 
6 FIRST REPORT 
 
 Still, while we recognize that the investigation of one animal 
 points to the necessity of investigating others, that one sub- 
 ject always leads to another and one problem inevitably sug- 
 gests one or more others, we must admit that certain lines 
 of zoological investigation were hardly contemplated in the 
 organization of the survey, and more properly come under 
 the purview of the University. As a matter of fact, we must 
 somewhat circumscribe the work of a state survey, always, 
 however, with the understanding that exigencies may arise 
 demanding a widening of the circle. 
 
 In accordance with the view indicated above, the present 
 plan of the State Zoologist contemplates primarily the scienti- 
 fic investigation of all those animals of direct economic im- 
 portance, and, in accordance with section 6 of the, law, the 
 collecting and placing on exhibition in the museum represen- 
 tative specimens of the animals of the state in such a way as 
 to give them an educational value rather than a mere display 
 value. 
 
 The museum has been furnished with new cases, and the 
 fauna of the state can be placed on proper exhibition just as 
 fast as the material is collected and prepared and the necessary 
 money is placed at the disposal of the curator. 
 
 The importance, or rather the necessity of at once beginning 
 the formation of a representative collection of the animals of 
 the State, will certainly not need urging when the present con- 
 dition of the museum is taken into account. 
 
 Strange as it may seem, it is nevertheless true that not- 
 withstanding the fact several papers have been published on a 
 few groups of animals found in the state, the museum practi- 
 cally has none of the material upon which these papers were 
 based. Indeed in some cases there apparently was not even 
 an attempt made to preserve the specimens that served for the 
 description of new species, and we have absolutely nothing 
 here for comparison. Comment on such methods of work is unnec- 
 essary. Of the collection here now, many specimens are not even 
 good show specimens. Many are without any data whatever, 
 and many have only the name of the taxidermist added, while 
 others have data so obviously out of place that they are 
 practically valueless. Many of the really valuable things 
 have been badly damaged by moths and other injurious in- 
 sects, and the fire of two years ago and neglect previous to 
 that time more or less injured everything. An amusing group 
 is quite a collection of animals purchased to represent the 
 
STA'PE ZOOLOGIST. 7 
 
 fauna of Minnesota at the New Orleans Exposition. As one 
 looks at the pronghorn, the grizzly, the three-toed sloth, the 
 iguana, the toucans, the bird of paradise, etc., etc., the ques- 
 tion naturally arises, when did Minnesota have such a fauna, 
 and how were the animals preserved ? It is to be hoped the 
 exhibition at the coming World's Fair will not repeat this 
 ludicrous spectacle. The facts noted above in connection with 
 the fact thatsome animals formerly abundant in Minnesota no 
 longer even merely visit the state, and some of those still 
 within our borders are being rapidly driven out of the state, 
 certainly point to the necessity of at once beginning to collect 
 and properly preserve, with data, representative specimens of 
 the fauna of the state. In accordance with this conviction, 
 and a desire to enlist the cooperation of all those favorably 
 located in the state, directions for collecting, preserving and 
 shipping specimens of animals are now being prepared for 
 gratuitous distribution to all interested in the work of the 
 survey. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that we are attempting 
 to build up a general museum. Such a museum is impractical 
 at present and doubtfully desirable. At present we are 
 aiming at a comprehensive local state collection. 
 
 The most valuable portion of any museum is always that 
 which is not prepared for display but is set aside in proper 
 rooms for reference and comparison. Of such a collection we 
 have as yet hardly a beginning. The working collection, how- 
 ever, has been begun and an earnest effort will be made to 
 preserve in proper form and keep accessible all specimens that 
 serve as the basis for descriptions of new species or varieties 
 or that show interesting modifications or illustrate facts of 
 distribution and habit. In a few years this so-called working 
 collection will be far more valuable than the fine specimens on 
 exhibition and will require much less room, money and care. 
 
 The groups of animals to which special attention is at pres- 
 ent being given by the field workers are : — the fishes, the 
 birds, the reptilia and batrachia, and the mammals. Other 
 classes are by no means neglected. Some lines of investiga- 
 tion, however important, can not be undertaken at present for 
 the want of laboratory facilities at the proper place. A lake- 
 side, or rather fresh- water biological station, is an imperative 
 necessity, and such a laboratory under the care of the Univer- 
 sity ought to be established now. In addition to being a place 
 for investigators it could be a resort for the ' 'science teachers' ' 
 
O FIRST REPORT 
 
 of the state, where, during the summer vacations, they could 
 gain that knowledge of facts and methods at first hand so 
 much needed by many of them to enable them to properly 
 teach botany, physiology and zoology. The mere associa- 
 tion of such teachers with the students carrying on original 
 investigations would be of incalculable value. 
 
 For a number of years marine biological stations, usually 
 called zoological stations, have offered opportunities for the 
 study of marine life in various parts of the world and have 
 annually attracted great scientists from all civilized countries. 
 The enthusiasm and satisfaction with which their work has 
 been received in every civilized community, and the practical re- 
 sults traceable to their influence are a sufficient justification for 
 their existence. Indeed to-day they are just as much a nec- 
 essity as the university laboratories. While the number of 
 marine biological stations has increased to ten or more, the 
 establishment of fresh-water biological stations has been 
 attempted in but few places, so that to-day only one or two 
 properly equipped are in existence in Europe, and none in 
 this country. The reasons for the preferences thus indicated, 
 may briefly be stated to be: — (1) Man's desire to discover, and 
 to see that about which he knows nothing from direct observa- 
 tion. (2) The fact that hitherto the problems in zoology have 
 been largely morphological problems, and these point to the 
 seas for solutions. For in the oceans we see the vast original 
 home with a uniformity and constancy of environment and 
 gradual transitions not met with elsewhere. Moreover the 
 oceans are so densely populated that t-e patient and thought- 
 fiil investigator has never been disappointed. 
 
 There is, however, abundant evidence on hand in the works 
 of great men showing that not even all the morphological 
 problems are to find their solutions in the study of only marine 
 forms, and that what we would expect on a priori grounds 
 actual observation and investigation demonstrate. And while 
 the conditions of life in the ocean may be characterized as 
 quite uniform, those on land and in fresh-water must be char- 
 acterized as very variable, and consequently demanding more 
 varied adaptations and thus naturally leading to a higher 
 development. In view of this it becomes evident that the 
 problems relating more particularly to the physiological side 
 of living things are to be solved principally at fresh-water 
 stations and not at marine stations. The fresh-water biologi- 
 cal laboratory therefore has a special field of work in phys- 
 
STATE ZOiJLOGIST. 9 
 
 iology and enough in morphology and embryology to keep it 
 from becoming perniciously exclusive. Aside from the nec- 
 essity of such a laboratory for the survey work it must be said 
 that no state offers more to such a station than our own. We 
 have all the natural conditions in the way of lakes and streams 
 and geographical position. In a country of such great dis- 
 tances it is impractical for many to go to the marine stations. 
 Others who feel that in the future they will have to deal with 
 land and fresh- water forms think it a waste of time and money 
 to study marine life. A sojourn of several months at a well 
 equipped inland station would convince such of their mistake 
 and prepare them for better work. To our army of teachers 
 such a station at one of our principal lakes could ofEer an 
 opportunity during the summer months of becoming ac- 
 quainted with the modern methods of teaching the biological 
 sciences by being taught themselves how to make the most 
 out of the material and apparatus at their command. From 
 lectures and demonstrations and through association with 
 advanced students and investigators they would gather the 
 general principles and laws of biology as known at the time 
 and would unconsciously catch the spirit that would place 
 them in the proper attitude toward the biological sciences. 
 The time for establishing a fresh-water biological laboratory 
 in Minnesota is ripe, and no citizen can more effectually per- 
 petuate his name than by endowing and equipping such a 
 laboratory as indicated, and his investment can not be made 
 more safely and profitably than under the care of the Univer- 
 sity of Minnesota. 
 
 HENRY P. NACHTRIEB, 
 
 State Zoologist, 
 University of Minnesota. 
 June 1, 1892. 
 
The Geological and Natural History Survey of 
 
 Minnesota. 
 
 NOTES O^ 
 
 THE BIRDS OF MINNESOTA, 
 
 WITH 
 
 SPECIFIC CHABACTEBS. 
 
 By P. li. HATCH, M. D. 
 
PEEFATOEY STATEMENT. 
 
 As the author intimates in his Preface, the manuscript for the "Notes" 
 was begun several years ago and has been ready for publication for 
 some time. 
 
 The work represented by the "Notes," was begun a number of years 
 ago, when the State Geologist, Prof. N.H. Winchell, still superintended all 
 the wo''k of The Geological and Natural History Survey. It is therefore 
 but just to Prof. Winchell (and to myself also), to state that in calling 
 upon Dr. Hatch for his manuscript and seeing it through the press, I 
 have (for reasons that will become evident in future publications), not 
 assumed any editorial responsibilities, but have, as State Zoologist, 
 simply discharged a duty, the "Survey" owes the author, who years ago 
 was requested by Prof. Winchell to write this report and who has spent 
 much time and money upon it. 
 
 It has been impossible to refer any portion of the proof to the author 
 or to consult him in regard to style of type, etc. For this reason special 
 care was taken in reading the proof, and as the manuscript had all 
 "passed" before the author forwarded it to me from the far west, and I 
 had the final proof carefully compared with the manuscript, the author 
 will not, I trust, be misrepresented. Naturally, however, some things 
 will appear that the author would have eliminated or modified. Circum- 
 stances and time would not permit, and I trust this will to some extent 
 mollify the critics. 
 
 It is a matter of no small regret that the bird material, upon which 
 this report is based, is not the property of the "Survey" and is not acces- 
 sible for reference and comparison. All of it ought to be here, properly 
 preserved and labelled. But 1 have considered this subiect elsewhere 
 and need not consider it any further here. 
 
 HENRY r. NACHTEIEB, 
 
 State Zoologist, 
 University of Minnesota. 
 
PEEPACE. 
 
 ' It is due to myself as well as the public, that I should say 
 the great delay in the publishing of this volume has been from 
 causes beyond my personal responsibility. I have regretted it 
 on account of some misapprehensions that have arisen, but it 
 is said that ' ' All is well which ends well, " and half of the 
 quotation is assuredly true in this case, fqr this ends it. 
 
 The magnitude of the task so zealously conceived and under- 
 taken, was greatly understimated, yet the earnest employment 
 of all of my opportunities enabled me to approximate my 
 ideal for a time, when an interruption of several years occur- 
 red, after which it became impossible to maintain more than is. 
 shown by the completed work. 
 
 The classification is that established by the American Orni- 
 thological Union, and published in 1886. Each species given 
 has its corresponding number, and except in occasional in- 
 stances, the descriptions mostly correspond with those given 
 in the Pacific Railroad Reports, and the measurements are in 
 inches and hundredths of an inch. 
 
 , While I have aimed to make it as nearly correct in its state- 
 ments of facts observed as is possible, I do not flatter myself 
 that errors have not found their way into this record through 
 so many years of observations, which othets may ultimately 
 correct. P. L. HATCH. 
 
 August 16, 1892. 
 
Order PYGOPODES/ 
 
 . Family PODICIPID^. 
 iEOHMOPHORUS OCCIDENTALIS (Lawrence). (1.) 
 
 WESTEKN GREBE. 
 
 Although during the period in which I have been an observer 
 of the birds in Minnesota very few of this species have been 
 seen by myself, nor reported by others whose observations 
 could be implicitly relied upon, I am able to record enough to 
 fgive it ' 'a name and a place" in the fauna gif our state. I first 
 met with an individual specimen in the collection of a German 
 living in St. Paul in 1859, and in 1861 I saw one amongst the 
 collections of Mr. Shrceder of the same city; but it first came 
 into my hands by my own gun in May of 1869, on the Red 
 RiverlPand again in 1870 through the kindness of Mr. J. J. 
 'Jamison, an eastern gentleman of amateur scientific proclivi- 
 ties who was shooting ducks in the autumn of that year at Big- 
 stone Lake. It was alone, and entirely unsuspecting to all 
 appearance. It was a mature male, and in good plumage, 
 meeting all the measures given in the descriptions of the ninth 
 volume of the Pacific Railroad Reports. Not until the spring 
 of 1883 did I see one again, and then in the same locality, or 
 within a few miles of it, on the Red River near Moorhead. It 
 has been several times reported without any verifications, one 
 of which was presumptively reliable, but as the party did not 
 regard its identification of sufficient importance to give me an 
 opportunity to endorse his own, I made no record of it amongst 
 my notes. In 1872, while collecting extensively in Santa Clara 
 county, California, I found it common for the species in Drink- 
 water Lake, a sort of lagoon some 12 miles south of San Jose 
 and a few miles "Within the limits of Sacramento, and in several 
 other kindred localities; but exceedingly common in March at 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 • 
 
 Old-town, San Diego. Although the eggs have often been 
 found on the Pacific coast, none have ever come to my notice 
 here. 
 
 ^ . ■• SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper part of head and nape of neck, fuliginous black; back 
 and wing-coverts grayish-black, the feathers margined with 
 gray; primaries light, ashy-brown, darker at the end and 
 white at the base; secondaries white, marked with ash on the 
 outer webs (occasionally white); space between the bill and 
 eye gray; throat, sides of neck, -and entire under plumage, 
 silver-white; sides marked with grayish-black; bill dusky, or 
 nearly black, except the cutting edges and end, which are 
 yellow; iris orange; tarsi and feet grayish-black externally, 
 flesh color, internally. 
 
 Length, 28; wing, 8; bill, 3; tarsus, 3. 
 
 Habitat, Western North America, eastward to Manitoba. 
 
 COLYMBUS HOLBCELLII (Reinhart). (2.) 
 RED- NECKED GREBE. 
 
 It is my pleasure to say that I am indebted to Mr. J. N. San- 
 ford, of Elbow Lake, 'in Grant county, for my first knowledge 
 of the presence of this species of the Grebe family in the state, 
 and accompanying the information so much esteemed, he sent 
 through me to the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences 
 four eggs in prime condition for preservation, which he had 
 obtained in his vicinity in July, 1880. These eggs measured 
 1.95 by 1.23: 2.00 by 1.25: 1.85 by 1.15 and 1.90 by 1.20. The 
 color when so fresh was a rather pale, greenish-white and was 
 uniform. The nest was described as being near to the water, 
 and consisting of coarse, rank marsh weeds, placed on a bunch 
 of the same materials in a marshy locality. He has been a 
 close observer of the water birds especially, and has contributed 
 some interesting and valuable facts respecting the breeding 
 habits of several species found in his section. Since those 
 days my opportunities for learning more of the local habits of 
 the species have been good. Without being abundant any- 
 where in Minnesota, it is nevertheless not to be accounted rare, 
 for its species in the sparsely settled districts characterized by 
 wet, pondy prairies. I have found it in my own county at such 
 times as to make it reasonably certain that it breeds in such 
 ■ localities as are largely .secluded, and embracing ponds and 
 small lakes bordered by reedy marshes. I find individuals of 
 this species in Fillmore, Carver, Otter Tail and Grant counties, 
 
6 NOTES ON THE 
 
 and have many reports of its presence in several others. As 
 long since noticed by bird observers, the young of the Red- 
 necked and Crested Grebes resemble each other so much as to 
 make their differences impossible to define. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper plumage blackish-brown, the upper part of the head 
 and neck behind, black; primaries ashy-brown; secondaries 
 mostly white, except a few of the inner ones which are dark 
 ash; cheeks and throat ash gray; a white line from the lower 
 mandible under and beyond the eye; forepart and sides of neck 
 rich, brownish red; lower parts silvery white, sides dusky; bill 
 black, pale at the end, and bright yellow at the base; iris car- 
 mine; tarsi and feet externally greenish black, internally yel- 
 low. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 7; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 Note. Since writing the above I have learned more of the 
 local habits of this Grebe and can add that its food is mostly 
 aquatic worms and larvae with some minnows. It is no 
 trivial thing to bag one of them on account of his unremitting 
 vigilance, and his expertness in diving and remaining seetii- 
 ingly a long time submerged, which however is not so long as 
 it seems, for when he returns to the surface he only exposes 
 the bill and enough of the head to bring his eyes into use while 
 the body is kept completely concealed. The power to do this 
 continuously for a considerable time, belongs to the entire 
 family, and to few if any others so perfectly. In this sub- 
 merged condition they will swim so gently and so evenly as to 
 elude the observation of most persons until they have learjied 
 to detect them, after which there is little difflculty. 
 
 COLYMBUS AURITUS L. (3.) 
 
 HORNED GREBE. 
 
 Although not universally distributed throughout the state, 
 the Horned Grebes are fairly common in many sections. Pools, 
 ponds and sloughs in open districts and bottom lands are its 
 favorite localities for breeding. Hence, I am not surprised to 
 have Dr. Hvoslef report it as breeding in the vicinity of Lanes - 
 boro, Fillmore county, along our southern borders, and would 
 have expected Mr. Washburn to do so along the Red River, as 
 Dr. Coues* had done several years earlier. Indeed I have 
 had individuals sent to me by hunters from a dozen or more 
 localities, most of which have been-in prairie regions to the 
 north and west of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It breeds occa- 
 sionally in the vicinity of Waseca * * and at Bigstone Lake. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 7 
 
 *** The earliest record I have of its arrival in spring is 
 April 23d, but reliable observers give a much earlier date. 
 The nesting is begun by the 20th of May. The structures are 
 quite bulky, and consist of old reeds principally, placed on a 
 tussock of the same material and rudely embracing surround- 
 ing erect stalks. Not infrequently they are entirely sur- 
 rounded with water, but more often on the wet land a few feet 
 from the shores of a slough. The excavation is exceedingly 
 superficial, but contains from 7 to 10 eggs, originally grayish 
 or yellowish white, that soon become very much soiled by the 
 rotten reeds and filthy feet of the denizen. The young take 
 to the water at once. The fact that they have been seen swimming 
 with the parent as early as the first week in May, and at the 
 tenderest age as late as the 3rd of August, suggests more than 
 one brood in a season. I have no conclusive evidence that they 
 do not breed twice; They linger quite late in the autumn, but 
 are so infrequently observed that the proximate date of their 
 migration southward is still unknown to me. 
 
 Like the other species of the genus, they have the faculty of 
 depressing their bodies below the surface of the water in which 
 they are swimming, at will, in the presence of danger. A good 
 field glass will find at such times only the bill and eyes above 
 the water. 
 
 *Birds of the N. W., p. 732. 
 **Eaward Everett. Notes from Waseca. 
 , ***Gorrespondence of Mr. L. Froman. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS 
 
 Upper part of head, cheeks, throat and ruff, glossy black; a 
 broad band from the bill over the eye, and the elongated oc- 
 cipital tufts behind them, yellowish-red, color deepest next the 
 bill; upper surface brownish-black, each feather margined with 
 gray; primaries brownish-ash, secondaries mostly white, some 
 of the outer ones dark ash; fore neck and upper part of brpast 
 bright chestnut-red, sides of the same color, mixed with dusky; 
 abdomen silky white; bill bluish black, yellow at the tip; loral 
 space bright carmine; iris carmine, with an inner circle of 
 white; tarsi and feet dusky gray externally, dull yellow inter- 
 nally, and on both edges of the tarsus. 
 
 Length, 14; wing, 6; bill, 1; tarsi, 2. 
 
 Habitat, Northern America. 
 
 The foregoing is the description of the vernal plumage, the 
 autumnal being much less striking. In the former they are 
 sometimes found in considerable flocks, disporting themselves 
 in the bays of our lakes and in the streams which supply 
 them. Their smooth,, rapid natation and wholesale diving 
 at such times is marvelous and eminently characteristic. 
 2z 
 
8 NOTES ON THE 
 
 I have never as yet found them in flocks in autumn, but always 
 in family parties and pairs, and almost never at that season upon 
 the wing. They seem to follow the water courses and migrate 
 southward about the first week in November. Their move- 
 ments are made in the earliest part oi the morning and at twi- 
 light in the evening, swimming silently along, close under the 
 overhanging banks and reeds singly, from five to twenty yards 
 apart. When suddenly surprised, instead of taking to wing 
 they dive, and after swimming considerable distances deep 
 under the water they rise close to the shore, where, concealed 
 by debris, or grass and reeds, with only the bill and eyes ex- 
 posed, they remain until all danger has disappeared. None 
 but the closest observers can know for themselves when or how 
 they leave us in fall migration. Their food consists largely of 
 water beetles, larvae and ' 'small fry. " 
 
 COLTMBUS NIGRICOLLIS CALIF0RNICTTS(Heermann)(4) 
 
 AMERICAN BARED GREBE. 
 
 I list the Eared Grebe upon specimens found mounted in 
 collections from time to time through many years of local 
 observation, two of which are now in the collections of the 
 Academy of Sciences at Philadelphia, I think. All were re- 
 putedly obtained within the limits of Minnesota. 
 
 Having met with the species at San Diego, California, in 1870^ 
 I had no difficulty in identifying them at once. 
 
 specific characters. 
 
 Head and upper part of neck black; rest of upper parts 
 brownish-black; wings grayish- brown, with a broad patch of 
 white; throat, fore part and sides of neck dull black, its lowQr 
 part with some spots of the same; rest of lower parts glossy, 
 silvery- white, excepting the sides of the body and rump, which 
 are light red; bill black, tinged with blue; iris blood red. feet 
 dusky-gray externally, internally greenish- gray; tufts on sides 
 of head orange, yellower anteriorly, and posteriorly red. 
 
 Length, 13; wing, 5; bill, 1, tarsus, 1^. 
 
 Habitat, Mississippi river to Pacific and northward. 
 
 PODILTMBUS PODICEPS (L.). (6.) 
 
 PIED-BILLED GREBE 
 
 This is by far the most numerously represented species of the 
 Grebe family in Minnesota. There are few ponds, sloughs, or 
 lakes where ducks are found, that do not contain a few of 
 them. They arrive early, and they stay late, often until only 
 small openings in the ice remain before the final closing for the 
 long Minnesota winter. Breeding presumably in nearly all the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 9 
 
 localities where found, they so effectually conceal their nests 
 that they are very rarely obtained. But where they have been 
 found the nest was uniformly formed of partially decayed 
 reeds, with perhaps a portion of coarse, sedgy grass in the 
 employment of which little architectural design is evident. 
 As in the case of the other Grebes, there is a redundancy of 
 material, but so rudely disposed as to lead any one in search of 
 the nest to suppose it to be a mere heap of drift from high 
 water in spring, the eggs having been left concealed by the 
 disposition of rotten reeds and grass over them. None I have 
 seen have contained more than five or less than three eggs of a 
 soiled, yellowish -white color. Pot-hunters "of the baser sort" 
 call them Hell-divers, and only the downy-chinned variety spend 
 any ammunition on them, as they disappear with ghost-like 
 celerity on their approach. Only their bills rise again until 
 the hunter is finally gone. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper plumage, very dark-brown; primaries, dark-ash; 
 secondaries, ash on the outer webs and white on the inner; 
 cheeks, and sides of neck, brownish-gray; chin and throat 
 marked with a conspicuous black patch nearly two inches in 
 extent; lower part of neck, upper part of breast and sides, dull 
 rufsty-brown, spotted and rather indistinctly barred with 
 brownish-black; lower part of breast and abdomen grayish- 
 white, mottled with dusky spots; bill pale-blue, dusky on the 
 ridge of the upper mandible, a broad black band across both 
 mandibles and including the nostrils; iris, brown; tarsi and 
 feet, grayish- black. 
 
 Length, 14; wing, 5i; tarsus, 1^-. 
 
 Habitat, both Americas. 
 
 With nothing economic, nor esthetic to commend it to the at- 
 tention of men, women, or hunters, (who contemptuously call 
 it Dab-chick, Water- w^itch, or "Hell-diver") it is left solely to 
 the heritage of the naturalist. I think the populai- cognomen 
 of "Water- witch" should be preferred, their habits in diving 
 and concealing themselves affording a shadowy but plausible 
 reason for the choice. Mr. Holzinger gives this species as 
 breeding around Lake Winona, and Mr. Washburn found it 
 abundant at Ada and at Thief river. It is universally distri- 
 buted. The' food consists of small fishes, aquatic worms and 
 plants. 
 
10 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Family URIKATOBID^ (The Loons.) 
 
 URINATOR IMBBR (Gunner). (7.) 
 LOON. 
 
 I found this Loon abundantly represented for its species 
 when I came to the then territory of Minnesota in 1857, but 
 supposed that the general settlement of the country would soon 
 decimate them. In this I was mistaken, for there has been no 
 diminution of their relative numbers in any general section 
 which I know of, while in others, there has been an apprecia- 
 ble increase. The earliest openings in the lakes not infre- 
 quently are occupied by one of them, and there is no time during 
 the entire summer when they may not be seen in those lakes 
 known to be their favorite resorts. They are not found in the 
 smaller ponds ordinarily, preferring those more abundantly 
 supplied with fish and offering better security from the hun- 
 ter's gun by its expanse. Their weird, solitary notes, as well as 
 their dignified demeanor when undisturbed, give little intima 
 tion of their social vivacity after the young have become grown 
 and strong. Who would prove this must be willing to quit his 
 couch early, before the family has been broken by the depar- 
 ture of the male to his solitary haunts and the female has sent 
 the young hither and thither in search of their own food, which 
 takes place before the sun has been long risen. It has been 
 my privilege to witness some scenes of their matutinal jollifica- 
 tions, which have always occurred at the earliest dawn, and 
 have terminated with the advent of the sun. The night is 
 spent in proximity to each other on the water, somewhat re- 
 moved from the land. And in the earliest morning the notes of 
 parent male soon call out a response from the other members 
 of the family, when they all draw near, and after cavourting 
 around each other after the manner of graceful skaters for a 
 brief time, they fall into line, side by side, and lifting their 
 wings simultaneously, they start off in a foot race on the water 
 like a line of school children, running with incredible speed a 
 full quarter of a mile without lowering their wings or pausing 
 an instant, wheel around in a short circle, (in which some of 
 them get a little behind) and retrace their course to the place 
 of starting. This race, after but a moment's pause, is repeated 
 over and over again, with unabated zest, until by some undis- 
 coverable signal it ceases as suddenly as it began. Its termin- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 11 
 
 ation is characterized by a subsequent general congratulation 
 manifested by the medly of Loon notes. The walking or rather 
 running upon the face of the quiet lake waters, is a marvel of 
 pedal performance, so swiftly do the thin, sharp legs move in 
 the race, the wings being continuously held at about half 
 extent. Soon after this is over, the male parent takes to wing 
 to seek his food in some distant part of the same or some other 
 lake, which is soon followed by the departure of the female in 
 another direction, while the young swim away in various 
 directions to seek their supplies nearer the place of nightly 
 rendezvous. Their nests are not infrequently found, and 
 always either on the main land near the water or on. the islands. 
 Occasionally one has been reported as found upon a muskrat's 
 pile. Several may nest quite near each other, particularly on 
 undisturbed islands. To construct them, a large quantity of 
 weeds and grass is gathered into a pile, into which a depres- 
 sion is made a foot or more in diameter, in which are deposited 
 usually ^ three olivaceous, brown eggs, varying from 3^' to 
 nearly 4 inches in length. The earliest young have been seen 
 in the water by the second week in June. By the middle of 
 September, they have reached their full development. Most 
 of the members of this species are driven away by the 25th of 
 November, but occasionally an individual remains all winter, 
 as I have learned, notably along the St. Peter's river, where 
 numerous large springs have kept considerable areas free from 
 ice. Their very remarkable plumage is only fully attained at 
 their third year. The younger birds precede the others in mi- 
 gration from one to two weeks. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck black, upper part and sides of head glossed 
 with purple; a small transverse mark on the throat composed 
 of white feathers', quill- like in form, distinct from each other 
 and placed longitudinally on each side of the neck; lower down 
 are large patches of white, of the same peculiar pattern, and 
 running in the same direction, nearly meeting behind, and in 
 front are about an inch apart; upper plumage and wing coverts 
 deep, glossy black, with pure white spots placed in regular 
 transverse rows, slightly curved downwards; these spots on 
 the upper part of the back, are small and nearly round, but 
 descending lower on the back, increase in size and become 
 quadrangular in form, being largest on the scapulars; on the 
 lower part of the back, upper tail coverts, and sides which are 
 black, the spots are small and round; the sides of the neck 
 near the shoulder lineated with black and white; the primaries, 
 secondaries, and tajl, brownish-black; the under surface, 
 
12 NOTES ON THE 
 
 glossy-white, with a narrow band of dusky feathers crossing' 
 the lower part of the abdomen, and marked with small white 
 spots; lower tail coverts, blackish-brown, tipped with white; 
 bill, black, compressed, strong and tapering; outline of upper 
 mandible, nearly straight, very slightly curved; the lower 
 mandible has a groove underneath running from the junction 
 of the crora towards the point; the tail consists of twenty 
 feathers. 
 
 Length, 30; wing, 14; tarsus, 3; bill, 3; height at base, 1. 
 
 Habitat, north portion of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 Though fish and frogs are preferably their food, they do 
 nicely without them when supplied with aquatic vegetation. If 
 undisturbed by being fired at, they will visit the same localities 
 daily during the season for their food. 
 
 Note. This interesting bird has increased in relative num- 
 bers on our larger lakes of late years, nothwithstanding the 
 greater number of persons who visit them, and on which boys 
 and sportsmen (?) are tacitly allowed to shoot at them to their 
 heart's content, as they rarely hit them. I had supposed that, 
 unless the firing was arrested, they would desert these favorite 
 resorts, like White Bear, Waseca, and Minnetonka. Mr. Wil- 
 liam Howling and Son of East Minneapolis presented me with ' 
 the most beautiful and perfect specimen of Loon I have ever 
 seen -a few years ago, except that the tip of the bill is hooked. 
 There are no indications of it having been produced by injury, 
 but the flexion downward is smooth and perfectly turned, 
 Query: — Is it a case of evolution avaunt? 
 
 URINATOK ARCTICUS (L.). (9.) 
 
 BLACK-THEOATED LOON. 
 
 In the local observations of this exceedingly rarely seen 
 Loon, we have an instance of the folly of making positive 
 declarations of the limitations of the habitat of species before 
 the fullest attainments from observations have been reached. 
 The extremely pernicious practice of ambitious writers in 
 anticipating the final testimonies of science in every depart- 
 ment of investigation, has led to' evils enough to lead to its 
 abandonment long ago, but it is probable that the world will 
 have to wait for the Millennium before the truth can be waited 
 for till all the facts are in, and then, we devoutly hope the said 
 writers will be better employed. The conservative A. O. U. 
 have magnanimously allowed the Black-throated Loon to visit 
 the Northern United States in winter. From the winter of 
 1858 till that of 1869, eleven years, this very northern bird 
 came indisputably within the range of my field glass in five of 
 them, but I found it impossible to secure one for the reason 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 13 
 
 that it was always in, or near an opening in the lakes where 
 concealment In approaching near enough to secure it was 
 impossible. My hope of finding some venturesome individual 
 occupying such an opening in the Mississippi, as the Scoters 
 had done from winter to winter, was never realized, so the good 
 field glass must alone be credited with my observations. From 
 the time of my last date, the opportunity to see them was inter- 
 rupted by several winters absence, and the places in which I 
 had made my previous observations had come to be encroached 
 upon by approximate settlements to such an extent as to drive 
 them elsewhere I suppose. I am satisfied that they have been 
 seen by others who supposed them to be individuals of another 
 species, namely the Red-throated Divers. 
 
 The only mounted specimen that I have ever seen under cir- 
 cumstances to maike me believe that it had been obtained within 
 my province of observations could not be vouched for as having 
 been gotten in it, and I have therefore waited some good for- 
 tune to learn more about this rarely seen Loon. 
 
 URINATOR LUMME (Gunner). (11.) 
 RED THROATED LOON. 
 
 The Red-throated Loon is a fairly regular winter visitant of 
 our domains, and while lacking the necessary positive proof of 
 its breeding on the shores of Lake Superior within the borders 
 of Minnesota, I have abundant circumstantial reasons for 
 thinking it does. 
 
 It has been seen and, if I may trust the popular descriptions, 
 it has been killed, several times in the vicinity of Duluth by 
 pothunters in the period of presumptive incabation, yet I have 
 never known of the nests having been seen, and if they have 
 been seen they have not been recognized as other than the 
 common Loons although those of this species are much the 
 smaller of the two. Through exchange, I have come into the 
 possession of what are said to be those of this bird. 
 
 There are very considerable variations in the size of the eggs 
 of the entire genus, and in those of the Red-throats it is from 
 2.60 by 1.70 to 3.00 by 1.90. The color and markings are pre- 
 cicsely like those of the other species. I am informed that the 
 nests are even less mechanical in their structure, and, like those 
 of the others, are quite near the water, to which their beaten 
 paths lead from several directions. 
 
14 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper part of the head, front, sides of head, upper part of 
 throat, and sides of neck, bluish-gray ; hind neck streaked 
 longitudinally with white on a greenish background, the white 
 feathers being raised above the others; on the forepart of the 
 neck is a large longitudinal patch of deep reddish brown; 
 upper plumage brownish black slightly tinged with green, and 
 on the upper part of the back and lower part and sides of the 
 neck, streaked with and mottled with white; wings and tail 
 brownish black; under plumage pure white with a band across 
 the hinder part of the abdomen, and the lower tail coverts, 
 brownish gray; bill bluish black; iris bright red; tarsi and feet 
 brownish black externally, internally pale flesh color; claws 
 yellowish at the base, and dusky at the end. 
 
 Length, 27; wing, 11.50; tail, 2.50; bill, 2.25; tarsus, 2.75. 
 
 Habitat, northern part of Northern Hemisphere, migrating 
 southward in winter nearly across the United States. 
 
Order LOKGIPEISTNES. 
 
 Family LARID^. 
 
 BISSA TRIDACTYLA (L.)- (40.) 
 
 KITTIWAKE. 
 
 The Kittiwake is a regular spring and fall migrant, spend- 
 ing its winters far to the south, returning here from the 25th 
 of March to the 10th of April, remaining for only about eight 
 or ten days, and then passing on further north to breed. Cir- 
 cumstances connected with my observations of the gulls 
 migrating through the portion of the State where my principal 
 personal observations have been made, lead me to believe that 
 this species breeds on the islands of a number of our northern 
 lakes. I hope to be able to settle many facts in connection 
 with the gulls in the near future, which it has been impossi- 
 ble to do up to the present time. The young may be seen at 
 Bigstone lake, Mille Lacs lake and along the Red river as 
 early as the 15th of August in ordinary seasons, and always 
 the last week jn October, in considerable numbers. As the 
 Kittiwake Gulls are known to breed "as far south as Bird 
 Rock, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence " (Langille) there can be no 
 valid reason to doubt their doing so in the vicinities referred 
 to in Minnesota. Their food while with us consists of Jish, 
 molluscs, aquatic larvae, and small water snakes. 
 
 Samuels (Birds of New England) says, "The nest is com- 
 posed of seaweeds arranged in a large pile, and placed on a 
 ledge of rock in a crevice, or on a jutting shelf, and is occupied 
 for successive years, receiving additional material every year. 
 The eggs are three in number. Their form is ovoidal; the 
 color varies from a creamy drab, with a very slight olivaceous 
 tint to a delicate gray. On this are scattered blotches of 
 
16 NOTES ON THE 
 
 different shades of brown, and obscure spots and blotches 
 of lilac." They measure usually about 2.20 by 1.60, but often 
 somewhat less. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, neck, entire under plumage, rump and tail, white; 
 back and wings light bluish-gray; the ends of the five outer 
 primaries, and the outer web of the first, black; fourth and 
 fifth have small white tips; bill greenish-yellow; iris reddish- 
 brown; legs and feet brownish-black, with a green tinge. 
 
 Length, 17; wing, 12; tail, 6; bill, 1.50; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, northern America. 
 
 LARUS ARGENT ATUS SMITHSONIANUS Coues. (51.) 
 
 AMEEICAN HERRING GULL. 
 
 This beautiful Gull arrives in the lower part of the State 
 about the first of April, and works its way northward so, delib- 
 erately as to make it not improbable that individuals may be 
 seen almost any spring as late as the 10th of May. None 
 remain in the middle and southern parts of the State through 
 the summer, but there is scarcely a doubt left, in the absence 
 of absolute certainty, that they breed at Mille Lacs lake, and 
 other large northern lakes, within our boundary. Local obser- 
 vers report several different kinds of Gulls breeding on the 
 inf requented islands of those lakes, and Mr. Washburn found 
 from their size abundant reason for believing them to be this 
 species. In his visit to Otter Tail county in the latter part of, 
 October he found them at Dead lake in considerable numbers 
 associated with other species of Gulls. "At Lake Mille Lacs," 
 he says ' ' after the wind has been blqwing from the east a day 
 or more, these Gulls and the two following species, viz. ; L. 
 delawarensis and L, Philadelphia, are plenty along the west 
 shore, flying up and down the beach, and occasionally alighting 
 to pick up soft lacustrine molluscs washed ashore with the 
 weed matter. About two miles from the southwestern shore 
 of the lake lie three barren, rocky islands that are much fre- 
 quented by Gulls in the breeding season. 
 
 ' 'The larger of the ,three, called Stone island, (Spirit island 
 by the Indians) containing about three-fourths of an acre, and 
 with its top about 20 feet above the surface of the water, af- 
 fords on its rocky surface a nesting place for hundreds of Gulls. " 
 
 From about the 20th of September this species begins to ap- 
 pear in the lakes ifi gradually increasing numbers, the last of 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 17 
 
 which do not leave us until late in October. While here they 
 spend much of the time in considerable flocks on the middle of 
 the ordinary sized lakes, except during the prevalence of high 
 winds, when they are seen almost constantly on the wing. Dr. 
 Hvoslef reports it as having about the same local history in 
 Fillmore county, and Mr. P. H. Clague, of Herman, Grant 
 county, has long noticed them on the lakes in the vicinity of 
 that place. 
 
 The nest is said to consist of dried grass, lichens, moss, 
 small stiqks, &c. , in profusion, deeply depressed in the center, 
 and contains three olivaceous drab eggs, varying to much 
 lighter shades, blotched and spattered with dark to light brown 
 and faint purple. They vary much in size and measurements, 
 averaging about 2. 50 by 2 inches. Many of them are quite in- 
 distinguishable from those of the other species of the same 
 genus. 
 
 The Herring Gull is a magnificent bird under any circum- 
 stances, but especially when leisurely floating upon the wing, 
 turning his head from side to side in his unremitting vigilance 
 to secure his food. As with the entire family, the telescopic 
 vision never fails to spy instantly the merest fragment within 
 possible range, for which it plunges with unerring aim. 
 
 In both migrations, embracing a considerable period in the 
 autumn, they are abundant in numbers and flocks, remaining 
 many times until completely frozen out of the lakes and streams 
 that supply them their special food. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, neck, under parts, rump, and tail pure white; back 
 and wings light pearl-blue; first six primaries marked towards 
 their ends with black, which begins on the first about 
 half its length from the end, and is rapidly lessened on the 
 others until it becomes only a subterminal bar on the sixth; 
 primaries all tipped with white; on the first quill it is about an 
 inch and a half in extent, crossed near jbhe end by a black bar, 
 on the second quill there is a round white spot on the inner 
 web near the end; secondaries and tertiaries broadly ending 
 with white; bill bright yellow, with an orange spot near the 
 end of the lower mandible; legs and feet flesh color; iris 
 white. (Young, mottled with light grayish-brown and dull 
 white; primaries and bill brownish-black, latter yellowish at 
 base. ) 
 
 Length, 23; wing, 18; bill, 2^; tarsus, 2^. 
 
18 NOTES ON THE 
 
 LABLS DELAWAREN8IS Ord. (54.) 
 RING-BILLED GULL. 
 
 The Ring-billed Gulls have become much more numerous 
 through a gradual increase since my first observation of them 
 in 1857. 
 
 They are the most abundant of their family, and extensively 
 distributed over the lacustrine regions of the commonwealth, 
 breeding in all places adapted to their habits. Prof. Clarence 
 Herrick reported them abundantly breeding at Lake Shatek in 
 the southwestern part of the State — Murray county I believe — 
 as early as any were reported to me from remote parts. Within 
 much less distant points, I observed that it was relatively 
 common and within a short period its extensive breeding has 
 been fully known. 
 
 They may be seen as early as the 10th of April in forward 
 seasons, but are more frequently later, but at once upon their 
 arrival seem to be as much at home as if no inclement season 
 had driven them southward six months before. At Bigstone, 
 arid at Mille Lacs lakes, and doubtless at a large number of 
 other similar lakes amongst the thousands of the State, they 
 breed on the ground, and where available on elevated promon- 
 tories, but where the country is uniformly llat,, as in Grant 
 county where I have been to study their nidiflcations, they 
 seek sandy shores or even small ponds occasionally, in very 
 infrequented sections. Wherever it is they are gregarious. 
 
 Mosses constitute the bulk of the material of their nests, 
 with which there is employed more or less grass, and frqm 
 continuing to add a little new material every year, the nests 
 often become quite elevated and remarkably conspicuous 
 occasionally after several years. 
 
 About the first week in June the work of incubation com- 
 mences by the daily deposit of a grayish-green egg, until three 
 are layed. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, neck, tail, and under parts, pure white; back and 
 wings light pearl-blue; first and second primaries black twp- 
 thirds their length towards the end, the three next quills with 
 the bl&.ck much less in extent, and on the sixth it is reduced to 
 a subterminal bar; the first quill is black at the end, above 
 which is a broad white band; the second quill black to its tip, 
 with a white spot on the inner web an inch and a half from the 
 end; the other primaries tipped with white; secondaries and 
 tertiaries ending in white; iris, yellow; bill crossed near the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 19 
 
 end with a blackish-brown band, between which and the base 
 it is greenish-yellow; tarsi and feet greenish- yellow. 
 
 Length, 20; wing, 15; tail, 6; bill, 1.63; tarsus, 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 LARUS ATRICILIA L. (58.) 
 
 LAUGHING GULL. 
 
 The Mississippi River valley is a great thoroughfare of mi- 
 grating birds, some of which pass directly over its sources to- 
 ward Hudson Bay and still more northern regions. But all mi- 
 grants must occasionally rest their weary wings, and replenish 
 their empty stomachs, in doing which they leave a local record 
 for the vigilant observer. The present species is one of this 
 class, having been seen and obtained only in migration in the 
 autumn, and nothing more has cotne within my personal knowl- 
 edge of its local habits. 
 
 Years have sometimes passed without my having seen or 
 heard of them, and then again several will be reported, and I 
 ' may find one in the hands of the taxidermist, whose shelves 
 have contained one or two of them from time to time, ever 
 since I have resided within the State. Rumors have reached 
 me occasionally in years gone by, that their eggs have been ob- 
 tained in Cass county, but lacked assurance of their reliability; 
 but more recently I have received a communication from a 
 lady which makes it presumptively possible that the observa 
 tion is correct. She says, in speaking of a nest found, that the 
 eggs were three in number; ovoidal; grayish-green or drab; 
 blotched and spotted several shades of brown and purple; and 
 measured 2.30 by 1.65 inches.* I am not an expert in larine 
 oology, so that the coloration of the eggs has less value to my 
 presumption that the measures, which certainly correspond 
 with those given by the authorities. I believe we shall find it 
 does breed here. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and upper part of neck blackish lead gray, exiiending 
 lower in front; upper and lower eyelids white posteriorly; 
 lower part of neck, entire under plumage, rump, and tail, pure 
 white; back and wings grayish lead color; the first six primar- 
 ies are black, beginning on the first about two thirds of its 
 length from the point, and regularly becoming less on the 
 others, until on the sixth, it is reduced to two spots near the 
 end; tips in some specimens white and in others black to their 
 
 * Letter from Miss Loveland, 1880. 
 
20 NOTES ON THE 
 
 points; bill, and inside of mouth dark carmine; iris bluish- 
 black; legs and feet deep red. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 13; tail, 5; bill. If; tarsus, 2. 
 
 Habitat, Texas to Maine, and Middle American Pacific 
 Coast. 
 
 Dr. Coues in his Birds of the Northwest (p. 651) discredits 
 my report of the observation of this species, made to the Min- 
 nesota Academy of Natural Sciences in 1874. With just as 
 much reason he will discredit my reaffirmation now ( as he has 
 done in the case of the Orchard Oriole in the same work) but 
 "the world still moves" and facts remain just as stubborn as 
 ever before he compiled that very valuable work. 
 
 LARUS PHILADELPHIA (Ord). (60.) 
 
 BONAPARTE'S GULL'. 
 
 This beautiful little bird of its tribe reaches the principal 
 portions of the State early in April, the 10th being my own . 
 earliest record, but it is often reported several days earlier at 
 Lake Shatek in Murray county, and in other more southern 
 localities. Individuals a]'e seen as late as the 25th of May, and 
 there are the best of reasons for believing that some of them 
 at least breed on the islands of the larger inland lakes of the 
 northern counties and along the shores of Lake Superior. 
 Gulls are known to breed in considerable numbers in those 
 localities, their nests having been observed while occupied, 
 and this species corresponds to the general size and more 
 ostensible markings as popularly described by residents and 
 unscientific hunters who have resided in those sections for 
 many years. The earliex representatives reach the section 
 where my own opportunities are greatest often in the latter 
 part of August, and individuals are met occasionally as late as 
 the 5th of November, all of which would point to the probabil- 
 ities of the presumptions mentioned. Mr. Washburn found 
 them relatively common at Mille Lacs lake and Dead lake late 
 in October. He says "This graceful little Gull was seen almost 
 daily at Dead lake, and at other lakes throughout the country; 
 sometimes a single bird, more frequently a pair, or a flock of 
 six or eight. When one bird is wounded, or killed, the rest 
 hover for several minutes over the unfortunate comrade, when 
 several may be secured. " For many years after coming to this 
 State I believe that none of the Gulls bred within its borders, 
 but imperfect observations led me slowly to the conviction that 
 this species did so to a limited extent on the shores of Lake 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 21 
 
 Superior; but it has only been within a few years that I have 
 felt any measure of assurance that they also breed about some 
 of the inland lakes. 
 
 SPJECIPIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and upper part of neck grayish-black, this color extend- 
 ing rather lower on the throat than on the neck behind; lower 
 part of neck, under plumage, rump, and tail, white; back and 
 wings clear bluish-gray; • first primary black on outer web; 
 inner web of the same, both webs of the second, and the outer 
 web of the third, white; inner web of the third, and all the other 
 primaries the same color as the back; the six outer primaries 
 have their ends black for the extent of about one inch on the 
 central ones, but less on the first and sixth, and they are tipped 
 with white slightly; shoulders, anterior borders of the wings, 
 and outer webs of the primary coverts, white; bill deep black; 
 inside of mouth carmine; iris hazel; legs and feet orange, with 
 a reddish tinge. 
 
 Length, 14.50; wing, 10.50; tail, 4.35; bill, 1^; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, whole of North America. 
 
 STERNA TSCHEemVA Lepechin. (64.) 
 CASPIAN TERN. 
 
 Until within a few years I have believed this Tern was only 
 a rather common migrant, but I have the evidence that the 
 species remains through the summer in many localities. Mr. 
 Lewis entertained this belief as long ago as in 1876, having 
 found the young birds in a visit to Polk county in July. It has 
 been my privilege to do the same at a little later date, yet pre- 
 sumably too early for the migration of the young, and I am 
 therefore entertaining the confident expectation of finding the 
 nest in due time. 
 
 Usually, about the first of May, or possibly a little earlier, 
 the Caspian Tern makes its appearance, and for only a short 
 time is seen passing rapidly from lake to lake in search of its 
 favorite food, the fresh-water mussels, with which the margins 
 of the marsh-land streams and lakes abound. The flight is a 
 marvel of gracefulness, ease, and unwearied maintainance, 
 never failing to arrest the attention of any one at all interested 
 in the birds There is no marked difference in their numbers 
 in the autumnal southward movement, which commences 
 generally about the 20th of September, at which time, how- 
 ever^ individuals continue to be seen occasionally about the 
 larger lakes like Mille Lacs, Red lake, Shatek, etc., until near 
 
a2 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the same date in the following month, or even a little later, 
 when they are found to have disappeared entirely. 
 
 , SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 ■Forehead, crown, sides of head, and occiput black, glossed 
 with green, which color extends below the eyes and under 
 which is a narrow white line; back and wings light bluish-ash; 
 the six outer primaries dark slate-gray on their inner webs; 
 quill shafts white; tail and its upper coverts grayish-white; 
 neck and entire under plumage pure white; bill and inside of 
 mouth bright vermilion; legs and feet black; bill very stout; 
 tail not deeply forked. In the young the back, wing coverts 
 and tail are mottled and barred with blackish-brown. 
 
 Length, 22; wing, 17; tail, 6; bill, 3. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. , 
 
 STERNA FORSTERI Nuttall. (69.) 
 
 FORSTER'S TERN. 
 
 I was much gratified, after long waiting and fruitless en- 
 deavor to find whether this species of Tern ever reared its 
 young within our State, to have a clutch of the eggs sent to 
 me from Douglas county. Poaching collectors had many 
 times claimed to have obtained them, but their finds, with a 
 few generous exceptions, have contributed very little to local 
 natural history or a sense of personal obligations. Their ex'- 
 ceedingly brief appearance, beginning about the 25th of April 
 and lasting but a few days, comparatively, led me to appre- 
 hend that the instinct of incubation was indicating the proximity 
 of their summer habitat, which ever kept me in expectation that 
 it would ultimately be found near at hand. The nest was 
 reported to have been located on a muskrat house entirely 
 surrounded by water, and consisted of a moderate quanl^ity of 
 reeds and coarse grasses, very slightly hollowed, and con- 
 tained three eggs, which were not pointed at the smaller end 
 like some others of the same family but were decidedly ovate, 
 light brown with a wash of palest green, blotched and spotted 
 with dark brown, was more marked at the larger end. The 
 average measure of the three was; 1.75 by 1.12. It was obtained 
 June 7th, and the eggs were apparently fresh. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper part, sides of head to a line just below the eye, and 
 hind neck, black; back and wings bluish-gray; primaries gray- 
 ish-white on the outer webs and dusky-gray on the inner next 
 the shaft, and over the entire web at the end; darker on inner 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 23 
 
 margin, the remaining portion of inner webs white; tail bluish- 
 gray, except the outer web of the outer tail feather which is 
 white, the inner web of this feather blackish-gray for about 
 two inches from the end; rump white with a slight tinge of pale 
 bluish- gray; sides of head, throat, and entire under surface, 
 white; bill orange-yellow at the base, black near the end, with 
 the tip yellow; legs and feet red. 
 
 Length, 14.5; wing, 10.50; tail, 6; bill, 1.50; tarsus, 1. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 STERNA HIRUNDO L. (70.) 
 COMMON TERN. 
 
 From about the 20 th of April until the first and second weeks 
 in October this species of the Terns may be occasionally seen, 
 but never in any considerable flocks, as in the same latitude on 
 the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. 
 
 For a few days after their arrival, small flocks are met with 
 in the marshes embracing numerous ponds and lakes connected 
 by streams and sloughs, but in a few days they seem to have 
 all gone, yet the presence of one here and there is unmistaka- 
 ble, though even after securing a male on three occasions I 
 have failed to flush the female or discover the nest in the sum- 
 mer months. 
 
 The taxidermists generally have an individual or two in 
 their collections which they confound with two or three other 
 species as classified now, but can give no intelligent account of 
 where, when, or under what circumstances they were obtained. 
 I know nothing more of their local habits or their distribution. 
 Their usually accepted description is: 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper part of the head and hind neck deep black, tinged 
 with brown on the front part of the head; back and wings 
 light grayish blue; first primary with the outer web black, on 
 the inner web grayish-black next the shaft, this color increas- 
 ing in extent towards the end, where it covers the entire web 
 for about one inch, the rest of the inner web white; the next 
 five primaries are hoary on their outer webs, and blackish- 
 gray on their inner next the shaft, and occupying their entire 
 web at the end; margin of the inner webs white; centraltail 
 feathers very pale bluish- gray, the other white on their inner 
 webs and dusky- gray on the outer webs, deepening in color 
 from the central feathers until it becomes blackish-gray on the 
 lateral ones; sides of the head, throat, rump, and under tail 
 coverts, white; breast and abdomen clear, pearl -gray; bill 
 coral- red, black near the end, with the tip yellow; iris hazel; 
 -3z 
 
24 NOTES ON THK 
 
 legs and feet coral red, not so dark as the bill; claws brownish 
 black. 
 
 Length, 15; wing, 11; tail, 6; tarsus, 0.75. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 The galloping herd of itinerant ornithologists who have 
 been in immoderate haste to see their names in print, and 
 enjoy a share of immortality while still warm with enthusiasm, 
 have habitually reported this Tern as not breeding here to any 
 extent, but more careful and long continued investigations of 
 the local history of the species disprove their assumptions. I 
 am now able to say that while they do not breed here to the 
 extent that they do in some exceptional localities like those 
 described by Samuels in his "Birds of New England," p 547, 
 they are fairly common in the northern sections of the State. 
 On the flat country approaching the Lake of the Woods they 
 are numerous all through the season of breeding, although I 
 could not give as much time to securing the eggs while in that 
 region in 1887 as I desired, yet enough were to be readily seen 
 to prove the past assumptions to be groundlessly made. The 
 variations in size were quite striking, but not to be compared 
 with the modifications of the markings. 
 
 STERNA ANTILLARTJM Lesson. (74.) 
 LEAST TERN. 
 
 I have been not a little surprised that so few individuals of 
 this species have come under my notice during the long years 
 of my local observation, and still more so that amongst so 
 ^any earnest collectors so very few have been observed. 
 Nevertheless, the species not only come to and migrate 
 through the State in considerable numbers, but the (supposed) 
 eggs have been obtained in several widely separated sections, 
 showing a general but not abundant distribution. 
 
 I have said "supposed eggs" because I do not feel entire 
 confidence in thefr identity for the reason that other Terns 
 -were also observed, and the second year's plumage offers many 
 difficulties in identification without any extensive series to 
 compare with at hand. 
 
 My infamiliarity with the Gulls and Terns makes me speak 
 -with exceptional hesitation. With greater leisure, I hope to 
 Tie able to speak with more confidence. I will say that I have 
 found very few individuals in the fall migrations that were 
 mot in immature plumage, but I seldom fail of getting a por- 
 iHon of the mature in spring. 
 
 I find the average time of their arrival in spring through 
 thirty years has been April 27, and almost invariably is then 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 25 
 
 • 
 
 found along the Mississippi and its principal tributaries within 
 the State. ' 
 
 , Later it has fallen under my notice in other localities, but 
 only at considerable intervals. I know nothing of its habits. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAKACTERS. 
 
 A triangular white spot on the forehead extending to the 
 eye; occiput, crown, and a line from the eye to the upper man- 
 dible, deep black; entire upper plumage and wings clear bluish- 
 gray; first two primaries with the outer web and half the inner 
 next the shaft, grayish-black, ends of the same color, inner 
 margins white, the shafts of these two quills black; the other 
 primaries same color as the back with the inner margins white; 
 tail same color as the back except the outer margin of the 
 exterior feather, and the inner webs of the others at the base, 
 where they are white; entire under plumage silvery -white; 
 bill pale orange yellow; iris hazel; legs and feet, light orange- 
 red. 
 
 Length, 8.75; wing, 6.75; tail, 3.50. 
 
 Habitat, Northern South America, casually more northward 
 into British America. 
 
 Later opportunities for more careful observations have en- 
 abled me to say that the Least Tern is not the rare bird gener- 
 ally represented, but on the other hand may be called fairly 
 common throughout the later spring and summer till into Sep- 
 tember, and occasionally a few remain even till the first part 
 of the following month. 
 
 Two clutches of the eggs have been brought to me, — one in 
 June, 1887, and the other in July, two years later. They were 
 ■cream-colored with a grayish tint, and marked with small and 
 larger spots of varying shades of brown, some of which were 
 confluent. One or two gave the least possible suggestion of a 
 lilac wash. 
 
 HTDROCHELIDON NIGRA SURINAMENSIS Gmelin. (77.) 
 BLACK TERN. 
 
 Of all the Terns that visit the State this species is the most 
 abundant. Arriving from the 7th to the 10th of May they seem 
 to take possession of the whole commonwealth simultaneously. 
 This remarkable uniformity of their vernal appearance in 
 widely severed localities of latitude I have long observed. 
 
 Entirely insectivorous in their food, the first week or ten 
 days after their arrival they are almost incessantly on the wing, 
 in flocks of forty to a hundred, skimming the marshes, now 
 overflowed more or less, and bearing on the currentless waters 
 many kinds of insects, like crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and 
 spiders. Following this they are little seen except early in 
 
26 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the morning or towards evening, as they are engaged in the 
 structure of their nests. These are constructed of such mater- 
 ials as abound about them, usually reeds, rushes, swamp 
 grasses, and* moss, and are woven with considerable skill. 
 They are quite uniformly placed on floating debris, consisting 
 of similar materials to that employed in the structure of the 
 nests, although placed occasionally on a buoy of wood or bark. 
 The water in which these masses float is commonly from three 
 to four feet in depth, and completely surrounded by reeds and 
 wild rice. Breeding in communities, it is no uncommon thing 
 to find half a dozen nests very near to each other upon the 
 same float, and a single nest on one so small as to forbid the 
 presence of another. Considerable numbers build by the 25th 
 of May, as I have eggs I obtained before the end of the month, 
 but the larger part of them are deposited after the first of 
 June. 
 
 They lay from two to three eggs — occasionally but one — of a 
 smoky-yellow color, thoroughly splotched all over with dark, 
 umber-brown, more thickly in an undefined ring around the 
 larger end. 
 
 During the breeding period very little is seen of them, but 
 when the young are sufficiently developed to fly, they may be 
 seen in great numbers flying over not only these reedy marshes, 
 ponds and lakes, but more especially over the dry pastures, 
 hayflelds and wheatfields, where insects and grasshoppers are 
 most abundant. 
 
 Silent, and apparently without suspicion, flitting here and 
 there like the swallows, often very near without seeming to 
 see one observing them, although he may have a gun in his 
 hand at the time, they spend most of their time in quest of 
 food — that universal stimulus to motion for all animate nature. 
 Few are seen in the country later than the 15th of August, 
 and then invariably it is the adult plumage. I have no record 
 of their presence later than the 19th of August. 
 
 In his Birds of the Northwest, p. 708, Coues says: "They 
 (the eggs) had to be closely looked after, for they were laid 
 directly on the moist matting, without any nest in any instance." 
 This observation having been made along the borders of my 
 special survey, and in the month of June, by so eminent a 
 naturalist, surprised me greatly until I received a communi- 
 cation from Mr. E. W. Nelson, of Chicago, now of the Smith- 
 sonian Institution, who assured me that he had observed the 
 same thing in Cook county, where he resided, but only when 
 
BIBDS OF MINNESOTA. 27 
 
 the birds had been disturbed repeatedly. I regret exceedingly 
 that the letter has been mislaid, or I would reproduce the 
 statement in his own language. This is by no means the only 
 instance of which birds have been known to forego the employ- 
 ment of a nest after having been presistently robbed of their 
 eggs by man or beast. 
 
 Dr. T. S. Eoberts, of Minneapolis, reported to me his dis- 
 covery of several nests of this species on May 28, 1876; and on 
 the' 14th of the following June, Messrs. W. L. Tiffany and John 
 Roberts, of the same place,, secured six nests "on a sheet of 
 floating moss, or fresh reeds, in about three or four feet of water, 
 regularly woven of swamp grass, and each containing two or 
 three eggs. " 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them in July, 1885, "Very common 
 throughout the Red River valley, about large sloughs and 
 lakes, — at Ada, and 'along Thief river in the vicinity of Mud 
 lake." Their distribution is nearly uniform where the food 
 conditions are found. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, neck, breast, sides, and abdomen, black; lower tail 
 coverts white; under coverings of wings ashy gray; back and^ 
 wings dark plumbeous gray; the first four primaries grayish- 
 black, with their shafts white; bend of the wing edged with 
 white; tail same color as the back; bill, brownish- black; iris, 
 brown; legs and feet, reddish-brown; length, 9.50; wing, 8 50; 
 tail, 3. 50. Habitat, Temperate and Tropical America. 
 
 FamHy PHALACEOCORACID^l]. 
 
 PHALACROCORAX DILOPHUS Swainson. (120.) 
 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT. 
 
 While shooting ducks in the spring hunters very soon learn 
 to recognize the more obvious characteristics of this species of 
 the Cormorants; one of these characteristics is the peculiarity 
 of their flight. At the time referred to these birds are in con- 
 siderable flocks, resembling in the remote distance the larger 
 sized ducks and the black Brant until a good many times de- 
 ceived, but the observing sportsmen readily discover the 
 identity. ' 
 
 When frequently disturbed by the shooting at the ducks they 
 will occasionally become mingled with them in their flight from 
 one lake to another and are thus brought within easy range of 
 
28 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the guns, when the taxidermists get them for mounting in such 
 numbers as to become a burden, while ordinarily they are a 
 hard bird to obtain, for they are exceedingly shy and vigilant. 
 Except when the water is frozen firmly, there is no time in the 
 year when they may not be seen in almost every general sec- 
 tion where the conditions are favorable to their habits of feed- 
 ing, but their iiests are more restricted, and not infrequently 
 are associated with the Blue Herons in their long occupied 
 rookeries. Thousands of people visiting Upper Lake Minne- 
 tonka during a period of full 30 years have seen them thus 
 associated on "Crane Island," and the surprise of everybody 
 has been that both the Cormorants and Herons did not abandon 
 the breeding place long years ago. Their reluctance to aban- 
 don it, however, has been as great as was that of the Sioux, 
 with the advantage over the aborigines that there were no 
 treaties in the way of their continued possession. The State 
 authorities have discovered the same fact and have tardily 
 recognized the obligation to protect them from weapons of 
 civilized warfare. Local observers in nearly all parts of the ' 
 State report them from "occasional" to "innumerable," accor- 
 ing to how near their breeding places the observations have 
 been made, especially after they have commenced preparations 
 for incubation. 
 
 The preparations for incubation are made about the 10th of 
 May in large communities, on islands in the lakes and ponds, 
 and almost impenetrable marshes, where are some large, 
 branching trees in which they mostly build their coarse but 
 substantial nests. These are usually bulky from having been 
 added to a little from year to year, and consist of land and wa- 
 ter weeds, portions of vines and some sticks, without much 
 mechanism in their arrangements, being piled together around a 
 deep depression, in which they lay three pale greenish or blu- 
 ish eggs, over the surface of which is spread a smear of cal- 
 careous material making them somewhat rough to the touch. 
 It is not an uncommon sight to see one or more of their nests 
 on the same tree on which are a number of the herons' nests, 
 with whom they have no neighbor jars apparently. Being 
 principally fish eaters they spend most of the time in the water 
 where their movements in pursuit of their prey are simply 
 marvelous in velocity. With their totipalmated feet folded 
 flatly into mere blades while carried forward and when struck 
 out backwards opening to their utmost, and the half- spread 
 wings beating with inconceivable rapidity, they seem to fly 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 29 
 
 through the waters at various depths in pursuit of their favor- 
 ite food, the fish. 
 
 By some cormorantic agreement, they distribute themselves 
 for feeding in such a manner as not to trespass upon each 
 other's domain during the breeding time, some individuals of 
 them going many miles away to feed. The females during this 
 period are allowed the nearer preserves and improve only the 
 earlier and later portions of the day to supply their necessities. 
 
 When the young are suflciently grown they gather into im- 
 mense flocks in inf requented sections, and remain until the ice- 
 lid of winter has been closed over their supplies of food when 
 to appearance they do not go away, but are gone like the sea- 
 son — and how, when, and where? 
 
 In his communication to me of some observations made in 
 Murray county in 1877, Prof. C. L. Herrick says of this species 
 at lake Shetak: "The upper lake affords nesting places for in- 
 numerable Cormorants which are known as black loons." So 
 from all sources, or at least many, including Lanesboro in Fill- 
 more county from which Dr. Hvoslef says: "From April 3d, 
 (1883), about fifty Cormorants were seen at the pond till the 
 12th of October. About the same date, but two years later, 
 Mr. F. L. Washburn found them at Dead lake in Otter Tail 
 county, fairly common for the species. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, neck, lower part of back and under surface greenish- 
 black; feathers of upper part of back, wing coverts, scapulars 
 and tertiaries, grayish-brown, the margins greenish-black; 
 primaries blackish-brown, lighter oh inner webs; secondaries 
 dark grayish-brown; tail black; a line of white filamentous 
 feathers running from the bill over the eye, and a few similar 
 ones distributed over the neck; behind each eye is a tuft of 
 rather long, slender feathers, erect and curving forwards; bare 
 space in the region of the eye and gular sac, orange; upper 
 mandible blackish-brown, with edges yellowish; the lower 
 mandible yellow, marked irregularly with dusky; iris- bright 
 green; legs, feet and claws, black, middle toe claw pectinated. 
 
 Length, 33; wing, 13; tail, 6.75. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern coast of North America, breeding from 
 the Bay of Fandy northward; southward in the interior to the 
 Great Lakes and Wisconsin. 
 
30 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Family PELECA:N^ID^. 
 
 PELEOANUS EKTTHRORHTNCHIJS Gmelin. (125.) 
 
 AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN. 
 
 This immense bird usually signals his arrival- in the early- 
 part of April by his characteristic notes from an elevation 
 beyond the range of vision except under the most favorable 
 circumstances. The sound of those notes is difficult to de- 
 scribe, but unforgetable when once certainly heard from their 
 aerial heights. I have sometimes scanned the heavens in vain 
 to see them, but am generally rewarded for my vigilance and 
 patience if the sky is clear, and if cloudy, also, when I watch 
 the rifts closely with my field glass. 
 
 They more commonly are in flocks of from thirty to fifty, 
 rarely more; but when materially less than the former number, 
 the flock has been divided, and they then fly lower. During 
 the incoming migration of the spring of 1864 it was not an 
 unusual thing to have them descend nearly to the tops of the 
 trees, long before reaching a section for alighting. I secured 
 one at that time which was eleven feet in extent and weighed 
 twenty-two pounds. For more than twenty years after I 
 came here to reside they bred in Grant county in a large 
 community. Several of my ornithological friends visited the 
 "place from time to time, first of which Mr. J. N. Sandford of 
 Elbow lake, who guided Mr. G. B. Sennett of Meadville, Pa., 
 to the pelicanery subsequently, but after several years' antici- 
 patiott. of seeing it with Mr. Sanford myself, professional 
 duties, and ill health prevented, until, persecuted, robbed and 
 mercilessly slaughtered, they finally deserted their ancient 
 dwelling place, since which I have had no reliable evidence 
 that they bred within our borders. It is persistently claimed 
 by duck-hunters that they have renewed their limited breeding, 
 but exactly where, rumor has not decided. I think that there 
 is little reason to doubt that the pelicanery alluded to was the 
 only one within our borders, for wherever these easily identi- 
 fied birds were observed during the period of breeding in the 
 early morning and late in the day, the line of general flight 
 pointed to that same locality. Shortly after their arrival in 
 spring they pair for breeding, after which little is seen of 
 them until late in the autumn, when they begin to flock for 
 their late migration, which time depends entirely upon the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 31 
 
 question of the supply of their food, which is mainly small 
 fishes. These are abundant in the shallow streams, borders 
 of the lakes and ponds, until sealed up by the ice. Most 
 writers upon the habits of this unique species speak of the 
 use of the lower mandible and gular sac as a scoop, or dip net, 
 for gathering in their food. This seems possible, and even 
 probable, yet I am compelled to say that while I have often 
 observed their habit of dropping the inferior mandible slightly 
 beneath the surface of the water when the upper one seemed 
 only to rest on it, and thus allow the water to pass into the 
 mouth as they were swimming about in deep as well as shallow 
 water, I have never discovered the slightest evidence of their 
 receiving food at such times Like their renowned habit of 
 extending their mandibles in a series of yawning like motions 
 when standing upon the land, I have regarded the other as 
 essentially a sort of meaningless diversion. Perhaps to rinse 
 out the gular pouch. I am confident I could not have 
 been mistaken, as my observations were made when the birds 
 were under the most favorable circumstances for being 
 observed, and I have employed a superior field glass while 
 perfectly concealed from their sight. Whether seizing a 
 minnow, or a pickerel weighing three and a half pounds, as in 
 one instance, the fish is grasped transversely, when it is 
 tossed into the air and invariably received with its head fore- 
 most in its descent into the pouch. 
 
 The sac, or pouch, is a temporary repository in which the 
 food is retained for a longer or shorter period as required for 
 supplies for digestion. The gular sac has no element of "a 
 dip-net for catching prey", having no outlet for the water 
 "shipped," not even the pectinated rami of the bill of several 
 species of ducks. They are well known to seize great quanti- 
 ties of fish upon occasion, and it is equally well known that 
 their stomachs are relatively exceptionally small. The sac is 
 therefore an inexorable necessity for transportation in their 
 prolonged flights over frozen lakes and rivers, and has been 
 found on repeated occasions in possession of from one to several 
 fishes. One at least of the purposes of the sa6 cannot be 
 questioned. 
 
 In the latter part of May the old nests are slightly . repaired 
 ■or added to of such materials as are easily obtained, and the 
 three to four eggs laid. They are very rudimentary, consist- 
 ing usually of dirt scraped together and overlaid with coarse 
 reeds, moss, &c. , and are located quite near each other in close 
 
32 NOTES ON THE 
 
 proximity to water, with little attempt at concealment. The- 
 length of time after hatching before the young are taken to the 
 water I have not reliably ascertained. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 General plumage, pure white, (in breeding season with a 
 roseate tinge) ; crest and elongated feathers on the breast, pale 
 yellow; alula, primary coverts, and primaries, black, the shafts 
 of the latter, white for the greater part of their length, and 
 brownish-black at the end; outer secondaries, black, the inner 
 more or less white, the shafts of all white underneath. Bill, 
 yellow, with the edges and- unguis, reddish; upper mandible 
 high at the base, but becoming gradually flattened to the end;, 
 on the ridge just beyond the middle of the bill is a thin, 
 elevated bony process about one inch high, and extending 
 towards the end for three or four inches; lower mandible broad 
 at the base, with the crura separated nearly to the 'point, 
 underneath the lower mandible, beginning at the junction of 
 the crura and extending down the neck about §ight inches, is a 
 large membranous sac, or pouch, capable of great expansion, 
 of the same color as the bill; bare space around the eye, bright 
 yellow; iris, white; legs and feet, yellow; claws, yellowish- 
 brown. The female differs only in the absence of the bony 
 projection on the upper mandible. 
 
 Length; 70; wing, 24.50; bill, 18.50; tarsus, 4.75; tail, 7. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 Note. I have no record of the earliest instance of their 
 nesting, but generally it takes place in the latter days of May, 
 several having been reported by the t'Wenty-fifth. Some have 
 been known to occur even after the first of June. The nest& 
 are very rudimentary, consisting in most cases of the dirt and 
 debris found at the place selected, which is on alluvial lands 
 quite near the water. There seems to be no attempt at con- 
 cealment whatever usually, and they will endure a great deal 
 of disturbance from intruders before they will finally abandon " 
 the spot chosen for incubation. From two to four white eggs 
 constitute the "clutch," and the male shares the duties of the 
 lengthy incubency, as it would seem to be the conjugal duty of 
 all male birds, yet unfortunately some come very far short of 
 it. I have often conceived that the female cow-bird laid her 
 first egg in another bird's nest because her mate refused to 
 share her sacrifices. Later facts, and many isolated circum- 
 stances have somewhat modified my opinions as to their aban- 
 doning the State for incubation. 
 
 Prof. Herrick, who is quite familiar with the bird life of Mur- 
 ray county, expresses himself as confident that they breed about 
 Lake Shetak, and later Mr. P. L. Washburn, (now professor 
 at Corvallis, Oregon, I am informed), mentions some circum- 
 stances in his correspondence that Lake Traverse and many 
 other localities in the northwestern parts of the State have 
 been adopted as breeding places by the Pelicans. He states 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 38 
 
 that in 1885, from some cause not quite certain, they sought 
 new breeding quarters, having deserted the famous grand peli- 
 canry "for many isolated localities never before occupied." 
 Mr. Armstrong, of Herman, Grant Co., "found a solitary nest 
 near the town containing two eggs." Certainly these circum- 
 , stances justify the conclusion that the Pelicans have not yet 
 deserted Minnesota as a breeding place. 
 
 PELECANUS FUSCUS L. (126.) 
 BROWN PELICAN. 
 
 Reasonably credible rumors from three different localities oa 
 the western borders of the State add one Brown Pelican each 
 to the list of straggling visitors within our borders. I am very 
 familiar with them in sections where they abound, but have 
 never seen any within my present province. 
 
Order ANSERES. 
 
 Family ANATID^. 
 
 MERGANSER AMERICANUS (Cassin). (129.) 
 AMERICAN , MERGANSER. 
 
 This is the largest species of the true Pish Ducks. They 
 reach the larger lakes somewhat before the disappearance of 
 the ice. A narrow border may have yielded to the advancing 
 sun and invited the fish from under the frozen canopy into its 
 grateful rays, and thus offering the ducks their chosen food 
 in abundance, but if they have counted upon such a repast 
 they are liable to great disappointment, for the retreating 
 cold often returns with a vigor that closes again every opening 
 in the ice of the still waters of the lakes and ponds, when the 
 premature invaders will be compelled to seek their supplies 
 in the swift currents of the streams and rivers. At the time 
 of their spring migrations, they appear in considerable flocks, 
 and no inconsiderable numbers are killed by persons unf amil- 
 liar with their habits, and ignorant of their valuelessness for 
 food, at least such was formerly the case; but since the coun- 
 try has become more extensively occupi^d by settlement, and 
 been cultivated along the shores of their former haunts, they 
 have disappeared from the more frequented lakes, and are 
 now seldom seen except in the remoter districts. There they 
 still breed in comparatively fair numbers. They place their 
 nests in the forks of dead trees of the forest bordering the 
 water where the banks are "low and flat, or upon ledges of 
 rock overhanging the water, in extremely secluded places. 
 The nest consists of grass, leaves, moss, etc. , over which are 
 placed their oW feathers in sufficient quantity for warmth to 
 be easily maintained while incubation is in process. The eggs 
 are about ten in number, and are of a cream white color, that 
 varies in different eggs of the same nest. In earlier days, 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. • 35- 
 
 when they bred in my own county, I found the young on th& 
 ponds and small grassy lakes as early as the first week in 
 June, and as late as the last week of July, which warranted 
 the presumption that they rear more than one brood each 
 year. 
 
 Their food consists of fish, mussels, and occasionally the 
 stems and roots of aquatic vegetation. The flight of the Mer- 
 gansers, or Shelldrakes, as they are more commonly called in 
 this country, is not very unlike that of the Mallard, yet easily 
 distinguished by experienced sportsmen at a considerable dis- 
 tance. Although they have become quite rare in the southern 
 they are more readily found in the northern portions of the 
 State, where there are extensive are as yet wild enough to 
 meet all the requirements for their food and reproduction. 
 They linger in small family flocks in autumn as late as an 
 abundant supply of food is obtainable, and move away south- 
 ward in the night. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Feathers of the forehead extending on the bill in an acute 
 angle for half the distance between those on the sides and 
 nostrils; outline of those on the sides nearly vertical, and 
 reaching but little beyon,d the beginning of the lower edge of 
 the bill, but as far as those on the side of the lower jaw; nos- 
 trils large, far forward, their middle opposite the middle of 
 the commissure. Head and neqk green; fore part of back 
 black; beneath salmon color; wings mostly 'white, crossed by 
 one band of black; sides faintly barred transversely. 
 
 Length, 26.50; wing, 11; tarsus 1.85; commissure, 2.90. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 ^MERGANSER SERRATOR (L.). (130.) 
 EED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
 
 This Merganser cannot be regarded as a common resident,, 
 yet I have found it breeding within a few miles of both Minne- 
 apolis and St. Paul, and it is known to do so in several localities- 
 to the west of our great timber belt, as in the vicinity of some 
 small lakes embraced in that forest. They arrive with the 
 earlier game ducks, and are frequently shot undei" the sup- 
 position that they belong to that class. As with the other 
 species of local ducks, they do not continue long in flopks, but. 
 shortly pair off and resort to the more favorable sections for 
 breeding, where they build large, bulky nests' on the ground. 
 The nests consist first of rushes, reeds, coarse weeds and 
 
6 NOTES ON THE 
 
 grasses, with some roots. Over these is the true nest, com- 
 posed of fine roots chiefly, whict is covered with a lawyer of 
 feathers. They lay about ten, light, dirty, drab colored eggs. 
 I have found but one while employed for nidification, although 
 several have come to my notice by finding the fragments of 
 shells associated with them. The young birds were in the 
 water of a draining ditch on the 9th of June. The species is 
 abundantly reported in both migrations, yet only a very few 
 individuals have seen these ducks during the summer, for the 
 obvious reason that, like all other locally breeding ducks, 
 they are rarely found on the wing. Hence Mr. Washburn's 
 statement that he found the species rather rare in the Eed 
 River valley in July and August. They remain till very late 
 in November, and occasionally all winter, as I have repeatedly 
 seen them in open rapids on spring fed streams and the Mis- 1 
 sissippi. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTEHS. 
 
 Feathers of the forehead extending on the bill in a short, 
 obtuse angle, and falling far short of the end of those on the 
 sides; the outline of the latter sloping rapidly forwards, and 
 reaching half way from the posterior end of the lower edge of 
 the bill to the nostrils, and far beyond those on the side of the' 
 lower jaw. Nostrils posterior and -narrow, their posterior 
 outline opposite the end of the basal third of the commissure. 
 Head with a conspicuous, pointed, occipital crest. Head and 
 upper part of neck all around dark green; under parts red- 
 dish-white; jugulum, reddish-brown streaked with* black; sides 
 distinctly barred transversely with fine lines of black. Feathers 
 anterior to wing white, margined with black. White of wing 
 crossed by two bars of black. 
 
 Length, 23.25; wing, 8.60; tarsus, 1.80; commissure, 2,75. 
 
 Habitat, Northern North America. 
 
 LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS (L.). (131.) 
 HOODED MERGANSER. 
 
 Undisturbed in the quiet solitudes of its favorite feeding 
 places, especially during the mating season when the time is 
 more devoted to courting, the male of this species of ducks has 
 no peer fol* regal beauty in its family except the always to be 
 excepted male Wood Duck, {Aix sponsa). It is a permanent 
 resident, finding open water enough through the severest 
 winters to make its supply of fish-food possible. On the 
 coldest days I have many times observed it feeding in the 
 rapids at the foot of the falls of St. Anthony. At such times 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 37 
 
 "they may occasionally be seen flying further up or down the 
 river in small parties. 
 
 Once in January, 1874, when the mercury had descended to 
 forty degrees below zero while a north wind -was blowing 
 -terrifically, I saw a flock of six of this species flying directly 
 into the teeth of the blizzard at their ordinary velocity of not 
 less than ninety miles an hour. The compactness of their 
 flocks of half a dozen to fifteen in their flight is characteristic, 
 and their directness fully equal to that of the G-reen -winged 
 Teal, {Anas euros inensis). About the third week in April, or a 
 little later, they disperse for incubation. They build their 
 nests but a short distance from the water, and like the Wood 
 Duck, in the hollows of trees, or upon the stubs of such as have 
 been broken off by the wind. One discovered by a duck-friend 
 of mine (to the location of which he called my attention many- 
 years since) was placed in as hallow cavity rotted out of a lean- 
 ing trunk some forty feet from the ground, and consisted of 
 weeds, grass and feathers, the latter completely concealing the 
 others. It contained thirteen perfectly white, subspherical, 
 thick-shelled eggs, that avej-aged 2.12 by l.'iO in measurement. 
 In one instance, a lady sharing my interest in birds and game, 
 -while rowing with me, noticed what we supposed to be a Wood 
 Duck carrying her chick by the neck from a tree into the 
 -water. We waited in vain some time to see if the bird would 
 not bring another young one. Reaching the middle of the 
 small lake, we saw the duck, by the aid of the field-glass, re- 
 sume the loving task, and discovered the bird to be a female of 
 the species under consideration. This was on the 18th of May. 
 Mr. Treganowan found the baby birds in Becker county, on the 
 17th of August, showing that in one instance at least, a second 
 brood presurCiptively was brought out in the same season. I am 
 not confident that this is universally the case however. The food 
 at this time embraces fish, molluscs, and aquatic insects. With 
 the crest fully extended, the male of this species, as already 
 intimated, presents a most beautiful .view when swimming 
 leisurely on the undisturbed water, under the deep shadows of 
 the environing woods. He takes none of the burdens of incuba- 
 tion upon him, but at that time hides himself away between 
 the narrow banks of some solitary stream abounding with small 
 fish, to resume in due time his place at the head of his well 
 developed family. Like the other fish ducks, they stay as long 
 as the ice will let them on the shores of the lakes, whence they 
 go to open rapids, and late in November mostly drift more 
 
38 NOTES ON THE 
 
 southward. According to Mr. Washburn, this species is very 
 common at Lake Mille Lacs, and Dead lake. Dr. Hvoslef 
 finds them in February at Lanesboro, Fillmore county, in open 
 places in the Root river. Mr. Edward A. Everett, of Waseca, 
 reports them in January. Indeed, there are no sections where 
 the birds have been looked after by competent observers which 
 do not give reports of the Hooded Merganser. It must not be 
 inferred that they are as numerous a species as some others 
 breeding here, but they may be said to be common residents, 
 large numbers of which go further north still to breed and 
 further south to winter. ^ 
 
 SPECIFIC "characters. 
 
 Head with an elongated, compressed, circular crest; anterior 
 extremity of nostril reaching not quite as far as the middle of 
 the commissure; frontal feathers extending nearly as far as 
 half the distance from the lateral feathers to the nostril; the 
 latter much beyond the feathers on the side of the lower mandi- 
 ble. Bill shorter than head. Bill, head, neck, and back, black; 
 center of crest and under parts white; sides chestnut- brown, 
 barred with black; anterior to the wing white, crossed by two 
 black crescents; lesser coverts gray; speculum white with a 
 basel and median-black bar; tertials black, streaked with white 
 centrally. 
 
 Length, 17.50; wing, 8; tarsus, 1.20; commissure, 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 ANAS BOSCHAS L. (132.) 
 MALLARD. 
 
 When the comfortless days of March have long delayed the 
 departure of the winter, and the great lakes, and the little ones 
 too, begin to show a liquid margin into which sundry reptiles 
 and fishes have come to catch the first warm rays of the ad- 
 vancing sun, we look for the ducks to return, and first of al^ 
 generally, the Mallards. And should a sharp thaw be attended 
 by a warm rain, we never look in vain. The avaunt couriers 
 consisting of members of this species will more than likely 
 form the largest flock of the entire season, and will come along 
 the cloudy curtains of the horizon after the manner of wild 
 geese, but with less of the wedge-shaped order of flight of the 
 latter and their ostentatious honkings. Sweeping around in 
 circles, the radius of which is many miles in extent, examining 
 the various streams and lakes for the larger openings in the 
 ice, they suddenly dip down to one as if to alight, when as ab- 
 ruptly they rise again and sweep away to another with a few 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 39 
 
 quacks of mutual advisement, or perchance of disappointment, 
 and are soon out of sight. In half an hour they are back 
 again to drop, one after another, into the open water of the 
 very lake beside which we may be carefully concealed. Here, 
 if undisturbed, they will spend the remainder of the day, but 
 when the night has come they quietly fly away to the meadows 
 and growing wheat fields or the oak openings where the mast 
 is an assured supply for their repast. At the earliest dawn of 
 the coming day, they return to the lakes for rest, mussels, 
 aquatic vegetation and security. As they breed extensively in 
 nearly every portion of the State adapted to their reproductive 
 and food habits, little difiiculty lies in the way of learning their 
 characteristic habits. I find that as a genferal thing their nests 
 aire completed and occupied by the 15th to the 20th of May. 
 As they deposit from ten to twelve eggs, and supposibly never 
 more than one in the same day, it is pretty near the first of 
 June before they are fully installed in the essential work of in- 
 cubation. Only rather coarse weeds and grasses are employed 
 in the structure of the nest, but it is lined with their own down 
 liberally. The eggs are of a dirty, greenish-white color. The 
 location of the nest may be on the veriest margin of the land 
 near the water, concealed in the reeds and rushes, or a mile 
 away, perhaps on the open prairie, hidden by the rank, un- 
 glazed tuft of grass which may be seen at a considerable dis- 
 tance. And again it is no unprecedented thing to find it 
 amongst the coarse bushes on a wooded hillside. The duck- 
 lings are taken to the water in a short time where the 
 brood may often be found without much difficulty, except the 
 sacrifices of an early rising in the morning. They linger in the 
 State until quite in autumn, growing and fattening on the 
 wild rice, mast, and extensive waste of the wheat fields. In 
 the latter place they are often in immense flocks, where the 
 hunters are congregated for their destruction as late and early 
 as the law allows them to maintain their slaughter. As matters 
 have been for many years, their number must have become 
 greatly reduced, and therefore we may well rejoice that our 
 legislature has provided some long needed protection to them. 
 To instance, not one alone of "crack sportsmen," but many 
 from abroad as well as at home have boasted of having killed 
 three and four hundred in a fall shooting, and in a single in- 
 ,stance upwards of one thousand. This is truly duck murder. 
 Thirteen thousand meandered, and therefore recorded lakes 
 
 4z 
 
40 NOTES ON THE 
 
 and ponds, including all of the wild rice marshes, and wheat 
 fields, will prove inadequate to maintain the supply at this 
 rate. Thanks for legislation though late. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck bright grass -green, with a violet gloss, top 
 of head duller; a white ring around the middle of the neck, 
 below which, and on the forepart and sides of the breast, the 
 color is dark brownish-chestnut; under parts and sides, with 
 the scapulars, pale gray, very finely undulated with dusky; 
 the outer scapulars with a brownish tinge; forepart of back 
 reddish brown; posterior more olivaceous; crissum and upper 
 tail coverts black, the latter with a blue gloss; tail externally 
 white; wing coverts brownish-gray, the greater coverts tipped 
 first with white, and then more narrowly with black; speculum 
 purplish-violet, terminated with black; a recurved tuft of feath- 
 ers on the rump; iris dark brown. 
 
 Length, 28; wing, 11; tarsus, 1.70; commissure, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, northern parts of northern hemisphere. 
 
 ANAS OBSCURA Gmelin. (133.) 
 BLACK. 
 
 My first local observation of the Black Ducks began in the 
 spring of 1862, during the spring migration. They were asso- 
 ciated with the Mallards, and were exceedingly shy, a single 
 one in the flock often proving a sad defeat to the sportman's 
 purposes towards the other species. A few usually find their 
 way into the game markets, in both migrations, and it is seldom 
 that a season passes in which I have not observed their pres- 
 ence in one or both migrations. They are never abundant, 
 indeed they are rather rare, and in small flocks in the spring , 
 migrations which are somewhat larger in the autumn. I have 
 never counted more than 15 in a single flock, and more com- 
 monly not to exceed half a dozen. I had been told that they 
 bred in the southern and western sections of the State long 
 before I had an opportunity to corroborate the statement, but 
 I have long since found them doing so in the valley of the Min- 
 nesota river, and in Kandiyohi county. Their nests were in a 
 tussock of rank grass or reeds, in a marsh which had been 
 overflowed during the prevalence of high water in spring, and 
 in one instance was found as early as the 15th of May with 
 three eggs in it. Another was shown me by a citizen who 
 resided but a short distance away, containing ten, greenish- 
 brown eggs. This was May 27th, which seems to indicate about ' 
 the same period of nesting as for the former. Their food in 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 41 
 
 , spring consists largely of aquatic larvae, and of molluscs with 
 the succulent roots of fresh water vegetation; and in the 
 autumn of wild rice and domestic grains, to which should be 
 added considerable mast after the acorns have fallen. They 
 seldom resort to the smaller lakes and ponds after raising their 
 broods, but are found in the larger ones, and notably in the 
 vicinage of timber lands. Their distribution is not uniform by 
 any means, and about as difficult to ascertain as th^t of a great 
 number of avian species as sparingly represented. What pro- 
 portion of them go further north to breed it is dif&cult to even 
 conjecture, but doubtless much the larger. They disappear in 
 the fall migration somewhat earlier than do the Mallards. I 
 ought to have said before that the nest is a large, compact one, 
 and constructed of grasses and weeds, over which are imposed 
 the duck's own feathers. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill greenish; feet red; body generally blackish-brown; the 
 feathers obscurely margined with reddish-brown; those anteri- 
 orly with a concealed V-shaped mark, more or less visible 
 on the sides of the breast; head and neck brownish-yellow, 
 spotted with black; top of the head and nape, dark brown, 
 with a green gloss on the sides behind; wings dull blackish, 
 with a dull greenish gloss; speculum violet, terminated with 
 black; inner tertials hoary gray towards the tips; axillaries 
 and inside of wing white; tail of eighteen feathers; iris dark 
 brown. 
 
 Length, 22; wing, 12; tarsus, 1.80; commissure, 2.56. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, west to Utah and Texas. 
 
 ANAS STREPERA. L. (135.) 
 GADWALL. 
 
 No species of the Duck family is a more regular resident, 
 often reaching the State by the 25th of March, and found on 
 favorite streams late in November. They are quite a numerous 
 species and fly in compact flocks of about a dozen, rarely more, 
 which is easily recognized by the experienced gunner at con- 
 siderable distance by the distinctive character of their move- 
 ments on the wing. Like the Mallards and many other species 
 of the ducks, they live upon aquatic plants, both blades and 
 roots, larvae, water beetles, mollusks, wild rice, and the vari- 
 ous grains of the farmer's fields, to get which they fly long 
 distances both at night and during the day. 
 
 The nests are found on the ground, in marshes skirting 
 
42 NOTES ON THE ^ 
 
 streams of running water, and are composed of weeds, sticks, 
 grasses, and rushes as the location conveniently supplies them. 
 The eggs, eight to ten in number, are rather of a cream- white, 
 at least would be but for the dirt imparted by the soiled feet of 
 the brooding female. 
 
 As is the case with nearly every species of the family breed- 
 in the State, the distribution is subject to extreme variations 
 from year , to year. In a local scarcity of Ring-necks and 
 Scaups, for instance, this species will abound during one sea- 
 son which may be followed in the next by its almost total ab- 
 sence, while one of those mentioned, or almost any other, may 
 be in force in any single section. This circumstance applies 
 equally with the Mallard. 
 
 The relative abundance of species may be best studied in the 
 return of expert duck-hunter's bags. 
 
 In the hunting season there are few portions of our State 
 where some of this species are not found. It has not yet been 
 my fortune to see the nest and eggs in situ, but I have the 
 latter in my collection obtained within a few hours ride of my 
 home by Mr. E. L. Hood, an expert oOlogist in my employ- 
 ment. 
 
 Incredible numbers of this species are slaughtered for the fall 
 market and are regarded only second to the Mallard in value 
 for the table. It is a gamy duck and flies promptly at the ap- 
 proach of danger; is an exceptionally good diver and rapid 
 swimmer. It wanders a long distance from the water for nuts, 
 acorns, etc., in the cloudy, windy days of November. They re- 
 tire from this latitude generally during the last week in 
 October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck brownish-white, each feather spotted with 
 dusky; top of head tinged with reddish; lower part of neck^ 
 ■with forepart of breast, and back, blackish, with concentric 
 narrow bars of white, giving a scaled appearance to the 
 leathers; inter- scapular region, outermost scapulars, and 
 sides of body, finely weaved transversely with black and 
 white; middle wing- coverts chestnut, the greater, velvet- 
 "black, succeeded by a pure white speculum, bordered exter- 
 nally by hoary gray; innermost scapulars with a reddish 
 tinge; crissum and upper tail coverts black; longest tertia^ls 
 hoary plumbeous gray; inside of wing and axillaries pure 
 -white; bill black; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 22; wing, 10.50; tarsus, 1.65; commissure, 2.04. 
 
 Habitat, United States. Nearly cosmopolitan. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. it 
 
 ANAS AMERICANA Gmelin. (137.) 
 BALDPATE. 
 
 In the spring of 1864 the Baldpates were more numerous 
 than any other species migrating along the Mississippi 
 through Minnesota. 
 
 It was observed by sportsmen and universally commented 
 upon as most remarkable in the history of duck-shooting. 
 The following year only a few were met with in the same 
 tocalities, and never since as many relatively, but some years 
 they are common while scarce in others. Subsequently, by 
 extensive conference with intelligent and observing sports- 
 men, and a, close watch of the markets, I satisfied myself that 
 the variation in local numbers was balanced within the 
 longitudinal boundaries of the State; that when scarce along 
 the region drained by the Mississippi they were abundant 
 along that of the Minnesota river, and vice versa, through the 
 following years. 
 
 It has been a common observation that the Baldpates and 
 Pintails almost uniformly arrive more or less commingled," 
 which is also the case in their autumnal migrations. Both 
 species arrive a little later than some others, and are seldom 
 found in the larger lakes, but in the ponds and streams. Their 
 food consists largely of roots of various aquatic plants. The 
 Baldpates breed on the extensive marshes of the northern 
 counties of the State, where Mr. Lewis and Mr. Treganowan 
 found them in June and July. The nest possesses no dis- 
 tinctive characteristic and contains variously from six to 
 twelve dirty, cream white eggs. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found it common and breeding at Otter Tail 
 and Thief river. Dr. Hvoslef notes its arrival in Fillmore 
 county from the 12th to the 20th of April, but says nothing of 
 its breeding there, nor have I seen its nests in the section of 
 niy greatest opportunity for personal observation. I found it 
 already beginning to be common in Grant and Big Stone coun- 
 ties late in August. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of fourteen feathers; bill blue, the extreme base and tip 
 black; head and neck pale buff, or faint reddish-yellow, each 
 feather banded narrowly with blackish, giving the appearance 
 of spots; top of head from bill, pale unspotted creamy - 
 white; sides of head from around the eye to the nape glossy- 
 green, the feathers however, with hidden spots, as described; 
 
44 NOTES ON THE 
 
 chin uniform dusky; forepart of breast and sides of body light- 
 brownish, or chocolate-red, each feather with obsolete grayish 
 edge, rest of under parts pure white; crissum abruptly black; 
 the back, scapulars and rump, finely waved transversely anter- 
 iorly with reddish and gray, posteriorly with purer gray on a 
 brown ground; a little of the same waving on the sides also; 
 lesser wing coverts, plain gray; middle and greater, conspicu- 
 ously white, the latter terminated by black, succeeded by a 
 speculum which is grass-green at the base, and then velvet- 
 black; tertials black on outer web, bordered narrowly by 
 black, the outermost one hoary-gray, externally edged with 
 black; tail hoary-brown; upper coverts black externally; axil- 
 lars white; iris hazel. 
 
 The blackish chin appears to be found only in very highly 
 plumaged birds, and the top of the head is sometimes pure 
 white. 
 
 Length, 22; wing, 11; tarsus, 1.40; commissure, 1.08. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 ANAS OAROLINENSIS Gmelin. (139.) 
 
 GEEEN- WINGED TEAL. 
 
 When the first flock of Ducks of the spring has arrested the 
 attention of the amateur, or the keen eyed sportsman, he 
 looks for the two Teals next. And that well trained eye knows 
 each of the two species at a glance by its flight. Within the 
 duck kingdom the Green-wings have no equal in speed on the 
 wing, and only one superior for beauty. A little incident in 
 my personal experience, gave me a realizing sense of the 
 former. On an occasion when duck-shooting in a pass,- 
 not many miles from my home, I was standing behind a 
 bush as high as my head, when 'I discovered a flock of this 
 species coming from another lake. So directly were the ducks 
 coming toward me that they seemed to be only poising on their 
 vibrating wings when I fired at the leader, and his head drop- 
 ped instantly, for he was as dead as he ever could be, and 
 mine dodged to one side just in time to have the plumage of 
 the bird brush my ear as it went by like a ball from a steel 
 eight pounder, and only reached the ground at a distance of a 
 hundred and fifty feet beyond. It has been said that the 
 Green-winged Teal flies at a velocity of one hundred and sixty 
 miles an hour. Judging it by that incident, I am ready to 
 believe the estimate none too high. In 1876, they reached 
 nearly every portion of the State on the 5th of April, as re- 
 ports from most of them subsequently attested. But I have 
 records of my own showing of their arrival as early as the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 45 
 
 17th of March. Their distribution for breeding, becomes con- 
 siderably restricted, but varies in the choice of localities in suc- 
 cessive years. In the one first alluded to their nests were found 
 in several places in Hennepin county, but in the next I could 
 find or hear of none. In later years I found them breeding 
 along the Minnesota bottoms and in the marshes along Min- 
 nehaha creek, which constitutes the outlet of Lake Minne- 
 tonka. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them ' ' rather common, and breeding 
 at Otter Tail and Mille Lacs," in 1885. The nest is formed of 
 weeds, sedges and grasses, lined with considerable down. 
 Eight to ten eggs are usually laid, of a dingy creamy-white 
 color. It is almost a strictly vegetable feeder, wandering 
 some considerable distance from the water in search of ber- 
 ries, nuts, wild rice, etc. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, and neck all around, chestnut; chin black; forehead 
 dusky; region round the eye continued along the side of the 
 head as a broad stripe, rich green, passing into a bluish-black 
 patch across the nape; under parts white, the feathers of the 
 jugulum with rounded black spots; lower portion of neck all 
 around, sides of breast and body, long feathers of flanks and 
 scapulars, beautifully and finely banded closely with black 
 and grayish- white; outer webs of some scapulars, and of outer 
 secondaries black, the latter tipped with white; speculum 
 broad and rich green; wing coverts plain grayish-brown, the 
 greater coverts tipped with buff; a white crescent in front of 
 the bend of the wing; crissum black, with a triangular patch 
 of buffy white on each side; lower portion of the green stripe 
 on each side of the head blackish, with a dull edge of whitish 
 below; iris brown. Sometimes' the under parts are strongly 
 tinged with ferruginous brown. 
 
 Length, 14; wing, 7.40; tarsus, 1.15; commissure, 1.68. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 ANAS DISCORS L. (140.) 
 BLUE-WINGED TEAL. 
 
 No other species of the Ducks is so cautious upon its arrival 
 as the Blue-winged Teal, a trait by which the old hunter deter- 
 mines its identity at once. In parties of eight to ten or a dozen, 
 they will circle around, descending again and again only to 
 rise again and go further up, or lower down the stream, to 
 repeat the same demonstrations of indecision, many times over, 
 and just as unexpectedly they suddenly drop out of sight 
 
46 NOTES ON THE 
 
 between the treeless banks. They are, as a general thing, 
 several days later in their spring arrivals, and as much earlier 
 than the Green-wings in autumn. This is not true in every 
 migration, for I have once or twice known them to come a lit- 
 tle before the other, and several times simultaneously; but in 
 my observations extending over many years in succession, it 
 has proved a noticable characteristic in its migrations. They 
 are seldom seen on the large clear lakes; but on small ponds, 
 mud flats, and sluggish streams where various pond weeds 
 and aquatic roots afford, in abundance its favorite vegetable 
 food. Nesting late in May and early in June, they rear only 
 I one brood so far as I have been able to ascertain. The struc- 
 ture is uniformly of grasses, lined quite liberally with down 
 from the female's own breast and is more commonly placed on 
 dry ground at least a hundred yards from the nearest water. 
 It is best found by carefully distinguishing the obscure path at 
 the water's edge, and tracing it to its unsuspectedly remote 
 seclusion. The search may prove the path to have been the 
 beaten runway of the muskrat to some other pond, but may 
 afterwards be distinquished by its having been so much more 
 frequented and soiled. 
 
 The eggs are of the same general color as the Green-winged 
 Teals, namely, a dull, dingy, cream-white, and are a little 
 smaller in size, and about ten in number. Like the other 
 species they fly in very compact flocks of a dozen or less, and 
 at a terrific speed, only excelled by one other amongst all the 
 ducks known. Tenderest of all, they retire southward earliest 
 in the autumn, so that sometimes all have left the country by 
 the 25th of October, or first of November. They are found 
 breeding in every part of the State in different seasons. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and ueck above plumbeous gray; top of head, black; 
 a white crescent in front of the eye; under parts from middle 
 of neck, purplish- gray, each feather with spots of black, which 
 become more obsolete behind; fore part of back with the feath- 
 ers brown, with two undulating narrow bands of purplish-gray; 
 feathers on the flanks, banded with dark-brown and purplish- 
 gray; back behind and tail, greenish-brown; crissum, black; wing 
 coverts and some of the outer webs of the scapulars, blue; 
 other scapulars, velvet-black, or green streaked with pale 
 reddish-buff; speculum, glossy-green; outer greater wing cov- 
 erts, white, as are the axillaries, middle of under surface of wing, 
 and a patch on each side of the base of the tail; bill, black; 
 feet, flesh-colored; iris, dark-hazel. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 47 
 
 Length, 16; wing 7.10; tarsus, 1.20; commissure, 1.85. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 Later observations have convinced me that as a species 
 they breed much more extensively throughout the State than 
 does the Green-winged Teal. In the lacustrine portions, like 
 the counties in the northwestern division of the Common- 
 wealth as well as in the southeastern, I have the fullest assur- 
 ances from my local observers to justify the opinion. I have 
 found them doing so in five or six localities in my own county, 
 (Hennepin.) 
 
 ANAS CYANOPTERA Vieillot. (141.) 
 
 CINNAMON TEAL. 
 
 On a few occasions since I have resided in the State I have 
 found one of these beautiful ducks amongst others brought 
 into the markets by hunters from the head waters of the Red 
 river. On one such occasion my attention was specially called 
 to "a hybrid duck" that proved to be one of these. I have 
 been accustomed to seeing them in Lower California, where they 
 are at home the year around. Of course those seen are rare 
 stragglers, but as an occasional individual may continue to be 
 seen, I will reproduce their brief description. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 General color a rich, dark purplish chestnut; top of head, 
 chin and middle of belly, tinged with brown; crissum, dark- 
 brown; fore part of back, lighter with two or three more or 
 less interrupted concentric bars of dark brown; feathers of 
 rump and tail, greenish-brown, the former edged with paler; 
 wing coverts, and outer webs of some scapulars, blue, others 
 dark velvet-green, streaked centrally with yellowish-buff; edges 
 of wing coverts, white, as are the axillaries and riiiddle of wing 
 beneath; feathers of uniform chestnut, without bands; specu- 
 lum, metallic -green. 
 
 Length, 17.80; Wing, 7.50; tarsus, 1.15; commissure, 2. 
 
 Habitat, western America. 
 
 SPATULA CLYPEATA (L.). (142.) 
 SHOVELLEE. 
 
 In driving across the high rolling prairie a few miles south- 
 west of Fort Snelling, I discovered a female of this species in 
 the distance, laboriously waddling through the grass less than 
 one foot in height, up a gentle slope. A familiar muskrat, 
 pond of moderate size lay between me and the duck, from the 
 shores of which emerged numerous paths of the muskrats which 
 
48 NOTES ON THE 
 
 could be indistinctly seen, even at that distance. These are 
 generally very irregular in their course, greatly increasing 
 the distance to any point they approach, and hence very mis- 
 leading to any one not aware of their habits. It occurred to 
 me at once that she was following such a devious way, as sl^e 
 advanced so indirectly and apparently hesitatingly. She never 
 paused, however, until having arrived at a spot quite near a 
 solitary bunch, or patch of rank growth, when after a moment's 
 pause, and survey, she dropped her briefly elevated head and. 
 disappeared in that patch of rank vegetation. Except the re- 
 stricted covert thus afforded, she could scarcely have selected 
 a more exposed location, as it was plainly in view for a dis- 
 tance of three-fourths of a mile in the direction from which I 
 saw her, and only a little less in any other one except directly 
 opposite my location, which was slightly interrupted by the 
 further elevation of the land. Marking down the location with- 
 out the slightest difficulty,! drove on to my destination, not very 
 far beyond, passing much nearer to the spot in my way, I did not 
 return for some two hours, but on doing so drove directly to 
 the spot and upon carefully parting the rank prairie grass, 
 avoided by the grazing cattle on account of its being the pro- 
 duct of a deposit of their offal late in the previous year, I at 
 once discovered the nest with five pale greenish- yellow eggs.* 
 They had the faintest tinge of olivaceous- gray, and measured 
 on an average, a little more than 2 by 1. 50 inches. Being called 
 to the same place again after ten days, I drove to the spot, and 
 drove the duck from her nest to find she had fourteen eggs, 
 settling the question of her depositing one each day after she 
 began laying. My discovery of the nest was on the 23d day of 
 May. In early seasons they occasionally arrive in their 
 spring migration by the 5th of April, but usually somewhat 
 later. More commonly they are then seen in small flocks only, 
 yet I have known them in an exceptional year to appear in 
 very large ones, but when such is the case I have observed 
 that such flocks do not remain long, but pass on north further, 
 suggesting that their destination is probably the highest lati- 
 
 *Wheii referring to the habits of the Shovellers in breeding, I should have said that 
 while they frequently go so far from the water to build their nests, such is not their 
 uniform custom, for more frequently the nests are to be found quite near it. <'neof 
 them I found in a clump of rushes within a yard of running water, and another in the 
 middle of a broad marsn. half a mile from water deep enough for the duck to swim in. 
 The structure consists of such materials as are most easily obtained at and near the 
 spot. The one first mentioned, on the open prairie, consisted entirely of dried gra.ss, 
 overlaid with feathers from the bird's own breast; while the latter two were con- 
 structed of rushes and reeds. They otherwise are lilce most duck nests, rather firmly 
 built of a liberal supply of material The market stalls bear testimony that nearly 
 all sections are represented by this species, at least in the game season. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 49 
 
 tudes in which the species breed, and further intimating that 
 the smaller flocks which follow are subdivisions of larger ones 
 which have begun to disintergrate before reaching us here. 
 Their movements at these times do not materially differ from 
 those of the Black Ducks on the wing, but the preponderance 
 of white in the color easily distinguishes them at all ordinary 
 distances and there can be no reason for mistaking them. They 
 soon pair, and soon seek their grounds for breeding their 
 young. Their food is, as their long, pectinated bills fore- 
 shadow, aquatic insects, larvae, tadpoles, worms, &c., which 
 are obtained mostly in shallow waters. I have often flushed 
 them from muddy pools and frogponds by the roadside before 
 the nesting had begun, but never afterwards I think. 
 
 The distribution of the Shovellers is entirely determined by 
 the character of the ponds and pools which afford their pecu- 
 liar food. In the early autumn, if the frosts are delayed, as 
 once until the middle of Octooer, they live almost exclusively 
 upon crustaceans and small molluscs, especially snails, which 
 abound at that" season about the shallow lakes and ponds. 
 
 They disappear very soon upon the advent of the first crisp 
 frosts, be that,as in one year, August 30th, or September 30th. 
 Their flesh is white and excellent, yet for some unexplainable 
 reason is not popular in the average local markets, notwith- 
 standing the high esteem in which it is held at the seaboards. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck green; forepart and sides of breast, greater 
 portion of scapulars, and of the base of the tail, white; rest of 
 under parts dull purplish chestnut; crissum, rump, and upper 
 tail coverts black, the latter glossed with green; wing coverts 
 blue, the posterior row, brown in the concealed portion, and 
 tipped with white; longest tertials blue, streaked internally 
 with white; others velvet green, streaked centrally with white; 
 speculum grass- green, edged very narrowly behind with black, 
 and then with white. 
 
 Length, 20; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.40; commissure, 3. 
 
 Habitat, Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 DAFiLA ACUTA (L.). (143.) 
 PINTAIL. 
 
 When the steady advance of the sun has banished the ice 
 from the lakes and every pool is ringing with the monotonous 
 peepings of the frogs, the Pintails will be found in considera- 
 ble numbers on the mud flats of the open level prairies, and ex- 
 
50 NOTES ON THE 
 
 tensive marshes, where for the time the tadpoles have attracted 
 th,em by their abundance. But they were here before that 
 time, having followed closely upon the track of the Mallards 
 and other early ducks 
 
 In large and medium flocks,, they will then be found along the 
 recently opened streams, and in the woodlands where they 
 spend much of their time in search of acorns, insects, snails, 
 and larvae of different kinds, which are under the wet leaves 
 and on the old decaying logs with which the forests abound. 
 Under these circumstances, they scatter widely, so that the 
 first one encountered will seem to be a wanderer, but a little 
 distance away another will be flushed, and so until several 
 have flown off before the flock will rise as a whole, and perhaps 
 not even then if no gun has been fired to simultaneously disturb 
 them. Yet, when in the water they rarely scatter much, but 
 swim very compactly as a flock, uttering a low chattering note 
 as they move evenly along over the quiet surface. If driven to 
 wing, they rise as compactly as they swim, a circumstance in 
 their habits which has been noticed through their history, and 
 has been made available and profitable by the pothunters. I 
 have no reliable evidence that they breed in the southern por- 
 tions of the State, but find them doing so limitedly in the mid- 
 dle, and commonly in the northern. They have been found 
 with the young in July in several localities, and samples of 
 their eggs which were taken from their nests in early June in 
 Becker county have been sent to me by Mr. Blanche of Detroit. 
 Mr. Treganowan reported the presence of the species in Kan- 
 diyohi county in June and July, and Mr. Lewis in early August 
 at Big Stone. Near Herman in Grant county, a German farmer 
 saw them at different times during the summer, and shot some 
 of them in August which he had mounted, that established 
 their identity. I was many years ago told that this species was- 
 breeding in Medina in my own county, but never having found 
 them breed myself, I took this statement with some qualifica 
 tion until I found the adult birds myself, following which the 
 eggs were brought to me from the same vicinity by Mr. J. C. 
 Bailey, who resided there for many years. 
 
 They are among the shyest of the Duck family, and might 
 elude common observation for a long period in any section 
 while fairly represented. About the second week in October, 
 often somewhat earlier, they begin to leave us in this locality, 
 and are all gone by the first of November. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 51 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of sixteen feathers; bill black above and laterally at the 
 base; the sides and beneath, blue; head and upper part of neck 
 uniformly dark brown, glossed with green and purple behind; in- 
 ferior part of neck, breast, and under parts white; the white of 
 the neck passes up to the nape, separating the brown, and it- 
 self is divided dorsally by black, which below passes into the 
 gray of the back; sides, and back anteriorly are finely lined 
 transversely with black and white; wings, plain bluish gray; 
 greater coverts, with a terminal bar of purplish buff, below 
 which is a greenish purple speculum, margined behind by black 
 and tipped with white; longest tertials striped with silvery and 
 greenish black; scapulars black, edged with silvery; crissum 
 and elongated tail feathers black, the former edged with white. 
 . Length, 30; wing, 11; tail, 8.60; tarsus, 1.75; commissure, 
 2.86. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 A IX S PONS A (L.). (144.) 
 WOOD. 
 
 Peerless amongst its entire family for its indescribable beauty 
 stands the Wood Duck. The nearest to a rival in the Duck 
 kingdom is the Mandarin Duck of Asia. But the difference be- 
 tween the two makes comparison odious. It is at once the 
 Prince of Ducks. The most truthful and esthetic description 
 of the mature male could, reach no nearer the limning reality, 
 than the coldest prose could paint the rainbow. Science, after 
 all her most imposing assumptions, would sit down and weep 
 before the task, in blank despair. The impotence of all at- 
 tempts has smirched the skirts of hope by what has been as- 
 sayed in its systematic as well as its vernacular nomenclature. 
 Aix Spousal Shades of Linnaeus, weep cold, clammy tears for 
 thine irremediable dereliction! Wood Duck! Summer Duck! 
 
 Arriving simultaneously with the other earlier species, none 
 other braves the last rigors of the departing wiater in the clos- 
 ing days of a Minnesota March with greater spirit. And when 
 they come, like the rains of the tropics, they pour in until 
 every pool in the woodlands has been deluged with them. This 
 may sound strangely and exaggerated to ears unfamiliar with 
 the history of bird life on the borders of civilization, yet such 
 has heretofore been my personal observation at the very loca- 
 tion of our city. Wilson and other writers who have described 
 the habits of the Wood Duck have uniformly stated that "they 
 seldom fly in flocks of more than three or four individuals to- 
 gether, and most commonly in pairs or singly. " A little later 
 
52 ' NOTES ON THE 
 
 than the time in spring of which I have written such state 
 ments become true, for after a short time following their ar- 
 rival, they are only seen in smaller flocks, and then only in 
 pairs, after which, by the first of May, not at all, for the pairs 
 have entered upon their mission of reproduction. Audubon's 
 description of their nidiflcations, so often quoted, tells it so ex- 
 tremely well that it would be in almost bad taste to undertake 
 another. He says: "In Louisiana and Kentucky, where I have 
 had better opportunities of studying their habits in this respect, 
 they generally pair about the first of March, sometimes a fort- 
 night earlier. I never )fnew one of these birds to form a nest 
 on the ground, or on the branches of a tree. They appear at all 
 times to prefer the hollow, broken portion of some large branch, 
 the hole of our laige Woodpecker {Picus principalis), or the de- 
 serted retreat of the fox squirrel; and I have frequently been 
 surprised to see them go in and out of a hole of any one of 
 these, when their bodies while on the wing seemed to be nearly 
 half as large again as the aperture, within which they had de 
 posited their eggs. Once only I found a nest (with ten eggs) 
 in the fissure of a rock on the Kentucky river, a few miles be-' 
 low Frankfort. Generally, however, the holes to which they 
 betake themselves, are either over deep swamps, above cane- 
 brakes, or on broken branches of high sycamores, seldom more 
 than forty or fifty feet from the water. 
 
 ' 'Tjjey are much attached to their breeding places, and for 
 three successive years I found a pair near Henderson, in Ken- 
 tucky, with the eggs, in the beginning of April, in the 
 abandoned nest of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 
 
 "The eggs, which are from six to fifteen, according to the age 
 of the bird are placed on dry plants, feathers, and a scanty 
 portion of down, which I believe is mostly plucked from the 
 breast of the female. They are perfectly smooth, nearly 
 eliptical, of a light color, between bufE and pale green, two in- 
 ches in length by one and a half in diameter. No sooner has 
 the female completed her set of eggs than she is abandoned by 
 her mate, who now joins others, which form themselves into , 
 considerable flocks, and thus remain apart till the young are 
 able to fly, when old and young of both sexes come together, 
 and so remain until the commencement of the next breeding 
 season. 
 
 "In all of the nests I have examined I have been rather sur- 
 prised to find a quantity of feathers belonging to birds of, 
 other species, even those of the domestic fowls, and particu- 
 
^ BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 53^ 
 
 larly those of the Wild Goose and Wild Turkey. On coming 
 on a nest with eggs, when the bird was absent in search of 
 food, I have always found the eggs covered with feathers and 
 down, although quite out of sight, in the depths of a Wood- 
 pecker's or Squirrels hole. 
 
 ' 'On the contrary when the nest was placed on the broken 
 branch of a tree it could easily be observed from the ground, 
 on account of the feathers, dead sticks, and withered grasses 
 about it. If the nest is placed immediately over the water, 
 the young, the moment they are hatched, scramble to the 
 mouth of the hole, launch into the air with their little wings 
 and feet spread out and drop into their favorite element; but 
 whenever their birthplace is some distance from it, the mother 
 carries them to it one by one in her bill, holding them so as 
 not to injure their yet tender frame. On several occasions 
 however, when the hole was thirty, forty, or more yards from 
 a bayou or other piece of water, I observed that the mother 
 suffered the young to fall on the grass and dried leaves 
 beneath the tree, and afterward led them directly to the 
 nearest edge of the next pool or creek. At this eai'ly age, the 
 young answer to their parents' call with a mellow pee, pee, 
 pee-e, often and rapidly repeated. The call of the mother at . 
 such times is low, soft, and prolonged, resembling the sylla- 
 bles peee, pe-ee. The watch note of the male, which resembles 
 hoe-eeJc, is never uttered by the female; indeed, the male him- 
 self seldom uses it, unless alarmed by some uncommon sound, 
 or the sight of a distant enemy, or when intent on calling 
 passing birds of his own species. " 
 
 I may be pardjoned for my enthusiasm over this mag- 
 nificent duck, when I state that I have enjoyed better op- 
 portunities for carefully stud3ring its habits than of any 
 other species, and the capture of a male in the per- 
 fection of his vernal plumage, was my first attainment 
 in wing shooting some thirty years ago. Without a single 
 stain of blood on it to mar its wondrously beautiful adornment, 
 Mr. Wm. H. Howling, of my city, mounted it for me in the 
 perfection of taxidermic art, so that now after so long a time 
 it is in excellent condition and on the shelves of the museum 
 of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences. It was 
 immortalized in the interests of science in its tragic death, at 
 a spot now embraced in the heart of this great and phenom- 
 enal city. Since that evening, how many occasions for observ- 
 ing the species have I recorded amongst my notes on the 
 
54 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ducks of the commonwealth ! In the denser portion of the vast 
 forest which embraces the inlets and bays of many clear and 
 beautiful lakes, I have cautiously sought a quiet covert toward 
 the evening of a warm day, from which to observe this 
 charming species in spring. Perfectly concealed in the 
 thickets within a yard of the deeply shadowed water, with my 
 field glass in hand, I have many times watched them by 
 hundreds, until the darkness hid them from my sight. These 
 occasions were in the season of their love, when the matchless 
 plumage of the males was displayed as at no other time in 
 their entire history. With the crest elevated, and like a 
 coronet on the head which is drawn backward as proudly as 
 the swan's, each male, an undisputed monarch of the mirror 
 lake, glides here and there, in and out in his ingenious and 
 undisguised endeavors to outdo every other in his imperial 
 display, until the seething resplendence seems to be one 
 moving scene of grace and indescribable beauty. During this 
 wondrous spectacular exhibition of motion, the woodland 
 echoes have frequently borne aw^y the characteristic and 
 impassioned notes of the rival lovers, o-o-o-eelc, o-o-o-eeJc. 
 Thus completely concealed as I was they would approach me 
 closer and closer as the shadows deepened until verily I could 
 have touched the nearer birds with a coachman's whip. 
 
 At such times, by the aid of my constantly adjusted glass, I 
 could have numbered the very barbs of the primaries while they 
 paused to redress a recreant feather. • I have found the nest of 
 this duck as early as the 15th of April, yet I think the average 
 of the nesting is not entered upon until about the 10th of May, 
 or a little later. Irdeed, one instance came under my notice 
 where the location was selected on the twenty- seventh of that 
 month, but it is more than probable that the bird had been 
 robbed of another of earlier date. That they rear two broods 
 occasionally seems very certain from their being found at dif- 
 ferent times with a young brood as late as July third, to the 
 tenth of that month. The location and character of the nest 
 have been given by the quotation from Audubon. Those eggs 
 which it has been my fortune to obtain have been pale 'green, 
 buff colored, and variously from six to fourteen in number. 
 Many flocks of this species linger until very late in the autumn. 
 
 ' SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and crest metallic green to below the eyes; the cheeks 
 and a stripe from behind the eyes purplish; a narrow, short 
 line from the upper angle of the bill along the side of the 
 crown, and through the crest, another on the upper eyelid; a 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 55 
 
 stripe starting below and behind the eye and running into the 
 crest parallel wibh the one first mentioned, the chin and upper 
 part of the throat sending a well defined branch up towards 
 the eye, and another towards the nape, snow white; lower neck 
 and jugulum, and sides of the base of the tail, rich purple; the 
 jugulum with triangular spots of white and a chestnut shade; 
 remaining under parts white, as in a crescent in front of the 
 wing bordered behind by black; sides yellowish gray, finely 
 lined with black, the long feathers of the flanks broadly black 
 at the end, with a subterminal bar, and sometimes a tip of 
 white; back and neck above nearly uniform bronze, green 
 and purple; scapulars and innermost tertials velvet-black 
 glossed on the inner webs with violet; the latter with a 
 white bar at the end; greater coverts violet succeeded by a 
 greenish speculum, tipped with white; primaries silvery white 
 externally towards the end; the tips internally violet and 
 purple; iris red. 
 
 Length, 19; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.40; commissure, 1.55. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 My numerous correspondents have uniformly mentioned this 
 species as common, and breeding in their localities, if in the 
 timbered lands. Dr. Hvoslef only mentions them thus com- 
 mon, but says nothing of their nesting at Lanesboro or vicinity. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found their nests at several points in the north- 
 ern sSctions he visited, and always under the Audubon con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Mr. Washburn, always accurate and circumstantial, says, 
 abundant, and breeding at Devil's lake." 
 
 ATTHTA AMERICANA. (Eyton). (146.) 
 
 RED HEAD. 
 
 Amongst the numerous sportsmen who have long resided in 
 Minnesota, the great paradise of duck-shooters, not one will 
 be found who does not know the Eed head at sight, and few of 
 them will fail to identify him under all the various circumstan- 
 ces in which he is ever met with. Introduce the subject of 
 duck-hunting, and "ten to one" he will refer to this species 
 next to the first one mentioned, and will ask if any other game 
 duck is so capricious in the numbers of its annual representa- 
 tion, while at the same time he narrates their incredible abund- 
 ance during the spring or fall of some year and their scarcity 
 in the year following perhaps. This has truly been a remark- 
 able characteristic in the case of this well known species. To 
 some extent this is characteristic of all species of ducks, but 
 in few if any, as emphasized as in the history of the Red- 
 heads. They arrive about as early as any others, and dis- 
 appear very little earlier than the latest. 
 5z 
 
56 NOTES ON THE 
 
 In the spring of 1863 they were never so numerous, both in 
 spring and in fall migration; and in the following year they 
 were almost unrepresented 
 
 Again they were abundant in 1867, and comparatively scarce 
 in the following year, and so during their entire recorded 
 local history they have varied in their numbers. 
 
 They do not remain with us usually to exceed about two 
 weeks, when all have moved off to still more northern latitudes 
 for incubation. Nothing could be more characteristic of their 
 habits while with us, than their seeking the mouths of the 
 streams where they debouche into the lakes. When not on the 
 wing or in the woods feeding upon the mast, we know where to 
 look for them, especially on a cloudy, windless day. The only 
 reason I have for thinking that they breed in the northern 
 counties is, that they have been seen in several places in June, 
 and again in early August. 
 
 Although he found them common in October at different 
 places in Otter Tail county, Mr. Washburn makes no mention 
 of them in his August observations in the same section, froni 
 which I am left to presume that there could not have been any 
 indications of their breeding there. Mr. Lewis extended his 
 explorations much farther north, and finding the males occa- 
 sionally, very reasonably concluded that the species bred to 
 some extent within our borders. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill as long as head, broad, blue, the end black, the region 
 anterior to the nostrils dusky; head, and neck for more than 
 half its length, brownish-red, glossed above and behind with 
 violaceous red; rest of neck and body anterior to the shoulders, 
 lower part of back and tail coverts, black; beneath white, 
 sprinkled with gray and black anterior to the crissum; sides, 
 interscapulars, and scapulars, finely lined with undulating 
 black and white in nearly equal proportions, imparting a gen- 
 eral gray tint; wing coverts a bluish-gray, finely sprinkled 
 with whitish; speculum, consisting of the ends of the secondar- 
 " ies, hoary grayish-blue, lightest externally, and the innermost 
 narrowly edged externally with black; basal portion of the 
 inner primaries somewhat similar to the speculum; tail of 
 fourteen feathers; iris orange-yellow. The Redheads are 
 easily distinguished from the Ca.nvasback by the shorter and 
 broader bill, absence of brown on the head, and a greater pre- 
 dominance of black in the waved lines. 
 
 Length, 20.50; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.60; commissure, 2.80. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 57 
 
 AYTHTA VALLISNERIA (Wilson). (147.) 
 CANVAS-BACK. 
 
 Although so famous among sportsmen and epicures at the 
 seaboard, this species loses its preferments in our waters, and 
 upon our Minnesota tables, taking a second place in both. As a 
 general thing they appear to reach us about the same time as 
 the Redheads do, but this is not always the case for, as inti- 
 mated when speaking of the latter, it may abound when the 
 Canvas-back entirely fails to put in an appearance, as in 1863. 
 In the following year — that is, in 1864 — the Red heads were 
 barely represented, while the present species were exceptionally 
 common for the species. Again in 1886, they were common in 
 the autumn, but sparingly represented in the precading spring. 
 
 When observed in the spring migration, they remain about 
 two weeks, and are then found on lakes, streams and 
 marshy ponds, feeding upon aquatic vegetation, crustaceans, 
 molluscs, insects and larvae of different kinds. ■ They never 
 appear to scruple about appropriating a small flsh that comes 
 in their way upon occasion. They return from the north 
 ordinarily about the first week in October, and after • a stay of 
 about two weeks, or a little more, move on southward. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill long, slender and tapering; head all around and neck 
 chestnut; top of head and region around the base of the bill 
 dusky brown; rest of neck, body anterior to the shoulders, 
 back behind, rump and tail coverts, black; under parts white; 
 tegion anterior to anus, sides, interscapulars and scapulars, 
 white, finely dotted in transverse lines with black, the white 
 greatly predominating; speculum bluish-gray lighter extern- 
 ally; innermost secondaries of the speculum edged externally 
 with black; iris carmine. 
 
 Length, 20; wing, 9.30; tarsus, 1.70; commissure, 2.65. 
 
 Habitat, nearly all of North America. 
 
 I have always been incredulous as to the special claims of 
 this duck for the table, and having enjoyed ample opportunities 
 for comparisons, which not only embrace different species, but 
 the same species inland and on the seaboards of both coasts, I 
 do not hesitate to say that whether obtained in one or the other 
 section, the culinary preparation being equal, the Canvas-back 
 is equally desirable for eating, and that but for ' 'the seaboard 
 fashion" in the case, this duck would, instead of having the 
 first place in epicurean distinction, have one much nearer 
 to the second. Duck-meat, like a good many other things, is 
 affected very much by the "environments" when eaten. A 
 good cook is the chief one of those, and a good appetite stands 
 next. To under value the Canvas- bacK is an inland "fasbion." 
 
58 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ATTHYA MARILA NEARCTICA Stejneger. (148.) 
 GREATER SCAUP DUCK. 
 
 The comon name, Blue-bill, is the only one known to the 
 vernacular of our local sportsmen. Amongst the earlier mi- 
 grants of its sub-family, the Blue-bills come to us in the first 
 ranks of the duck hosts of late March. It seems as if "when 
 one comes, all come," but the number vary, like some other 
 species, with the seasons, sometimes overshadowing any, 
 indeed every other species for a short time. At these times 
 they frequent all waters, pools by the wayside — shallow 
 lakes, ponds, streams and marshes, but still discover to the 
 critical observer, a preference for estuaries. These afford 
 them such food as the high waters bring down from the inun- 
 dations of the higher lands. 
 
 They fly in very close, compact flocks, which, however large 
 upon their first arrival, are soon broken into smaller ones of 
 about a dozen to twenty, and are much on the wing when the 
 weather is cloudy and windy. When on the water at consider- 
 able distance, their identification is not ordinarily difficult, on 
 account of their huddling together very closely, and their 
 habit of constantly diving. They are about the tamest of the 
 wild ducks, and almost the stupidest also, for after having- 
 been repeatedly fired into, and driven to wing, they will return 
 by a short circle to nearly the same locality until a consid.- 
 erable portion of the flock has been killed. 
 
 During the last week in April, and the first in May they dis- 
 appear, after which only an occasional male is seen through 
 the summer in the low wet marshes. They build their nests of 
 reeds and grass, on the ground in remote marshes and swamps, 
 about the second week in May, and deposit eight to ten eggs 
 colored pale drab, and dingy with a wash of olivaceous. The 
 first nest to which my attention was called by Mr. Lewis, was. 
 located within three miles of this city, near a sluggish strpam 
 connecting two lakes. It contained but three eggs on the thir- 
 teenth of May, but was not disturbed until containing eight, 
 only one of which I was permitted to retain. I think there are 
 relatively few that breed as far south as where my personal 
 observations have been principally made, but they are as com- 
 mon as any other species about Lake Superior during the sum- 
 mer in the marshes. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 59 
 
 Mr. Washburn states that they are reputedly regular summer 
 residents, and breed near Fergus Falls in rather limited num- 
 bers. He regarded them as a moderately represented species 
 in the breeding season, the larger proportion going further 
 north. In each of my personal explorations in Wright, Meeker, 
 and Kandiyohi counties, I have carefully sought for informa- 
 tion respecting the nidifying habits of this species in those 
 sections, and have been so far rewarded as to find their eggs in 
 the possession of several persons residing there, and obtain 
 such detailed descriptions as to the location of the nests, and 
 general habits Of the Blue-bills as leaves no doubt of their 
 breeding there, though nowhere numerously. I was shown 
 the deserted nest in one instance, but their well known resem- 
 blance to those of the Mallards in both location and structure, 
 robbed the observation of all value in the absence of . the eggs 
 and the duck. In every shooting season the variation of the 
 measures of the Blue- bills has arrested the attention of sports- 
 men as well as naturalists, yet very few have overlooked their 
 persistent habits enough to confound them with the Little 
 Black-heads (A. affinis). Under my notes of measurements for 
 thirty years the variations in this species have never exceeded 
 20.75 inches in length; wing, 9.25; nor fallen below 17.50 and 
 8, while the Little Black-beads have been between 17.50 in 
 length; with the wing, 8; and 15, in length, with the wing, 
 7 . 25. I have never doubted the specific distinction of these 
 two ducks since I became more familiar with their habits, 
 although inclined to do so before; but I cannot account for 
 intermediate forms, or rather intergrading measurements, by 
 any proportionate hybridism, as has been so stoutly obtained. 
 Although they are here so assuredly during the entire season, 
 their habits do not make them specially observed to any marked 
 extent, until they begin to gather into appreciable flocks late 
 in the autumn; often into November, after which they remain 
 but a short time. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck all around, jugulum and shoulders, lower part 
 of back, tail, and coverts, black; head with a gloss of dark 
 green on sides; rest of under parts white; feathers on lower 
 parts of belly and side, the long feathers of the flanks, inter 
 scapular and scapulars white, waved in zigzag transversely 
 with black; greater and middle wing coverts similarly marked 
 but' more finely and obscurely; greater coverts towards the 
 tips and the tertials greenish black; speculum white, bordered 
 behind by greenish black; white extending across the whole of 
 
60 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the central portion of the secondaries; outer primaries and tips 
 of all, brownish-black; inner ones pale gray; the central line 
 dusky; axillars and middle of the inferior surface of the wing, 
 white; bi^l blue; nail black; legs plumbeous; iris yellow. 
 
 Length, 20; wing, 9; tarsus, 1.60; commissure, 2.15. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 Since the previous was penned, I have recovered some of my 
 miost valuable notes which had mysteriously disappeared some 
 time ago, amongst which is an account of discovery of a full 
 nest of this species in the latter part of May, 1877, but a short 
 distance from my cottage at Lake Minnetonka. It was built on 
 the side of an obsolete, half destroyed old muskrat house, in 
 the middle of a reedy lake or pond, formerly a bay-like prong 
 of the greater lake itself It was composed of reeds almost en- 
 tirely, over which were some grasses, and over this a layer of 
 the duck's own feathers . Ten pale, drab colored, dirty eggs, 
 with just a perceptible wash of olivaceous, constituted the 
 clutch, none of which showed any signs of being addled. The 
 Blue-bills breed in all portions of the State I doubt not, much- 
 more frequently than generally hitherto supposed. 
 
 The reckless presumptions, or rather assumptions of oarpet- 
 concluders, as to the habits of species about which little was 
 formerly known, have deterred many from earnest, expectant 
 investigations in sections where the decree had precluded all 
 hopes of finding them at all. Over ambitious writers have an- 
 ticipated, science by gratuitous conclusions upon very small 
 data for very large inferences. We feel sorry for them when 
 sleeping truth has finished her nap. The world is round, and 
 still moves unconcernedly on. 
 
 ATTHTA AFFINIS (Eyton). (149.) 
 
 LESSER SCAUP DUCK. 
 
 It has been often observed that although the Greater Scaup 
 Ducks may come to us in the spring or fall migration in great 
 numbers, the Lesser Scaup Ducks are just as likely to be only 
 sparingly represented, and when on the other hand, the former 
 are barely represented, this species will as possibly be found 
 abundant; yet this is by no means a rule, for I have not only 
 known them to both be here in exceptional numbers, but to be 
 equally reduced to a mere representation. I find by referring 
 to my records of the dates of arrival of the birds in spring, 
 that as a general thing, the species under consideration, has 
 been slightly later in arriving at this locality, say three to five 
 days. Like the former, they seek the running streams, or 
 rather their estuaries, on first reaching this latitude, but very 
 soon resort to the swampy marshes and shallow ponds and 
 pools. Their food is more restricted to larvae, worms, ■ and 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 61 
 
 crustaceans than is that of the others, and they are a little 
 more shy and suspicious. Its presence here through the sea- 
 son of reproduction, although by no means abundant, indeed I 
 may say rare, shows beyond question that it breeds here to 
 some extent at least, but to what is only conjecture until their 
 differentiation from the other species is more thoroughly un- 
 derstood. Persons entitled to the highest confidence by their 
 integrity have expressed themselves certain that they have re- 
 peatedly seen the female and young in the marshes in July, 
 but science wants a "certainty" which is more certainly as- 
 sured than that. Dr. Coues tells us in his Birds of the North- 
 west, that he found them "breeding along the upper Missouri 
 and Milk river," at least which "appeared to be of this species, 
 as were the several specimens examined." Their presence 
 there would by no consideration justify an assumption that 
 they most likely breed here, for there is a marked difference in 
 the climate of the two localities. 
 
 Comparatively few of those persons who have taken pains to 
 report local observations of the water birds of the State, have 
 recognized the species definitely, but Mr. Washburn has as fol- 
 lows: "A afflnis, or Little Black-head, appears to be by far 
 the more numerous representative of the family Puliginse in 
 the fall. I found them very numerous indeed at Dead lake be- 
 tween October 10th and 20th. Many were shot, varying some- 
 what in size and coloration, none measuring over 17.25, and one 
 16. There colors too, varying from brownish-black to jet-black, 
 and specimens that were but little marked, to those having 
 much wavy black in fine lines on back and sides. Undoubtedly 
 there are intermediate examples between Afflnis and Marila. 
 This subject, and the study of hybridism among Anatidse and 
 Fuliginse, I trust I shall be able to investigate in the future. 
 October 11th an adult female afflnis secured in Otter Tail 
 county, measured 16.50, 7.50, 2.50; and another from the same 
 place measured 17.25, 7.75, 8." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill blue; nail black; head, neck, forepart of breast, back 
 anterior to shoulder, lower part of back, tail and its coverts, 
 black; head with violet-purple reflections, changing occasion- 
 ally to green; belly and sides, with axillaries, and central por- 
 tion of inner surfaces of wings pure white; lower part of belly 
 near anus, undulated finely with black spots; inter scapular 
 region and scapulars white, with transverse zigzag bands or 
 lines of black which are much further apart in the scapulars, 
 
62 ' NOTES ON THE 
 
 which consequently are whiter; wings blackish; lesser and 
 middle coverts sprinkled with grayish; speculum white, edged 
 behind with greenish-black, which is also the color of the ter- 
 tials; white of speculum crosses the middle of the secondaries; 
 iris yellow. 
 
 Length, 16.50; wing, 8; tarsus, 1.35; commissure 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 These Ducks are frequently more numerous than any other 
 species in the fall, not excepting the Buffle-heads< They re- 
 tire southward about as much in advance of the Blue -bills as 
 they arrive later in spring. 
 
 ATTHYA rOLLARIS (Donovan). (150.) 
 
 KING-NECKED DUCK. 
 
 In the spring of 1861, and again in 1867, this species seemed 
 to overshadow every other in numbers, and there have been few 
 years in which it has not had a fairly common representation. 
 They arrive about the same time in spring as do the Greater 
 Scaups, but seek the lakes and ponds rather than the streams. 
 Their movements on the wing are quite characteristic, and 
 enable those familiar with the flight of different species of 
 ducks, to single them out very readily. In one respect they 
 remind us of the Golden-eyes. On rising from the water, 
 their flight, always vigorous, is attended with a whisting 
 sound, so distinct as to assure their identity even while yet 
 invisible to the eye, and when visible, the flocks are easily 
 determined by their loose, scattered mode of arrangement. 
 They are more suspicious, and vigilant than some other mem- 
 bers of the genus, and give the gun a wide birth after discov- 
 ering that it is loaded. They are good divers, and feed upon 
 minnows, crayflsh, tadpoles, aquatic roots, insects, and grains 
 or t seeds, according to their prevalence at the season. The 
 larger part of them move northward before the first of May, 
 but some remain here to breed, their nests having been occa- 
 sionally found as far towards the southern border of the State 
 as Heron lake in Jackson county, in Hennepin and Becker coun- 
 ties, and in the vicinity of Big Stone lake, thus indicating a wide 
 distribution. As early as the summer of 1863, reports reached 
 me of their being seen during the breeding season along the 
 Minnesota river, and again in 1869, a farmer residing near 
 Rice lake in Anoka county, who claimed to know most of the 
 prominent species of game ducks, insisted that the Ring necks 
 stayed around the lake all summer, as he had flushed one of 
 them several times in a marsh bordering it. In driving back and 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 63 
 
 forth to my cottage on Lake Minnetonka during many succes- 
 sive summers, I noticed now and then in the early mornings, 
 ah occasional solitary duck flying along the course of Minne- 
 haha creek that looked in the distance like the male of this 
 species. 
 
 Afterwards Mr. T. S. Roberts found the nest at a point not 
 very remote from where I had noticed those males, as he 
 informed me. Since then I have found this species breeding 
 in several localities in the vicinity of Minneapolis, and in 
 Kandiyohi county. I am satisfied that it does so generally 
 throughout the State. Of the seventeen eggs I have had the 
 opportunity to see in the nest and in the possession of a col- 
 lector in my employment, the average measurements were, 
 2.25 by 1.60 inches. They were white, with a pale wash of 
 green, that varied considerably in intensity, being deepest 
 before they had been blown. The nests were variously placed 
 from on a muskrat house, as in the case of the one found by 
 Mr. Eoberts, to a flat spot in the thick rice bordering a small 
 lake, as found by my collector. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill blackish, with a basal and subterminal bar of bluish- 
 white; head, neck, and body all around anterior to the 
 shoulders, back and tail-coverts, black; the head glossed with 
 green above, on the sides with purplish- violet; the back green- 
 ish; middle of neck with a narrow chestnut rin^, subcontin- 
 uous above; under parts, and space immediately anterior to 
 the shoulder white; space anterior to the black of the 
 crissum, and the sides, very finely waved with black; scapulars 
 very slightly sprinkled with dots of grayish; wings plain 
 grayish-brown; speculum, consisting of the terminal half of 
 niost of the secondaries, grayish plumbeous, the innermost of 
 them tipped with white; point of chin white. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 8; tarsus, 1.30; commissure, 2.10. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 Since writing the above, I have recovered some notes 
 mislaid, in which I find that both of my assistants,- Messrs. 
 Lewis and Treganowan, have recognized their breeding in Big 
 Stone and Becker counties. The former upon finding them 
 frequently in the breeding season, and the latter having found 
 the nest in Becker in 1879. Mr. Washburn found them well 
 represented among the ducks, breeding at Mud lake in Otter 
 Tail county. Mr. J. M. Holzinger says in a communication to 
 me in 1887, .that this species is more abundant at Winona than 
 A. afflnis, but he makes no mention of its local breeding 
 
64 NOTES ON THE 
 
 habits. When there shall have been a more extended explora- 
 tion of the northern portions of the State,' during the mid- 
 summer, I feel confident that it will be found that the Ring 
 necks breed there as commonly as in any other locality or 
 district of its entire range. 
 
 GLAUCIONETTA CLANGULA AMERICANA 
 
 (BONAP.). (151.) 
 
 AMERICAN GOLDEN-EYE. 
 
 This Duck returns with rather more than ordinary regularity 
 as a migrant but is rarely observed here in the season of 
 breeding. Small flocks may be seen occasionally in winter, 
 especially at times of exceptionally severe weather. They are 
 almost uniformly amongst the earliest to reach us in the 
 spring, while the lakes and streams are yet sealed with ice, 
 except spots along the shores and where. the currents are 
 more rapid in the streams. 
 
 The whistling of their wings in flight is a generic character- 
 istic, and is often heard before the duck is visible. They 
 remain but a short time, but in autumn they sometimes 
 reappear as early as the second week in October, when they 
 remain in flocks of a dozen to twenty, about as late as any of 
 the other species, after which they principally disappear. In 
 early times small flocks remained in the spring-holes along the 
 Minnesota river bottoms and below the Falls of St. Anthony 
 all winter, which they may still do in wild, and unfrequented 
 sections. On the 3d of February, 1886, one of the coldest 
 days experienced during that winter, they were seen on the 
 river at Lanesboro in Fillmore county, by Dr. Hvoslef, and by 
 others who reported them from several widely different sec- 
 tions. Neither of my earlier lieutenants ever met the Golden- 
 eye except rarely in the colder winters, and Mr. Washburn 
 found them there in the sections he visited even in the spring 
 migrations. He saw a few individuals at Dead lake, but they 
 were universally in immature plumage. 
 
 I have been assured by local sportsmen at Herman in Grant 
 county, that "a few Whistlers" have been seen near there late 
 in the breeding season, and from similar assertions by those 
 who seemed to know the species under its common name of 
 Whistler, I am compelled to believe that laggards may occa- 
 sionally be overtaken by the impulse and urgency of ovular ex- 
 pulsion, and rear a brood within our borders. I find this im- 
 
BIRDS Of MINNESOTA. 65 
 
 pression thoroughly rooted in the minds of several experienced 
 observers whose opportunities have been exceptionally good, 
 and have extended through a longer residence than mine. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill, black; head, and upper part of neck, glossy green; un- 
 der surface opaque velvety purplish- black; an elliptical patch 
 along the base of the upper mandible anterior to the eye, lower 
 part of the neck, under parts generally, sides, middle and 
 greater wing coverts, innermost secondaries, and tertials (ex- 
 cept the innermost three or four) white; white on wing a con- 
 tinuous patch, although there is a concealed black bar on the 
 bases of the greater coverts; inner scapulars white, margined 
 externally with black; posteriorly however they are black, 
 streaked centrally with white; inner scapulars and tertials, and 
 the whole back, rump, and lesser wing coverts, black; prima- 
 ries and tail black with a hoary gloss; under side of quills and 
 lower greater coverts plumbeous-gray; rest of under wing 
 and axillars sooty- brown; long white feathers of flanks edged 
 superiorly with black; iris, golden-yellow. 
 
 Length, 18.75; wing, 8.50; tarsus, 1.50; commissure, 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 GLAUCIONETTA ISLANDICA (Gmelin). (152.) 
 
 BARROW'S GOLDEN-EYE: 
 
 If the measurements given by systematists were reliably 
 specific, I could report this species with more confidence, but 
 those, as well as all of the specific characters given definitely, 
 grade into each other so completely that I do not feel like ' 
 speaking with the confidence I otherwise would in many, or 
 rather several instances. Still, one specimen obtained in 1877, 
 and another in 1881 were we'll made out; both having been 
 , brought in from beyond the Big Woods by sportsmen who 
 called them "Whistlers." Last year one was sent me from 
 near the Iowa state line which was a typical bird, and Dr. 
 Hvoslef has a female of this species in excellent plumage. 
 
 I must conclude that they are rare, but less so than I once 
 supposed. I think it quite possible that amongst those reputed 
 to remain in open waters through the winter, this species may 
 yet be found most represented. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck all around a bluish violet, occasionally with 
 green, or purplish reflections; a large white patch anterior to 
 the eye, occupying the entire side of the bill and running up in 
 a point on the forehead; lower neck and underparts generally 
 
66 NOTES ON THE 
 
 white; a nari^ow white patch on the middle wing coverts; 
 greater coverts black, tipped with white, which is continuous 
 With the white secondaries, but separated frona that on the 
 middle coverts; anterior scapulars white, edged externally 
 with black; posterior ones black, with a white central streak; 
 rest of upper parts, sides behind, and tibia, black; long feath- 
 ers of the flank white, tipped and edged above with black. 
 
 Length, 22.50; wing, 9.50; tarsus, 1.60; commissure, 1.80. 
 
 Habitat, Northern North America. 
 
 CHIRITONETTA ALBEOLl (L.). (153.) 
 BUFPLE-HEAD. 
 
 Occasionally, during tte entire summer, individuals of this 
 species have been seen along the shores of the larger lakes 
 bordered by timber, as also along the Minnesota river in the 
 vicinity of Shakopee. Such has been my confidence that to a 
 limited extent they breed here, that I have left no opportunity 
 unimproved to discover the final proof in the finding of a 
 veritable nest. But for this testimony I must still wait, not- 
 withstanding the oft repeated assurances of several persons 
 that they have found them. In one instance my hopes had 
 been nearly realized when I found the nest to be that of the 
 Wood Duck {Aix sponsa). In another, where the species was 
 apparently well known and excellently described, proved to be, 
 quite another, the nest of which was on the ground, which 
 however was so elevated that in passing to it the female 
 appeared to go into a hollow limb immediately in front of it. 
 They reach the principal portions of the State oftentimes 
 before there are lakes enough open to allow them to get to 
 their chosen food, the mussels and small fry. The flocks in 
 spring migration are usually small compared with those of late 
 autumn, averaging no more than ten to twenty ducks, while at 
 the later one, they often exceed five times those numbers. 
 They are incessant divers, and very fleet in their movements 
 under the water, seizing minnows like the true fish ducks, 
 which element of food becomes evident in the deterioration of 
 their flesh for the table. 
 
 The principal northern migration of the species, is over by 
 the 1st of May, flocks of three or four,' and even only pairs re- 
 maining a little later. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill blue; head and neck anteriorly, dark colored; region in 
 front of the eye, and on the sides of the collar behind, rich 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 67 
 
 green, which shades into purplish on the upper and under 
 surfaces of the head; a broad patch on each side of the head 
 from the posterior border of the eye, meeting its fellow on the 
 nape, the lower neck all around, under parts generally, wing 
 coverts (except the lesser) and most of the secondaries, and 
 scapulars, white, the latter narrowly edged externally with 
 black; rest of upper parts, except as described, black, passing 
 gradually, on the upper tail coverts into pale gray; axillars, 
 and under wing coverts, sooty brown, more or less tipped with 
 white; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 15; wing, 6.65; tarsus, 1.25; commissure, 1.45. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 CLANGUIA HYEMAIIS (L.). (154.) 
 OLD-SQUAW. 
 
 In local popular parlance this species is variously called by 
 the following names: Old-wife, Old-squaw, Old South-southerly, 
 Long-Tailed Duck. I heard of this Dack through the leading 
 sportsmen for several years before 1 saw it, after which it 
 soon became familiar to me. But it remains here for a short 
 time only in either migration, arriving amongst the earliest 
 migrating species, and disappearing entirely in a very few 
 days. In fall they reach the State only a short time before 
 the whole sub family moves southward. 
 
 They usually remain very distinct, in flocks of from a dozen 
 to fifty and sixty. Their movements are so characteristic 
 on the wing, that having observed them attentively once, they 
 need never be mistaken for any other species afterward. 
 They are only a little better for the table than a narrow- 
 billed Fish Duck. 
 
 From the local observations of casual observers I should be 
 led to suppose that this species might remain in Kandiyohi and 
 Big Stone counties considerably longer in both migrations than 
 I should be able to vouch for from authentic sources beyond 
 my piersonal notice. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill, black, orange-yellow towards the tip; head, neck, and 
 breast, very dark blackish-brown; head above, back, rump 
 and middle tail feathers, black; whole side of head from the 
 bill to behind the eyes and sides of the body, pale bluish- gray; 
 portion of cheek patch immediately around and behind the eye, 
 with a longitudinal streak each side of the occiput, under parts 
 generally, and the more external feathers, white; feathers on 
 the forepart of the back, and scapulars, broadly edged with 
 
68 NOTES ON THE 
 
 light reddish-brown; under wing coverts and axillars, brownish- 
 chocolate; no white on the wing; iris, white. 
 
 Length, 21; wing, 9; tail, 8; tarsus, 1.50; commissure, 1.60. 
 
 Habitat, Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 HISTR10NICU8 HISTRIONICUS (L.). (155.) 
 HAELEQUIN DUCK. 
 
 This peculiarly marked duck is found on Lake Superior in 
 the winter, and has been obtained once in Grant county, whence 
 it was brought here by Mr. Norris on his way to New York 
 where he purposed to have it mounted for his private collec- 
 tion. On two other occasions a specimen found its way into 
 the hands of a taxidermist in St. Paul, and those of another 
 residing in Minneapolis temporarily. These could be only 
 stragglers in migration. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck all around, dark blue; jugulum, sides of 
 breast, and upper parts, lighter blue, becoming bluish-black 
 again on the tail coverts; the blue of the breast passes insensi- 
 bly into dark bluish-brown behind; a broad stripe along the 
 top of the head from the bill to the nape, and the tail feathers, 
 black; a white patch along the entire side of the base of the 
 bill anterior to the eye, and passing upwards and backwards so 
 as to border the black of the crown, but replaced from above 
 the eye to the nape by chestnut; al round spot on the side of 
 the occiput; an elongated one on the side of the neck; a collar 
 around the lower part of the neck, interrupted before and 
 behind, and margined behind by dark blue; a transversely 
 elongated patch on each side of the breast, similarly margined; 
 a round spot on the middle wing coverts, a transverse patch on 
 the end of the greater coverts, the scapulars in part, a broad 
 streak on the outer web of the tertials, and a spot on each side, 
 the rest of the tail, whits ; sides of body behind, chestnut- 
 brown; secondaries with a metallic speculum of purplish or 
 violet-ljlue; inside of wing and axillars, dark brown; iris, red- 
 dish-brown. , 
 
 Length, 17.£0; wing, 7.70; tarsus, 1.50; commissure, 1.55. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America. 
 
 SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS (L.). (162.) 
 KING EIDER. 
 
 A pair of these ducks was obtained in Grant county by Mr. 
 Emery Armstrong, of Herman, in October, 1885. After con- 
 siderable correspondence, I learned that one of them was sent 
 to Philadelphia, and the other to some friend in Michigan. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 69 
 
 The same gentlemaD says that he has seen quite a number of 
 them flying over the level prairies in the vicinity of Herman, 
 and he has shot several without suspecting it was a rare species 
 in the State. The section mentioned where those were obtained 
 is a level prairie for a long distance, and abounds with shallow 
 ponds so much exposed as to make them the safest of resorts 
 for water birds in general, with which it verily swarms in their 
 flocking seasons. It was through Mr. Washburn's courtesy 
 that I learned of this pair of King Eiders having been obtained. 
 As the locality is a favorite hunting resort of mine, and Mr. 
 P. H. Olague resides there, a friend who loves ducks (to eat) 
 as well as I do (to list,) 1 propose to settle this regal question 
 if it takes a good many duck- seasons to do it in. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Body and wings, black; the portion anterior to the^ shoulder 
 joint, interscapular region in part, most of neck and throat, 
 white; jugulum with a creamy tinge; a narrow border to the 
 J^rontal process of the bill and their interspace, small space 
 around the eye and a V-shaped mark on the chin, black; top of 
 head and nape bluish-ash, slightly spotted with black; middle 
 wing coverts, tips of secondaries, axillars, most of under sur- 
 face of wing, and a patch on each side of the rump, white; 
 sides of head glossed with transparent emerald-green; the 
 scapulars have the black tinged with slate. 
 
 Length, 21.50; wing, 10.70; tarsus, 1.85; commissure, 2.53. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America. 
 
 OIDEMIA AMERICANA SwaInson & Richardson. (163.) 
 AMERICAN SCOTER. 
 
 Only occasionally observed about our smaller inland lakes, 
 these Ducks are not uncommon in the vicinity of Duluth on 
 , Lake Superior in pairs or quite small parties. Sportsmen 
 familiar with the seacoast Ducks tell me they sometimes meet 
 the Scoters, or " Coots " in considerable numbers on the shores 
 of Mille Lacs lake. In the winter of 1867 and '68, and again in 
 1874 and '75, I found several of them in openings where spring- 
 brooks entered the streams, as I did also in the turbulent rapids 
 below the Falls of St. Anthony. I have in a few instances seen 
 individuals of both sexes in the collections of the local taxider- 
 mists. I am informed by Mr. Holzinger of Winona, that one 
 specimen is in the possession of Professor Heaton, of the Nor- 
 mal school at Winona, which he obtained on the Mississippi, 
 just above that city. My observatiqns embrace only the sea- 
 
70 NOTES ON THE 
 
 sons of migration and occasional winters. The absence of white 
 in contrast with the uniform black, identifies the species very 
 readily. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of sixteen feathers; bill much swollen on the basal 
 third; basal portion of culmen, convex, and rapidly descend- 
 ing; terminal portion of bill much depressed; anterior extrem- 
 ity of nostrils half way from the lateral or upper feathers at 
 the base of the bill to the tip; swelling at base of bill divided 
 by a furrow along the median line; frontal feathers extending 
 slightly forward in an obtuse point; color entirely black all 
 over, without any white; bill black along the edges and tip, the 
 swollen basal portion red to beyond the nostrils. 
 
 Length, 23.80; wing, 9.20; tarsus, 1.80; commissure, 2.14. 
 
 Habitat, coasts and larger lakes of North America. 
 
 OIDEMIA'DEGLANDI Bonaparte. (165.) 
 WHITE-WINGED SCOTER. 
 
 The White- winged Scoters are not often seen before the third 
 week in October or even a little later than that, and very 
 rarely in any considerable numbers. A few of them get into 
 the market at such times, but are so unsaleable that they are 
 liable to remain on hand some time. Occasionally they are 
 purchased and mounted by the taxidermists. Later they are 
 only found in open shallow streams where the rapidity of the 
 current prevents the formation of ice, and in spring-holes near 
 large water courses. More co^mmonly but a pair is found in 
 one locality during the winter. Their food consists of molluscs, 
 crustaceans and fish, the latter predominating. In open 
 winters they leave the State by the 15th of March. I have no 
 record of their presence later than the 25th of that month. 
 Mr. H. W. Howling, of East Minneapolis, has a pair of these 
 Ducks mounted in his possession which he has kindly per- 
 mitted me to examine very recently. The male had the ' 'white 
 elongated patch around and a little behind the eye" excessively 
 developed. It reached nearly to the top of the head. The 
 female had besides the "whitish patch on the side of the head 
 behind the eye," another rather obsolete one in front and be- 
 low the eye. 
 
 SPECIFIC characters. 
 
 Bill very broad, wider towards the tip than at the base; 
 feathers extending far along the side of the bill, and on the 
 forehead for nearly half the commissure, running in an obtuse 
 point about as far forward as the lower corner of the outline of 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 71 
 
 the feathers on the side, both reaching nearly to the posterior 
 border of the large, open, nearly rounded nostrils; culmen 
 horizontal, a little beyond the frontal feathers, then abruptly 
 bent downward, nearly perpendicularly to the much depressed, 
 nearly horizontal portion; a sharp, indented ridge along the 
 base of the culmen, ending in a trihedral tubercle; color black; 
 a white elongated patch around, and a little behind the eye, 
 and a large white speculum on the wing composed of white 
 secondaries and tips of greater coverts; bill black at the base 
 and lateral edges red elsewhere; iris bright yellow. 
 
 Length, 21.50; wing, 11.30; tarsus, 2.10; commissure, 2.80. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America. 
 
 ERISMATDRA RUBIDA (Wilson). (167.) 
 RUDDY DUCK. 
 
 The habits of this species are such as to make it a little dif- 
 ficult to gather much information of them until a good fortune 
 has exposed some of their peculiarities to us, as it .were by 
 accident. I must allow myself to quote a paragraph from 
 Langille, "Our Birds in their Haunts," a charming, delight- 
 ful, and reliably instructive work which ought to have a place 
 in every bird-lover's library in America. Some of his descrip- 
 tions are word paintings which rival Audubon's colors. When 
 speaking of this unique duck (pp. 471,2) he says: — "An 
 anomaly of its kind is this little creature. 
 
 "Some fifteen inches long, and 21.50 in extent, it has a pecu- 
 liarly . short, and almost round appearance. The long and 
 gradual curve of the crown, joined to a bill rather short, broad 
 and much depressed is a marked feature; the rather long and 
 broad tail, with scarcely any coverts above or below, is decid- 
 edly out of order for a Duck; the broad tip of the wing, so 
 apparent in flight, would seem more in place for a Coot, or a 
 Gallinule; striking seasonal change of plumage in the male 
 would do for a G-uU, or a Grebe; the large egg, with granulated 
 shell, might be mistaken for that of a Goose; while its diving 
 propensities would do credit to a Dabchick. Look at that ele- 
 gant male, as he floats on the smooth surface of some fresh 
 water channel in the breeding season! Almost as motionless as 
 a wooden decoy, he holds his large and full spread tail straight 
 up, often catching the wind just in the right direction, and 
 thus using that appendage for a sail. Jet black over the 
 crown and down the back of the neck, cheeks clear white, the 
 repaaining upper parts a bright, glossy, dark- red, he is a well 
 defined object even in the distance. The female (which the 
 
 -6z 
 
72 NOTES ON THE 
 
 male resembles precisely, from fall till spring) is a dark 
 brownisli-gray, tlie throat and broad stripe through the eye 
 lighter, both sexes being white, or mottled with gray under- 
 neath. 
 
 ' 'The young are a little lighter than the female. Excfept in its 
 sojourn in the south in winter, where it may be seen in im- 
 mense flocks, especially in Florida, it is generally in small 
 flocks after the manner of the Bufle-head. 
 
 "When rising from the water, it runs on the surface for some 
 distance, and generally against the wind. If it cannot com- 
 mand a fair open space for flight, it will dive, using its tail 
 either as a rudder, or as a paddle in a vertical motion, and will 
 hide itself away among the grass and sedges. When on the 
 wing, it flies low along the surface of the water, with a rapid 
 beat of its broad wings, making a short, plump figure, quite 
 uncommon for a Duck; and it generally flies quite a distance 
 before alighting." 
 
 It arrives from the south not far from the second week in 
 April, possibly a week or ten days earlier, for as has already 
 been intimated, their low unheralded flight, along between the 
 banks of the streams, and usually late in the twilight, or ex- 
 tremely early in the morning, almost precludes the possibility 
 of arriving at precise data as to the time of their arrival or 
 departure. That they do resort to the larger lakes occasion- 
 ally is conceded, yet never have I seen them anywhere but on 
 the creeks, or smaller ponds, except in migration along the 
 Mississippi, when they kept close to the surface. I can recall 
 no time either when by any means they could be driven more 
 than thirty or forty feet into the air, and then only to drop 
 down again as soon as beyond immediate danger. If disturbed 
 by the' approach of the gunner, when concealed from him by 
 the banks or a short bend in the stream their feet and wings 
 may be heard in their flight, but they will remain unseen as 
 a general thing. When suddenly surprised, as is sometimes 
 the case, as when gunners come upon them simultaneously 
 from opposite directions, they will dive, and immediately re- 
 verse their direction of submarine escape, and only return to 
 the surface close under the bank amidst debris or reeds, and 
 very much scattered, thus escaping unscathed. 
 
 Nesting is begun in May, from the first week of which they 
 have as apparently disappeared as if they had migrated, all to 
 devote themselves to the great mission of reproduction. I 
 have never personally had the pleasure of finding the nest 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 73 
 
 with eggs in it, but have been quite content to discover the fe- 
 male and very young, in the third week in June. Others have 
 on several occasions obtained the eggs and female with them. 
 The nest is built very loosely of grasses and reeds, or rather 
 coarse weeds, and is placed on the ground close to the water 
 and well concealed by sedge, or other rank vegetation. More 
 frequently it is located in a dense growth of wild rice. 
 
 The eggs are white with a tinge of stone color, and large for 
 the relative size of the duck. No species of its kind more ef- 
 fectually conceals its nest and eggs, seldom leaving them 
 without covering the latter with feathers and debris. They 
 retire from our latitude by the last week of October oftentimes, 
 yet I have found them still later in exceptional seasons. Dr. 
 Hvoslef reports them at Lanesboro on the 20th "of that month. 
 I found them common at Herman at a little later date in 1886, 
 and Mr. Washburn reports them the same at Dead lake in Ot- 
 ter Tail ' 'between the 10th and 26th the year previous. " 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill grayish-blue; top of head and nape black; sides of head 
 below the eyes, with the chin, pure opaque-white; lower part 
 of neck all around, entire upper parts, and upper portion of 
 sides, chestnut red; under parts generally lustrous grayish- 
 white, with an occasional brownish tinge; crissum pure white; 
 wings brown, without speculum, finely and almost inappre- 
 ciably sprinkled with gray; tail nearly black. 
 
 Length, 16; wing, 5.80; tarsus, 1.25; commissure, 1.80. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 CHEN HYPERBOREA (Pallas). (169.) 
 LESSER SNOW GOOSE. 
 
 In its favorite localities daring the autumn especially, this 
 species eclipses any other of the Goose kind for numbers. 
 When visiting Grant county in October, 1884, in company with 
 my son, where we were joined by our friend Mr. P. H. Clague 
 for a grand Goose hunt, we met this species in force. Any- 
 thing like accurate estimates of numbers in a given flock of 
 any kind of birds must be practically impossible, yet, approxi- 
 mation enough to convey a good general idea has been reached 
 by Wilson and others, by subdividing. At a glance the mass 
 may be instantly halved, quartered, eighthed, and sixteenthed, 
 when its count becomes possible in many cases. By such a 
 method of calculation I made an estimate of a flock containing 
 quite nearly 300 geese, and checking down the different flocks 
 
74 NOTES ON THE 
 
 during, one day's observation, I arrived at the conclusion that 
 within an area of five miles in diameter, we saw not less than 
 5,000 Snow Geese, without having recounted any flocks, as they 
 confined themselves through the bright, sunny day to the same 
 bodies of water, as a consequence of which, not a White Goose 
 was killed, by any of us during the day. The hunters call 
 them White Brant. The sight of one of those animate clouds 
 of floating snow on which the dazzling rays of the sun are 
 pouring on a bright October day, can be neither described nor 
 forgotten. The Snow Geese make but a comparatively short 
 stay in this latitude in the spring, but seek those most northern 
 by the 15th to the 20th of April generally. The measures of 
 all which I have obtained, and found in the markets, have 
 placed them within the lesser species as recognized by ' the 
 Check List of the American Ornithological Union, not one in 
 ten exceeding twenty-seven inches in length, with the wing 
 sixteen. The Blue Goose, about which there has been some 
 controversy, and which it has been my good fortune to secure 
 several times, is beyond a doubt in my own mind, the young of 
 the species under consideration, the measures essentially 
 agreeing with theirs. 
 
 When speaking of them in his reports from Mille Lacs, and 
 Crow Wing, Mr. Washburn says: "Very abundant on the 
 prairies west and south of Fergus Palls." And again speaks 
 of "Chen coerulescens, Blue Goose," as being often killed dur- 
 ing the open season near the same place. 
 
 Mr. Herrick found ' ' immense numbers of the Snow Geese at 
 Lake Shatek, the source of the Des Moines river." I might 
 add other reports from Waseca, Big Stone, Kandiyohi, White 
 Bear, and other localities, without increasing the measure of 
 knowledge of the species. They are exceedingly wary, and 
 hard to get. Their food in the autumn consists largely of wild 
 rice with several species of berries. However, earlier they 
 depend upon aquatic and marsh vegetation, including some 
 snails and insects. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill and legs, red; color pure white; primary quills black 
 towards the end, silvery bluish-gray towards the base where 
 the shafts are white; spurious quills also bluish; inside of 
 wings except the primary quills, white. 
 
 Length, 27; wing, 16; tarsus, 3; commissure, 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 75 
 
 CHEN HYPERBOREA NIYAIIS (Forster). (169a.) 
 GEEATEE SNOW GOOSE, 
 
 In nearly every migration from the north of the Lesser Snow 
 Geese there has been occasionally an individual shot where 
 the measures have been greater than those given for the species, 
 some of which reach the figures given for the Greater species, 
 yet in habits I have discovered no difference whatever between 
 them. I wait for more light on the specific differences upon 
 which the classification rests The measares hitherto given by 
 all authorities have been: 
 
 Length, 30; wing, 16.30; tarsus, 3.12; commissure, 2.10. 
 
 Habitat, whole of North America. 
 
 ANSER ALBIFRONS GAMBELI (Hartlaub\ (171a.) 
 AMEEICAN WHITE-FEONTED GOOSE. 
 
 In the summer of 1876, I found a mounted specimen of the 
 male of this species in high plumage, in the collection of Mr. 
 Shroeder, a taxidermist of St. Paul. He could tell me nothing 
 about its history except that he obtained it of a local sports- 
 man in the previous spring. Since then I have met with occa 
 sional small flocks of them, both in spring and autumn, in the 
 height of the anserial migrations, and have received reports 
 from a number of observers in different sections of the state. 
 Mr. James Thompson, of Lanesboro, shot one on his mill pond 
 on the 11th of April, 1883. Mr. Glague, to whom reference has 
 already been made, residing at Herman, in Grant county, has 
 shot several near that place, and Mr. John Gutter, of Minne- 
 apolis, has bagged them at Big Stone, and on the Minnesota 
 bottoms within an hour's ride of his residence. Yet they should 
 not be regarded as by any means common. 
 
 I am quite familiar with the White-fronted Goose in its 
 favorite region on the Pacific coast, where it is rather the 
 choicest of its kind for eating, and where immense numbers are 
 brought into the markets of Sacramento, Stockton and San 
 Francisco. It was of this species that the largest number was 
 obtained at a single shot of a "California Duck Gun" which 
 has ever been recorded. Hunted constantly in the ' 'Tules" as 
 they have been for many years, they have long since become 
 shy, and exceedingly difficult of approach. To meet this, an 
 ox is trained to obey the sutta voce commands of the gunner 
 as he walks beside him, keeping step with the forelegs by 
 
76 NOTES ON THE 
 
 which he is concealed from the geese on the "sloughs" along 
 the San Joachim and Sacramento rivers, or along the bays. 
 The approach is so slow that the ox naturally feeds much of 
 the time, while the gunner, peeping over the back, and under 
 the neck of the ox, watches the movements of the flock until 
 they bring all the relationships right to serve the purpose 
 most effectually, when he carefully turns the gun into position, 
 fires a pistol, carried for that end, the countless flock rises, 
 and when a little above the water, trigger is pulled, and then 
 follows the "rain of geese," till between the killed and the 
 wounded, it sometimes seems as if the whole flock must have 
 been exterminated by that terriflc shot. 
 
 Fifty drams of Duck powder behind a pound of Goose shot, 
 well directed under such circumstances, ought to show results. 
 Sometimes it does. 
 
 An instance of considerable local interest occurred which 
 will illustrate the results of swivel gun shooting upon the 
 White-fronted Geese. 
 
 A citizen of Sacramento, many years since, published an 
 offer of a Panama hat worth f25, to the person who would 
 beat his record with a single shot at Geese. He had killed 
 nearly flfty. For fifteen years the hat remained unclaimed, 
 when a claimant proved his right to it by showing seventy- 
 five Ducks of this species killed by a single shot on the "Tules" 
 of the San Joachim, near the Suisan bay. They are seldom 
 numerous in the spring migration, indeed some years almost 
 unobserved, but rarely fail of returning in the autumn during 
 October in large and numerous flocks. Their habits while 
 with us are not characteristically unlike most other members 
 of its family. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of sixteen feathers; bill and legs red; along sides of 
 bill and forehead, white, margined with blackish-brown behind; 
 rest of head and neck grayish- brown, paler on jugulum; back 
 bluish-gray, the feathers anteriorly tipped with brown, sides 
 similarly colored; breast and belly grayish -white, blotched 
 irregularly with black; anal region, sides behind, and beneath 
 the tail, with upper coverts, white; secondary quills and ends 
 of primaries dark-brown, remaining portion of primaries and 
 coverts silvery ash; shafts of quills white; greater coverts 
 edged with white; tail feathers brown tipped with white; 
 axillars and under surface of wings ashy-plumbeous. 
 
 Length, 28; wing, 16.30; tarsus, 2.90; commissure, 2.05 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
BIKDS OP MINNESOTA. 77 
 
 BRANT A CANADENSIS (L.). (172.) 
 CANADA GOOSE. 
 
 About the twentieth of March the Canada Geese come in 
 large flocks, and at once possess the open, prairie lakes, and 
 those embraced in extensive marshes. Their honkings at once 
 enlist th^ interest of everybody who is waiting impatiently 
 for the spring. The long, triangular flock will soon have 
 everybody out of doors gazing at it wherever it passes. It is 
 not much to be wondered at surely if those honkings are 
 melody in more than one sense to the people of this latitude 
 after a six-months bird silence, because of its announcements 
 and its prophecy. Arriving uniformly in the first half of the 
 day, we feel quite assured then that they have come to stay 
 for a time at least, while tho»e reaching us later, and during 
 the night, pass directly on further north. Unlike most other 
 wheat producing countries, Mmnesota grows very little that is 
 sown in the fall, and hence has little inducements to offer 
 these birds in this respect upon their arrival, but her 
 meadows, and the products of what has just been planted in 
 wheat, soon supply them abundantly, and they drift about 
 hither and yonder till about the 25th to the 30th of April, 
 when they disappear as if they had been spirited away as 
 mysteriously as the swallows formerly disappeared upon the 
 approach of winter. They have paired and entered upon their 
 great mission of nidiflcation, a little removed from the ponds 
 in the marshes, or on the ' ' high-and-dry " islands in the lakes 
 and larger water courses. The nests are formed of such 
 materials as are in the locality chosen, more frequently sticks, 
 coarse weeds, and grass, and are lined with feathers. They 
 lay from eight to ten eggs which are too well known to need 
 description. Nests have been found with the full complement 
 of eggs in them as early as May 1st, but it is generally later 
 than that. The male shares the confinement of incubation, at 
 least while the female seeks her accustomed food. Nothing 
 can exceed the devotion of both parents not only until the 
 young are fully grown, but until " they are of age " the follow- 
 ing spring. 
 
 Their fondness for the succulent blades of the volunteer 
 wheat, and the soft grains of the waste of the preceding crop, 
 costs them their lives by thousands in the fall months, when 
 they are shot from holes in the ground surrounded by artificial 
 decoys. 
 
78 NOTES ON THE 
 
 If it was not for their pulling the young wheat out of the 
 ground, and thus destroying it entirely, as they do where the 
 ground is very friable, they would do little if any harm, as 
 snipping off the luxuriant blade rather contributes to the de- 
 velopment of the roots, and thus to the perfection, and -final 
 quantity, of the grain. To the same end, in fall- wheat countries, 
 the farmer often grazes his wheat fields in early spring. Hot, 
 dry "northers" in the great valleys of the Pacific Coast, will 
 sometimes scorch the wheat fields in late winter until there is 
 not a blade of the beautiful green to be seen, but if not so far 
 advanced as to involve the first "joint," the undisturbed roots 
 will soon throw out the blades again, and a better crop will fol- 
 low for the premature firey grazing. They are great mast 
 eaters, consuming incalculable quantities of mast in fall and 
 spring both. 
 
 Their habits have been so often described in detail, that it 
 would seem to be a work of supererogation to refer to them, but 
 that of their manners in the season of pairing and in the de- 
 fence of their young, is so striking that I will refer to them by 
 a quotation from "Our Birds in Their Haunts," (Eev. J. H. 
 Langille, M. A. ) which is a quotation by the author of that 
 work. It says: "It is extremely amusing to witness the court- 
 ship of the Canada Goose in all its stages; and let me assure 
 you, reader, that although a gander does not strut before his be- 
 loved with the pomposity of a turkey, or the grace of a dove, 
 his ways are quite as agreeable to the female of his choice. I 
 can imagine before me one who has just accomplished the de- 
 feat of another male, after a struggle of half an hour or more- 
 He advances gallantly toward the object of his attention, his 
 head scarcely raised an inch from the ground, his bill open to 
 its full stretch, his fleshy tongue elevated, his eyes darting 
 firey glances, and as he moves he hisses loudly, while the emo- 
 tion which he experiences causes his quills to shake and his 
 feathers to rustle. Now he is close to her who in his eyes is 
 all loveliness, his neck bending gracefully in all directions, 
 passes all around her, occasionally touching her body, and as 
 she congratulates him on his victory (over all competitors, H.) 
 and acknowledges his affection they mutually move their heads 
 in a hundred curious ways." The same author has previously 
 described its courage and strength . in the defence of the 
 mate and young so graphically that I allow myself the 
 further quotation which follows. Speaking of an ex- 
 ceptionally large one that "returned three years in sue- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 79 
 
 cession to a large pond a , few miles from the mouth 
 of Green river in Kentucky, and whenever I visited the nest it 
 seemed to look upon me with utter contempt. It would stand 
 in a stately attitude until I reached within a few yards of the 
 nest, when suddenly lowering its head, and shaking it as if it 
 were dislocated from the neck, it would open its wings and 
 launch into the air flying directly at me. So daring was this 
 fine fellow, that in two instances he struck me a blow with one 
 of his wings on the right arm, which for an instant I thought 
 was broken. I observed that immediately after such an effort 
 to defend his nest and mate, he would run swiftly towards 
 the,m, pass his head and neck several times over and around 
 the female, and again assume his attitude of defiance." This 
 description is no more graphic than true, as I have had personal 
 opportunity to verify it. I regard this species as amongst the 
 most interesting and remarkable of the bird kingdom. Senator 
 R. B. Langdon resides across the street from my office, and 
 has an enclosure in which he keeps deer; antelopes and a flock 
 of wild geese, the habits of each and all of which I have had 
 ample opportunity to observe in years of confinement. The 
 deers (two are added by birth each year, the latter part of 
 June) and the geese manife&t a great interest in the many 
 children who visit, their park. If one of their number runs a 
 race along the iron fence which incloses them, both the deers 
 and geese will at once- join in the race, the latter with 
 wings at half extent, and gabbling and cackling so much like 
 the rollicking children that it is difficult to decide "which is 
 which." If any of the ruder children turn and threaten to use 
 sticks or clubs, the deers will gallop away, but the geese will 
 instantly drop their heads, rustle their feathers, and rush up to 
 the fence so resolutely as to send their persecutors flying, and 
 does a bolder boy return, they will form a line of battle, and 
 commence the ominous shaking of their heads, until one would 
 suppose they would become unjointed. In such an attitude, 
 with the suggestion of the bare possibility that they might 
 possibly fly over the fence in their anger, even the boldest will 
 consult the better part of valor and run away. 
 
 To say in a report like this that myriads of this species 
 have annually visited the State to either breed here or, after 
 two or three weeks, pass further north to do so, may seem an 
 exaggeration, but what more temperate lalnguage would more 
 nearly convey a just idea of their numbers? Yet it must be 
 conceded that in the southern half of the State, their numbers 
 
80 NOTES ON THE 
 
 have materially diminislied since the population has so greatly 
 increased, and railroad connections with all of the other States 
 have made it possible for hundreds of "crack-shots" to be on 
 their haunts the moment the law allows them to be taken. 
 Remoter sections submit them to less vernal persecutions, and 
 there the numbers remain more nearly the same as 4hose of 
 several decades now gone. On their first arrival in any 
 section, they spend much time on the wing reconnoitering, but 
 soon become settled down to ,their work of eating, rather than 
 flying. I suppose that there are sections where none of 
 them ever breed, but I do not know of a county where I have , 
 been in summer, and had an opportunity to consult intelligent, 
 observant residents, where I have not had good reason to 
 believe that they were breeding to some extent at least. The 
 country at large is eminently favorable to their nidification, 
 and their habits during that season protect them from obser- 
 vation, while the enforcement of the statutes by the State 
 Sportingmen's Club attend to their enforcement. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of eighteen feathers; head, neck, bill and feet deep 
 black; a large triangular patch of white on the cheeks behind 
 the eyes; the two of opposite sides broadly confluent beneath, 
 but not extending to the rami of the lower jaw; a few whitish 
 feathers on the lower eyelid; upper parts brown edged with 
 paler; under parts light, with a tinge of purple-gray, some- 
 times a shade of smoky brown; edges of the feathers paler; 
 color of the body of the feathers though similar, becoming 
 deeper on the sides, tibia, axillars, and inside of the wings; 
 the gray of the belly passes gradually into white on the anal 
 region and under coverts; upper tail coverts pure white; 
 primary quills and rump are very dark blackish-brown; tail 
 feathers black. 
 
 Length, 35; wing, 18; tarsus, 3.40; commissure, 2.10. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 BRANT A CANADENSIS HUTCHINSII (Swainson & 
 Richardson). (172a). 
 
 HUTCHINS'S GOOSE. 
 
 It is a difficult matter to convince the casually observing 
 sportsman that there are really two varieties of the " Common 
 Wild Goose," while he will readily concede a considerable vari- 
 ation in the size of different specimens of the species. The two 
 seem to be thoroughly mingled in their autumnal migrations, 
 with an immense preponderance of the Canadas, but in spring 
 
BlfeDS OF MINNESOTA. 81 
 
 very few of this species are noticed. Arriving presumably 
 about the same time, these are believed all to pass further 
 north to breed, and return to us about the first of October, or a 
 little earlier. I cannot estimate their relative numbers in 
 either migration, neither do I know of their having any dis- 
 tinguishable habit which enables me to identify them until they 
 are in my hands. This is also true of their specific characters, 
 only differing from Canadensis in the measurements, which 
 grade into each other through occasional individuals as has 
 been abundantly demonstrated. 
 
 BRANTA BERNICLA (L.). (173.) 
 BRANT. 
 
 While this species is not an abundant one within our bound- 
 aries, it is relatively a fairly represented one. Appearing in 
 small flocks simultaneously with the others about the 25th to 
 the 30th of March, they remain about three weeks, in the lakes, 
 ponds, and estuaries of sluggish streams, where considerable 
 numbers of them are shot for the market, after which they 
 move on to much higher latitudes to rear their young. Speci- 
 mens of the Brant may be found in the collections of the tax- 
 idermists, and different scientific societies in the State which 
 have been secured in the migrations from year to year, repre- 
 senting both sexes and age. In autumn they reach the north- 
 western portions of the State in considerable fiocks about the 
 first of October and remain as late as any others before pass- 
 ing further to the south to winter. Mr. Washburn, who visited 
 the region of the Mille Lacs lake, and Otter Tail lake, in the 
 interests of this department of the Natural History Survey of 
 the State, extending his observations from the 9th of October 
 to the 10th of November, 1885, found these birds ' ' quite numer 
 ous near Fergus Falls," and similtir reports reached me from 
 Grant, and Bigstone counties. 
 
 It is rarely the case that some of them cannot be found in 
 the game stalls of the City Market during the periods of their 
 usual presence and migrations. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill, feet, head, neck, primary quills, tail, and body anterior 
 -to the wings, black; secondary quills nearly black; on each 
 side of the middle of the neck, a small white crescent, streaked 
 with black; lower eyelids with a very faint trace of white 
 feathers; black of the jugulum abruptly defined against the 
 
82 NOTES ON THE 
 
 bluish silver-gray of the remaining under parts, the feathers 
 of which have the basal portions bluish gray; axillars and 
 inside of wings showing a darker tint of the same; the gray of 
 the belly passes gradually into white behind, the tail being en- 
 circled all around and concealed by this color; back and wing 
 coverts grayish-blue with slightly paler edges; rump, similar, 
 but darker and more uniform blue, the secondaries have some 
 concealed whitish on the inner webs towards the base. 
 
 Length, 23.50; wing, 12.75; tarsus, 2.26; commissure 1.40. 
 
 Habitat, northern parts of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 BRANT A NIGRICANS (Lawrence). (174.) 
 BLACK BRANT. 
 
 Several stragglers of this Pacific Coast species have been 
 brought in during the past ten years, by parties visiting the 
 Eed river valley in the fall shooting season. If they are any- 
 thing more than stragglers, they must still be regarded very 
 rare. Their identity I can vouch for, from a long familiarity 
 with them in Sacramento and Santa Clara counties, California. 
 
 SPECIFIC characters. 
 
 Head, neck, and body anterior to the wings deep black, 
 passing into dark sooty plumbeous on the rest of the body, 
 this color beneath extending nearly to the anus, and above 
 shading insensibly into the black of the rump; middle of the 
 throat with a white patch extending round on the sides, and 
 somewhat streaked with black; no white on the eyelids; sides 
 of rump and base of the tail, with upper and under tail coverts 
 concealing the tail, and space across the anus, white; primary 
 and secondary quills and tail, black; feathers on the sides of 
 the body beneath the wings like the belly, but with white tips. 
 
 Length, 29; wing, 13.80; tarsus, 2,80; commissure, 1.50. 
 
 Habitat, Arctic and Western North America. 
 
 OLOR COLUfflBIANUS (Ord). (180.) 
 WHISTLING SWAN. 
 
 Many years ago this species was believed to be a regular 
 summer resident of the Red river valley, and not without rea- 
 son, for they were occasionally met with as late as the tenth 
 of May in spring, and as early as the twentieth of August. 
 But these instances have proved to be very rare, and when 
 they were reported to me some important observations regard- 
 ing their identity were wanted in their later appearance. 
 Having never observed them personally, I have been left to the 
 conclusion that they were the young of the Trumpeters, a 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 83 
 
 species long ago known to breed here limitedly in the region 
 referred to. That the Whistlers, however, are met with here 
 occasionally during the early and late migrations, we are equally 
 assured by their having been obtained at those times for taxi- 
 dermists to mount. Mr. Howling kindly called my attention 
 to them many years ago in his collections. 
 
 Mr. Shroeder, a taxidermist long known in St. Paul, had 
 one obtained on the Red river which I was permitted to ex- 
 amine, but of the special history of which he could give me 
 nothing. When passing over, in their early spring migrations, 
 I have several times had my attention called to them by their 
 peculiar notes, some time before I could see them at their 
 great elevation. With my glass I could not only determine 
 that they were Swans, but readily count them, which has been 
 once thirty-one, and on another occasion only three, when they 
 were not thirty yards above the forest trees amid which I 
 discovered them. These times have usually been in March, 
 and only once in the first days of April. They must breed as 
 a rule far to the north of our national line. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill as long as the head, broad, high at the base; feathers on 
 the forehead ending in a semicircular outline; nostrils far 
 forward, the anterior extremity considerably more forward 
 than half the commissure; color pure white; bill and legs 
 black; the former with an orange or yellowish spot in front 
 of the eyes. Immature birds with the head above tinged with 
 reddish-brown. Tail feathers twenty. 
 
 Length, 55; wing, -22; tarsus, 4.25; bill, 4.20. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 OLOR BUCCINATOR (Richardson). (181.) 
 TRUMPETER SWAN. 
 
 When the long embargo of a subarctic winter has terminated 
 and the waning drifts of the remaining snows have been reduced 
 to narrow borders of the forest and fences, despondent hearts 
 from hopes deferred will wake to new consciousness of exist- 
 ence, like another resurrection. The senses all feel the won- 
 drous change, and catching the impulse of nature's wide 
 outreachings, accept their new responsibilities. The babbling 
 of the brook once more set free, the cawing of the crow, the 
 cheery clmik, chink of the returning woodpeckers, appeal to 
 every sentiment of gratitude in the reverent heart, and the 
 cup of peaceful joy is filled to overflowing. 
 
84 NOTES ON THE 
 
 The quickened ear hears the honkings of the Pelicans and 
 Geese against the very heavens, and still far above them the 
 trumpetings of this snowy Swan. Their gracefulness of flight, 
 the daring, giddy hight, conspire to fill the soul with adoration 
 for the wonderful, the beautiful. From their exalted pathway 
 of the air, they rarely descend until over the most unfre- 
 quented districts, where before, they have reared their young. 
 Extremely shy, descending in majestic circuits they do not 
 hastily alight, until the section has been most thoroughly 
 reconnoitered and found devoid of man, their cruellest of foes. 
 
 They live mostly upon vegetation both terrestrial and 
 aquatic, and about the first of May nest-building is begun. 
 The structure is loosely formed of weeds, reeds, grass and 
 such other materials as are found convenient to the location 
 and is superficially lined with down from their own bodies. 
 They lay eight to ten pale green eggs. Incubation lasts four 
 weeks, soon after the completion of which, the young follow 
 the parents into the water. Formerly the nests were occasion- 
 ally found at different places all over the State, but of late, none 
 have been reported from any. Still the young of the year are 
 to be seen in the vicinity of the the Red river very nearly 
 every year after the middle of October. The latest recorded 
 date of my personal observations, before their final disappear- 
 ance was November 17th, but I have learned that individuals 
 have been seen still later, which suggests that they were 
 laggers from accidents or gunshot wounds. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill broad and longer than the head; the feathers ending on 
 the forehead in a semi-elliptical outline; nostrils with the an- 
 terior extremity as far forward only as half the commissure; 
 tail of twenty-four feathers; color pure white throughout; bill 
 and legs entirely black; bill without any red spot at the base. 
 Less mature specimens with the head above tinged with 
 reddish-brown. 
 
 Length, 60; wing, 24; bill, 4.50; tarsus, 4.60. 
 
 Habitat, principally the interior of North America. 
 
Order HERODIONES. 
 
 Family ARDEID^. 
 
 BOTAURIJS LENTIGINOSUS (Montagu). (190.) 
 AMERICAN BITTERN. 
 
 Variously called Bittern, Shidepoke, Pumper, Stakedriver, 
 &c. , &c. , according to local custom, this familiar Heron is relat- 
 ively as well represented here as any other of its family. 
 They reach us as early as the first week in April. By the 25th, 
 they have become paired and their nests are constructed soon 
 afterwards. They consist of small sticks, coarse grass, with 
 more or less leaves of sedge brush and are placed directly on 
 the ground in the most inaccessible bog marshes and sloughs. 
 Preferably a tuft of willowy sedge is chosen that gives the nest 
 a slight elevation, yet not uniformly so, for I find them not in- 
 frequently placed between the bogs in the marshes that are de- 
 void of all kinds of brush. A rank bunch of grass that springs 
 up in these places, will most naturally be the place to look for 
 them first, however. The eggs are usually four in number, of 
 a striking drab color, with more or less olivaceous. Sometimes 
 their nests are found in small communities but as a general 
 thing that custom is locally disregarded. The notes of the 
 Bittern are remarkable and are heard only during the period 
 of pairing and nesting. They have been variously described 
 by writers as they sound to their ears and have been rendered 
 into dunk-a-doo, pump-ah-gaK ponk-a-gong, kunk-a-whulnk, 
 chunk-a-lunk, and quank-chunk-a-lunk-chunk, all of which seem 
 to me to convey as nearly a correct idea as may be obtained, as 
 I have heard them at different times. But one must have 
 heard them to understand how well any of them really de- 
 scribes their ' 'song. " 
 
 The attitude of the prairie-hen cock in booming, the turkey 
 gobbler in gobbling is no more extreme or characteristic than 
 is that of the Bittern in the act of disgorging himself of his in 
 
86 NOTES ON THE 
 
 expressibly infelicitous love notes. Standing perfectly erect 
 and entirely motionless, the bill pointed exactly toward the 
 zenith, the head is seen to be very slowly sinking while the 
 body correspondingly assumes the horizontal position and the 
 neck becomes sigmoid by its double flexion, it suddenly shoots 
 forward and a little downward and laboriously pumps out the 
 amorous utterances, doubtless to the entire satisfaction of the 
 waiting ear, whether the mate's or another masculine repre- 
 sentative of his species that accepts it as a challenge to come 
 over and get most ingloriously thrashed. Aspectively the per- 
 formance is suggestive of strangulation until "kunk-ah- 
 whulnk" has all been ejected. If any other performance 
 could match this in uncouthness to eye or ear, it has not been 
 mine to witness it with either of those senses. The food con- 
 sists principally of frogs, in the seizure of which their heron- 
 like manner of remaining motionless for long periods that the 
 unapprised reptiles may unconsciously come within easy reach, 
 is a pretty sure guaranty that they shall have enough to eat as 
 long as the frogs last. It is seldom that more than one indi- 
 vidual is seen in any one immediate locality, when it must have 
 been discovered at a distance while in its perpendicular atti- 
 tude, or by some sudden surprise, for they drop the head down 
 so slowly as to allude observation, and then run at a rapid pace 
 through the grass, weeds, reeds and rushes to a considerable 
 distance in some unexpected direction, and there remain hidden 
 until all danger of discovery is past before resuming their 
 watch for frogs and small snakes. One may pass very near 
 where they are concealed without flushing them, as they are 
 capable of judging very accurately whether they are actually 
 under the eye of the intruder or not. 
 
 By the first week in August the young have attained the gen- 
 eral appearance of the adults, and when the frogs disappear 
 they do likewise. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper mandible black; the lower greenish-yellow; lores and 
 eyelid yellow; iris bright yellow; upper part of head depressed, 
 with the plumage there deep blackish-brown; long, yellowish- 
 brown feathers on the neck behind shaded with darker; throat 
 whitish, streaked with dark brown; from the posterior and 
 lower part of the auriculars, a broad patch of black passes di- 
 agonally across the neck; back deep brown barred and mottled 
 with many specks and streaks of brownish-yellow; quills black 
 with a leaden gloss, and tipped with ocherous brown; legs and 
 feet yellow, washed with pale green; middle claw pectinated; 
 beneath pale yellowish-brown streaked with darker brown. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 87 
 
 Length, 27; wing, 11; tarsus, 3.60; bill, 2.75. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 The Bittern is almost universally distributed wherever the 
 food supply is found. In an hour's ride within my own county, 
 a half dozen may be readily seen by any one acquainted with 
 their habits, by overlooking a meadow a quarter of a mile away. 
 He will notice what seems to be a stake in the ground rising 
 but little above the grass. If he has a field glass, he will at 
 once be able to make out the head and neck of his bird, but let 
 him not think to see that head go down, or even move, should 
 he wait half an hour, and how much longer I cannot say, for 
 my time for observing the habits of birds has ever been too 
 precious to stay his attitude out, but if he has a friend with 
 him, or better a trained bird dog, the observer may send him 
 forward, while he holds his game under his lens and he will 
 soon see how the stake sinks out of sight and then he may 
 trace the stealthy movements to another spot whence the stake 
 will again appear. 
 
 BOTAURUS EXILIS (Gmelin). (191.) 
 LEAST BITTERN. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable that a species like this can 
 remain so long unrecognized or supposably so rare when 
 actually so common. For long years I watched for the Least 
 Bittern before I had the pleasure of having it in my hands, and 
 when I was rewarded I had the additional pleasure of knowing 
 how and where to look for more of them. I have of late years 
 found them common in their favorite haunts about ponds em- 
 braced in high reeds and flags, portions of which stand in the 
 water. Not half a mile from the business center of my city is 
 a pond of this character, where this species has been a regular 
 summer resident since first I observed it nearly twenty years 
 ago. An early visit to this pond long before sunrise, has 
 always resulted in the catching of a glimpse of one or more of 
 them along the borders of their covert. And I could add a 
 score to the number of different localities where these birds 
 may be found in their season, within three or four miles of the 
 first. They come to the State a little later than the Greater 
 Bitterns, generally the second week in April, and have begun 
 building their nests by the 10th of May following. These are 
 more commonly suspended from the reeds above high water 
 mark. Fairly within the mass are frequent clusters or tussocks < 
 of the same, that afford the chosen supports for the nest while 
 augmenting the concealment. Several coarse stalks are em- 
 braced in the platform, which consists of dried grass so wound 
 
88 NOTES ON THE 
 
 about the former as to preclude the possibility of its slipping, . 
 and into and around about which is built up the whole struct- 
 ure consisting thus of coarse, reedy grass, into which are 
 woven fine, jointed green grasses, not severed from their roots 
 in the submerged ground. But they are not always placed in 
 this manner, for it is not unusual to find them directly on the 
 ground, on the edge of a fioating bog in shallow water, or oc- 
 casionally in a sedgy bunch or bush of dwarf willows. The 
 nest is loosely built; very little dished, and contains four to 
 five white eggs, with a faint wash of green. 
 
 They rear two broods, the last of which is strong enough to 
 fiy well by the second week in August, and they all quit the 
 country by about the fifth of September. Their food consists 
 largely of leeches, to which are added lizzards, tadpoles, 
 snails and young frogs. I have never found fishes among their 
 ingesta, but have too much respect for the taste of the bird to 
 doubt that they sometimes constitute a good share of a round 
 meal. 
 
 Note. The circumstance of my never having met with the' 
 species for so many years after my residence in the State had 
 begun, recalls the fact that only two or three of my volunteer 
 assistants and correspondents have mentioned it. Mr. Holz- 
 inger. of Winona, says: "This bird is little seen, but has recently 
 been found breeding around Lake Winona." 
 
 In this place I will say that I have never found the Least 
 Bittern breeding in communities. However, I can easily im- 
 agine local temporary causes which might impel them to do so, 
 and since it is a common thing for them to be closely associated 
 with several species of blackbirds and other species of herons 
 in their nidification, it seems as if it might be expected that 
 they will sometimes be found breeding in communities. 
 
 Their habits are decidedly nocturnal, and their migrations 
 are begun and terminated between two days, after the manner 
 of another but f eatherless biped who quits his wonted ' 'banks" 
 for more northern latitudes, without the slightest regard for 
 seasons. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Back and head above, dark, glossy green; upper part of 
 neck, shoulders, greater coverts, and outer web of some ter- 
 tials, purplish-cinnamon; a brownish yellow scapular stripe; 
 bill slender, acute, both mandibles about equally curved; legs 
 very short; tarsus less than middle toe; inner toe much the 
 longest, claws long, acute; tarsi broadly scutellate anteriorly; 
 body much compressed; head smooth; occipital feathers some- 
 what lengthened; lower neck behind bare of plumage; tail of 
 ten feathers. 
 
 Length, 13; wing, 4.75; tarsus, 1.60; bill, about 1.75. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 89 
 
 ARDEA HER0DIA8 L. (194/) 
 GREAT BLUE HERON. 
 
 Crane island is situated in the upper portion of upper Lake 
 Minnetonka, and has received its name from the circumstance 
 of its being the breeding and roosting place of the ' ' Blue 
 Cranes," as this species is popularly called. How long it has 
 been thus occupied is not even traditional, for it was a heronry 
 earlier than the Indian traditions began. About the 10th to 
 15th of April, and occaisionally a little earlier, these birds begin 
 to arrive in small parties, at once seeking their old roosting 
 place. A steady increase in their numbers continues for about 
 a week, when the whole clan seems to have reached the 
 heronry, and early in the mornings they may be seen flying far 
 away in all directions till all have departed. An hour before 
 the sun sets, they begin to return, but it will be some time 
 after dark before the last have arrived. They gather into 
 clusters, or loose parties in sections to which they resort, after 
 having satisfied their hunger, and enter into matrimonial nego 
 tiations in which -rivalries and jealousies lead to some severe 
 contests between the males. By the first week in May all of 
 these matters are settled, and the nesting begins from the 5th 
 to the 10th of May. The structures consist of sticks, twigs, 
 coarse and medium weeds of different kinds, very roughly and 
 loosely disposed, with barely depression enough to retain the 
 eggs, three to four in number, light bluish green in color, all 
 of which is placed in the forks of a tree at about sixty feet ele- 
 evation. The island on which the tree stands, at some day in 
 the remote past, was evidently densely covered with lofty elms, 
 sugar maples, oaks and basswoods, but the excrement accumu- 
 lating from year to year, and age to age,, has destroyed them 
 until the number left standing has become few and considerably 
 scattered. Since that lake has become a great summer resort, 
 and is constantly plied with some twenty or thirty steamers of 
 various sizes (with whistles loud enough to be heard quite dis- 
 tinctly fifteen miles away), three or four times as many full 
 sailed yachts, to which may be added two or three hundred 
 row-boats, constantly flitting back and forth at all hours of the 
 day and far into the nights, it is a standing surprise that these 
 birds (and their copartners, the cormorants, whom I had like 
 to have forgotten to mention in this connection), still continue 
 to return year after year to the same familiar spot. However, 
 it must be confessed that from these disturbing causes, to which 
 
90 NOTES ON THE 
 
 should be added a long-continued practice of firing pistols at 
 them from ihe steamers' decks to see the females rise in clouds 
 from their nests, and the robbing them of their eggs by men 
 ■and boys by the employment of telegraph pole climbing irons 
 to reach them, their numbers became so sensibly reduced as to 
 call in special legislation, some five or six years since, or all 
 would have been destroyed or driven entirely away. I have 
 taken all measures within my reach to ascertain the area daily 
 visited by the "cranes" and cormorants brooding and roosting 
 in this group, and while not absolutely certain of the exact 
 dimensions, I can safely say it covers a circle the diameter of 
 which is not less than eighty miles. In England it is said that 
 all roads lead to London, so when I see or hear of individuals of 
 these species flying regularly from the direction of Minnetohka 
 in the morning, until nearly nine o'clock, and after four in the 
 afternoon till dark, towards it, uniformly, I conclude that they 
 belong there. The nearest heronry to this of which I have 
 any reliable knowledge is about 190 miles from here. They 
 rear but one brood in a season here now, if ever they did before. 
 Their food is frogs, fish, snakes, mice, water beetles and slugs. 
 Proni the 15th to the 20th of October they go away to the south 
 in small flocks. 
 
 There is another heronry somewhere in the southeastern 
 part of the State, which I have not yet succeeded in locating, 
 but I think it is somewhere perhaps in Dodge, Olmsted or 
 Freeborn county. A large one has long been located in 
 Douglas or Grant county, I am credibly informed by duck- 
 hunters. In general their distribution is co-exlensive with the 
 State, yet there are considerable sections where they do not 
 go on account of the deficiency of appropriate food. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them common throughout his explora- 
 tions at Mille Lacs and in the different sections of the Red 
 River valley. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found it in nearly every place he visited in the 
 north and western parts of the commonwealth. 
 
 If intelligently cooked, the flesh of the entire Heron family 
 is excellent eating, including the unprepossessing and most 
 unpopular Bittern, as I can bear positive testimony, for by the 
 courtesy of Mr. Wm. Tiffany I breakfasted with him upon it 
 once many years ago. If there is anything which forever 
 settles the question of man's evolution from animals lower than 
 the monkeys, it is the attainment of prejudices respecting his 
 food. His employment of the imagination in the domains of 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 91 
 
 scientific investigation has unduly developed it, and hence his 
 reason dictates his stomach, but very poorly. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Lower third of tibia bare; above bluish- ash; edges of wihg 
 and the tibia rufous; neck cinnamon- brown; head black with a 
 white frontal patch; body beneath black, broadly streaked on 
 the belly with white; crissum white; middle line of throat white, 
 streaked with black and rufous; bill yellow, dusky at the base 
 and greenish above; forehead and central part of crown white, 
 encircled laterally and behind by black, of which color is the 
 occipital crest and its two elongated feathers; neck, light 
 smoky cinnamon-brown, with a tinge of purple; chin and throat 
 whitish; the feathers along the central line of the throat to the 
 breast, white, streaked with black and reddish-brown, except 
 on the elongated feathers of the breast; body bluish- ash above 
 and on the sides; the under parts including the tuft of feathers 
 on each side of the breast and belly to the crissum, sooty-black, 
 much varied along the middle line with white; tibia and edge 
 of the wing rufous; quills black, becoming more plumbeous 
 internally until the innermost secondaries are ash, like the back; 
 the elongated tips of the scapular feathers have a whitish shade; 
 tail bluish-slate color; bill yellow, dusky green above; loral 
 and orbital spaces light green; iris yellow; feet olivaceous, 
 paler above the tibio tarsal joint; claws black. 
 
 Length, 42; wing, 18.50; tarsus, 6.50; bill, 5.50. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 ARDEA EGRETTi Gmelin. (196;) 
 AMERICAN EGRET. 
 
 In my list of species observed fifteen years ago I gave this 
 one as an occasional. I had found a representation of it in 
 private collections only, since which time I had met with it in 
 flocks of half a dozen or less a few times, and individuals still 
 ^more frequently. They have been killed along the bottoms of 
 the Minnesota river occasionally ever since Port Snelling was 
 located, and within the last ten years, one has been obtained 
 on the Red river as far north as Moorhead. A friend of , mine 
 brought in a fine male from Big Stone lake last spring (1888) 
 which he has mounted in good order. 
 
 No nests nor young have been reported, but their observa- 
 tion in the warmest days of July lends plausibility to the con- 
 jecture that they may breed here. 
 
 Still, I think it more probable that they are generally strag- 
 glers from flocks located below, along the Mississippi or along 
 the Missouri river. 
 
92 NOTES ON THE 
 
 I have never found them later than the 25th of August, yet 
 sportsmen are confident of having seen them in the distance on 
 flat prairies west of the Big Woods as late as the same date in 
 September. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill slender, yellowish to the tip, culmen nearly straight, 
 more convex terminally than the gonys; middle toe more than 
 half the tarsus, outer toe longest, claws moderate, considerably 
 curved; tarsus broadly scutellate anteriorly; head smooth; 
 back, in breeding season with a series of plumes longer than 
 the tail, and curving gently downwards; tail of twelve broad, 
 stiffened feathers; back of neck well feathered; feet black; 
 colors pure white at all times. 
 
 Length, 40; wing, 17; bill, 5; tarsus, 6. 
 
 Habitat, America, chiefly south. 
 
 AKDEA CANDIDISSIMA Gmelin. (197.) 
 SNOWY HERON. 
 
 We must consider this species as in a measure a straggler, 
 so infrequently has it been seen under circumstances of cer- 
 tain identification. 
 
 I have seen them several times when from their smaller size, 
 I could scarcely doubt their being this species, but they were 
 too cautious for me to secure any. I found one in Mr. Bowl- 
 ing's collection many years ago and two others since, the lat- 
 ter of which came to him from the Red River country "some- 
 where." Sportsmen claiming to know the species well, insist 
 that they meet considerable numbers of them in both spring 
 and fall shooting along the Minnesota River in occasional 
 years, but I am apprehensive that they confound the other 
 species with it, (A. Egretta), notwithstanding their assur- 
 ances that they can distinguish them. That a few visit us is 
 certain however, and that they go somewhat beyond the lati- 
 tude of St. Paul and Minneapolis cannot be disputed, but sev- 
 eral years have intervened between any observations of their 
 presence by myself or others. They are described as follows:, 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill compressed; culmen slightly concave in the basal two- 
 thirds, terminally more convex than the gonys; middle toe 
 three-fourths the tarsus; tibia bare for nearly one-half; occiput 
 with a full crest of loosely fibred feathers as long as the bill; 
 feathers on lower part of throat somewhat similar; middle of 
 back with a series of plumes, with the fibrillae distant and 
 lengthened, plumes recurved at the tip, where the fibrillse of 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. ' 93 
 
 opposite sides are horizontal, but approximated in a verticle 
 plane; they reach nearly to the tip of the tail, sometimes be- 
 yond it; bill black, yellow at base, including the loral region 
 and around the eye, as well as a larger basal portion of the 
 lower mandible; legs black; lower part of tarsus behind and 
 the toes yellow; color of plumage throughout pure white. 
 
 Length, 24; wing, 10.20; tarsus, 3.80; bill, 3.15. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate and Tropical America. 
 
 ARDEA V1RE8CENS L. (201.) 
 
 GREEN HERON. 
 
 A common summer resident, found along those of our inland 
 streams which meander the meadows and the marshes with a 
 sluggish current, after the 10th of April. It is seldom that an 
 hour's hunt along their rank grassy, reedy borders does not 
 give one a sight of one or two of them. They commence 
 building as early occasionally as the first of May in small com- 
 munities, but usually about the 5th, a loose, bulky, flat nest of 
 sticks, twigs and leaves, placed in the tops or branches of 
 small trees in thickets. They lay about four pale-blue eggs, 
 sometimes only three and sometimes five. They rear two 
 broods usually. 
 
 Their food embraces frogs, fishes, slugs, cray-fish, worms, 
 &c. , which they obtain abundantly enough to make them re- 
 main in a single spot for hours when undisturbed, under which 
 circumstances their maneuvers may be watched with a glass 
 with great satisfaction, provided a position has been attained 
 witnoutthe knowledge of the bird. This is no easy task, for 
 their telescopic eyes take in every moving thing possible con- 
 siderable distances away. More frequently one will find him 
 standing in several inches of water, close to that which is still 
 deeper, and as motionless as if he were grown there, with his 
 head resting back upon his breast, and woe betide the reptile or 
 fish that ventures within the radial possibilities of that neck 
 and unerring bill. He never strikes by guess, and rarely with- 
 out securing his victim, which is swallowed invariably head 
 foremost, in the twinkling of an eye. He does not ordinarily 
 thresh the ground with his game as the Greater Bittern often 
 does, to reduce it to flexibility, or fractures, in order to swallow 
 it, but selects the size best adapted to the capacities of his 
 throat. When fishing for frogs specially his methods are 
 somewhat modified. Instead of retaining his fixed attitude, 
 which -the frogs soon learn. to I'ecognize when their heads are 
 
94 NOTES ON THE 
 
 above water, he takes advantage of the moment when, with 
 their heads immersed, each is seeking a spot in which to hide, 
 and steps promptly but cautiously along to a favorable posi- 
 tion, and assuming his wonted attitude with his neck drawn 
 back over the breast; and when an inquisitive la,ead rises, the 
 same fatal stroke brings Johnny Crapeau's favorite "to bag." 
 Communal as they often are in breeding, they always hunt sol- 
 itarily, and seem to individually have a sort of squatter's pre- 
 emption over a given territory, returning to it daily through 
 I the entire season. The young having become full grown by 
 the first to the tenth of August, they may subsequently be often 
 seen going forth in the early morning in families supposably, 
 and returning at evening by the same routes in like parties. 
 I have never seen them later than the 25th of October. They 
 seem all to disappear at nearly the same time. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef reports them at Lanesboro and vicinity early in 
 April and late in October, but mentions the discovery of no 
 nests or heronries. 
 
 Mr. Lewis reports them common in all of the northwestern 
 portions of the state as far as Pembina. Mr. Clague finds 
 them occasionally in the lower portions of Grant county. The 
 most frequented locality I have known for this small heron, is 
 a low boggy marsh through which Minnehaha Creek flows, by 
 which are thus connected Lakes Amelia and Mud, the former 
 of which is partly and the latter entirely within the city limits. 
 Careful observations at the twilight of either end of the day 
 will find them there uniformly. I wish to say that they do not 
 universally breed in communities in Minnesota, for in every 
 instance in which I have found them doing so, I have failed to 
 find other nests or birds. Instances have occurred under my 
 observation, where in the entire absence of trees, or bushes 
 of any size, they have placed the nest, composed of coarse dry 
 weeds and reeds, and cat-tails, on a tussock in a reed-hidden 
 quag-mire. Indeed, in common with many other species of 
 the birds, they manifest great capacity to adapt their habits to 
 extreme circumstances when necessary. One nest, built high 
 and dry above the water in a pond, on the top of a muskrat's 
 house, was pointed out to me, so secure from human intrusion 
 that no attempt was made by the birds at concealment. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill acute, rather longer than head, gently curved from the 
 base; gonys slightly ascending; legs short, tarsus scarcely 
 longer than middle toe, broadly scutellate anteriorly; lateral 
 
'birds of MINNESOTA. 95 
 
 toes nearly equal; head with elongated feathers above and 
 behind; these and interscapulars and scapulars lanceolate; neck 
 short, bare behind inferiorly; tibia feathered nearly through- 
 out; tail of twelve feathers; top of head and body above, glossy 
 green; coverts edged with brownish yellow; neck dark purplish 
 chestnut; chin and central line of throat white; body beneath 
 plumbeous ash. 
 
 Length, 15; wing, 7.50; tarsus, 2; bill, 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, Canada and Oregon, southward to northern South 
 America. 
 
 Ni'CTICORAX NYCTICORAX N^VIUS (Bodd^rt). (202.) 
 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON. 
 
 I find this common species much more frequently in the tax 
 idermists' shops than in its haunts, although I do so occasion- 
 ally when on their grounds at twilight, and I find they breed 
 regularly very near to if not still within the city limits. Their 
 nocturnal habits protect them from observation, but it is 
 known that they roost during the day in the tamarack swamps 
 and come forth at twilight to seek their food along the borders 
 of streams, ditches and on the marshes. The nests are 
 constructed about the tenth of May, or a little later, in the 
 tamarack swamps, on the trees, and are formed of sticks. 
 More than one may occupy the same tree, but the only night- 
 heronry I have ever seen had not to exceed a half dozen nests, 
 unless I failed to see them, which might have been the case 
 with all of my diligence, for they were well concealed in the 
 thick branches of the trees which stood in a foot or more of 
 water near one of our smaller lakes, or ponds, as the people 
 from Maine call them. This breeding place has long been 
 broken up. I find through one of my most reliable and inde- 
 fatigable correspondents in the southern part of the State that 
 this species is quite common there. He met them in nearly all 
 of the summer months of their summer residence there. (J. 
 McClintock). Mr. Lewis, perfectly familiar with all of their 
 habits, reports them common through Becker and Polk coun- 
 ties, and believes them nearly universally distributed through- 
 out the northern and western divisions of the State. It cannot 
 be called a numerous species in any other than a relative 
 sense here. At Thief river there is a heronry of the species, 
 which, if carefully observed during a season or two, might be 
 of much value in making numerical estimates. (Washburn). 
 
 Their food does not differ materially from that of other 
 herons I think. 
 
96 NOTES ON THE 
 
 They retire southward by the second week of October. 
 
 I omitted to say that the eggs are somewhat variable in 
 color from bluish- green to greenish-yellow, and generally four 
 in number. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above and middle of back, steel-green; wings and tail 
 ashy-blue; underparts, forehead and long occipital feathers, 
 white; sides tinged with lilac; bill very thick at base and taper- 
 ing to the tip; culmen nearly straight for half its length, then 
 considerably curved; lower outline of bill nearly straight; gonys 
 proper slightly concave; legs short and stout; tarsus equal to 
 middle toe, and covered with hexagonal scales, those anterior 
 largest, but those on the upper portion much larger, and 
 extending entirely across; tibia bare for one fifth; lateral toes 
 nearly equal, the outer rather longest; claws small, consider- 
 ably curved; tail short, of twelve broad, rather stiff, feathers; 
 head with the occipital feathers elongated and with two or 
 three very long, straight feathers (long as bill and head) 
 springing from the occiput; these are rolled up so as to appear 
 like a single cylindrical feather; back of neck covered with 
 down, but not provided with long feathers; scapular and inter- 
 scapular feathers elongated and lanceolate; the webs scarcely 
 decomposed; upper part of head, upper eyelids, occipital, 
 crest, scapular and interscapular region, dark lustrous steel 
 green; wings and tail ashy-blue; under parts, forehead and 
 long occipital feathers, white passing into pale, ashy-lilac on 
 the sides and neck alaove, as also tinging nearly the whole 
 under parts; the region along the base of the bill, however, 
 nearly pure as on the tibia; bill black; loral space green; iris 
 red; feet yellow and claws brown. 
 
 Length, 25; wing, 12.50; tarsus, 8.15; bill, about 3.10. 
 
 Habitat, America. 
 
 NTCTICORAX TIOLACEUS (L.). (203.) 
 
 YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON 
 
 The first time I met the Black-crowned Night Heron in the 
 State was in Mr. William Howling's taxidermal shop in 1864 I 
 think, when standing beside it was a Yellow-crown. Although 
 I began to meet the former from time to time, it was several 
 years before I saw another of the latter, till I found it again in 
 a private collection in St. Paul. I have never taken the bird, 
 but in all the instances in which I have seen these specimens, 
 I have ascertained that they were collected here, and under 
 precisely the same circumstances in which the others were 
 found. I know nothing more of the bird locally than I did 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 97 
 
 twenty years ago. I can only count it an occasional straggler, 
 presumably individuals which become mixed with the other 
 species in niigration. 
 
 SPECIFIC . CHARACTERS. 
 
 Neck and body uniform grayish-plumbeous; head bluish ash; 
 hood and a broad patch on the side of head yellowish- white; 
 scapular and interscapular feathers dusky, edged with grayish- 
 plumbeous. 
 
 Length, 24; wing, 12; tarsus, 3.75; bill, about 2.75. 
 
 Habitat, semi-tropics. 
 
Order PALUDICOL^. 
 
 Family GBUID^. 
 
 (JRDS AMERICANA (L.). (204.) 
 WHOOPING CRANE. 
 
 While yet the prolonged winter maintains its relentless hold 
 upon the northland, and deep snows conceal the demarking 
 shorelines of the lakes and streams, the Whooping Crane may 
 be faintly heard, and often seen against the cold blue sky, 
 winging his dauntless way to some unknown open sea still 
 nearer the undiscovered pole. In the last days of February 
 sometimes, but oi^tener in the third week in March, flocks of 
 ten to twenty are seen, and occasionally on to the 15th of April 
 such flocks continue to arrive, only a few individuals of which 
 remain to breed in the remote portions of the State. 
 
 The only evidence I have that it breeds here is circumstan- 
 tial. Through a course of many years observation, individuals 
 of the mature white birds have been obtained or well identified 
 during every month from March to November inclusive, quite 
 a number of which have found their way into the collections of 
 museums and private individuals. Both the Minneapolis and 
 St. Paul Academies of Natural Sciences have them, and I think 
 there is one in the museum of the State University, but I do 
 not know when they were all obtained. Amateur oOligists have 
 several times brought me the eggs to purchase, claiming that 
 they were obtained in some part of the State, but I had doubts 
 about them which made them really of no value to me. Two 
 such were nearly four inches in length, with their reputed 
 colox', markings, and warty roughened surfaces. 
 
 They inhabit the most out-of the-way morasses and impene- 
 trable swamps, with little else but a knowledge of the local 
 habits of the larger waders to stimulate careful research by 
 competent observers. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 99 
 
 I have noticed a single individual at different times during 
 the summer, a mile distant from my nearest approach, spearing 
 frogs, snakes, &c. , and as many times resolved to resort to a 
 mud boat that could be poled over the bogs and mire, believing 
 that due search might be repaid with a nest and eggs. When 
 moving to any considerable distance, they mount up to great 
 elevations, but ordinarily in their haunts, they fly barely above 
 the top of the reeds, brush, &c. Pish, frogs, slugs, worms, 
 tadpoles, snails, snakes enter into their bill of fare. Individ- 
 uals of this species linger into November once in a while, if the 
 fall is rather prolonged. 
 
 In 1883 they entered the State on March 25th, and in 1864, 
 February 27th, when we had an unusually early spring. 
 
 "A few birds of this species shot near Fergus Falls.'" 
 (Washburn) . 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef says that he met them in March, 1886, at Lanes - 
 boro; but makes no reference to their remaining through the 
 summer. 
 
 Mr. Treganowan reported them constantly seen in the 
 summer months in Pembina county, but nowhere numerous. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill deep, compressed; lower mandible as deep along the 
 gonys as the upper opposite to it; gonys convex ascending; 
 commissure straight to near the tip, thence a little decurved 
 and crenated; color pure white; primary and spurious quills 
 with their shafts black; space in front of the eyes and extend- 
 ing backward between them to a point on the occiput, and 
 below them involving the whole cheek to a point behind the 
 ears, blackish; this space having the feathers reduced to stiff 
 hairy black shafts, but concealing the warty and granulated 
 skin; feathers on middle of nape above plumbeous-dusky. 
 
 Length, 52; wing, 24; tarsus, 12; commissure 6. 
 
 Habitat, interior of North America. 
 
 GRUS MEXICAN A (Muller) (206.) 
 
 SANDHILL CRANE. 
 
 The rapid settlement and extensive cultivation of the lands 
 of the State has somewhat modified the habits of this species 
 of the Cranes. Twenty-five years ago, they bred extensively 
 in several of the southwestern counties, where now they are 
 seldom seen except in migration. 
 
 They still breed in the northern and western sections, where 
 the uninhabited prairies are large and flat, affording all the 
 
100 NOTES ON THE 
 
 conditions of food and protection. They reach us the first 
 week in April, four years out of five, and commence incubation 
 by the first week in May. They generally gather loosely 
 together some dried, coarse grasses and weeds for the nest, in 
 which they deposit from two to four drab-brown, rough- 
 shelled eggs. 
 
 In many instances, the indications of a nest are ridiculously 
 small, and not infrequently entirely wanting. I have never 
 known them to rear more than one brood in a single summer, 
 but there are cases in which for some reason the nesting has 
 been exceptionally delayed, and quite young birds are seen 
 late in July. The earlier birds, although yet unable to fly, will 
 give a man a lively race to overtake them when they are six 
 weeks out of the shell. In Noble and Jackson counties, some 
 ten or twelve years ago, the Sandhill Cranes reared their 
 young in great numbers, on the dry flat prairies, where many 
 of them were often taken before they were grown enough to 
 fly. Kev. Mr. Mitchell, of St. Paul, then residing in this City, 
 passed through that section at the time that the young were in 
 this stage of development, and ran one of them down, which 
 he brought home with him, and subsequently made it a 
 present to me. I kept it until it was two years of age, and 
 took great pleasure in studying its peculiar habits and tract- 
 ability. It was a great joker in its way, always getting the 
 better end of things. Nothing possible that it could swallow 
 failed to get into its maw, from a pocket knife, double-ten nail, 
 teaspoon, spools of thread, and bits of tin, to a dozen large 
 sized marbles. Of course, these were after a time regurgi- 
 tated, as all indigestible matters are with many of the birds of 
 other orders also. He was fond of toads in the absence of 
 frogs and fishes, and did not object to small chicken when he 
 did not get a supply of his favorite food. By keeping his 
 wings cropped, I was enabled to allow him considerable lati- 
 tude, and he would often enjoy a pose on one foot, while the 
 other was drawn close to his body, seeming to be asleep until 
 something unusual aroused him. Immediately upon discover- 
 ing him, big dogs and little dogs would dash at him to seize 
 him, till noticing his apparent indifEfirence, the smaller ones 
 would desist, but the larger ones, more selfreliant would 
 venture in the radial reach of his bill, after which they in- 
 variably changed their minds, finding they had no further use 
 for "Sandie," a name given him by Mr. Mitchell, up6n his 
 capture. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 101 
 
 My faith in his ability to defend himself against dogs became 
 so strong that upon the application of several parties with 
 vicious canines, to show what their special dog could do, I 
 challenged any and ail, one at a time, to attack him. One of 
 the largest in the city was allowed to open the tournament in 
 the presence of many witnesses. Sandie was taken out onto 
 the lawn in front of my home, and after various comical 
 familiarities in the way of eating unheard of things offered 
 him, posed quietly on one foot, and having closed his eyes as 
 an expressive hint that he was satisfied for the time to suspend 
 performances, when we all withdrew a little distance, and a 
 bouncing dog — a cross between a mastiff and Newfoundland — 
 was shown the stilted biped, and stayed not a moment in his 
 "going for him." Sandie, whose whole demeanor was under 
 the closest notice, partially opened his windward eye, but 
 remained standing upon the single foot, without in the 
 slightest changing his position, his doubly curved neck, head 
 and bill, drawn well back upon his body, till the onrushing 
 dog was within a half of a yard of him, when his closed, 
 acutely pointed bill and head shot out like an arrow from a 
 bow, and the ferocious canine doubled up into the shape of a 
 letter " C, " and peeling for home, howling as if in the agonies 
 of an attack of colic, left the sponge high in air, never again 
 to challenge a Sandhill Crane to combat. Never afterwards 
 would any one who witnessed the short ' 'mill" permit his dog 
 to give or accept a challenge from Sandie. Sometime after 
 this I presented him to the Central Park Museum, in New York 
 City, where it was my great privilege to see him after a number 
 of years, and again several years later, on my way to Europe 
 in 1882, found him without any indications of increasing age 
 or infirmities, and Mr. Conklin, the manager who received him 
 from me originally, assured me that Sandie was all right, and 
 appeared to greatly enjoy the considerable numbers of his 
 species associated with him in that paradise of bird incar- 
 ceration. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTEKS. 
 
 Bill compressed; lower mandible not as deep towards the 
 tip as the upper; gonys nearly straight, in the same line with 
 the basal portion of the bill; commissure decidedly curving 
 from beyond the middle to the tip, where it is even, not 
 crenated; color bluish-gray; primaries and spurious quills 
 dark plumbeous-brown; the shafts white; cheeks and chin 
 whitish; entire top of head bare of feathers, warty and granu- 
 
102 ■ NOTES ON THE 
 
 lated, thinly beset with short scattered black hairs; feathers of 
 occiput advancing forward in an obtuse angle, the gray feath- 
 ers along this point and over the auri cula r region, tinged with 
 plumbeous. f~\ ^f^ 
 
 Length, 48; wing, 22; tarsus, 10; commissure, 6. 
 
 Habitat, interior of North America 
 
 I found immense flocks of Sandhill Cranes in the Sacramento 
 valley, not far from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada moun- 
 tains, in 1870, about the middle of February. But not any 
 larger are found there than in the flat prairies along the Red 
 river in northern Minnesota, two months later in the spring. 
 There are times at that season of the year when their hoarse 
 cronkings may be heard almost continuously in some localities. 
 
 At the time of mating, the males have a habit of rising to 
 immense elevations, and iDeating large circles while they main- 
 tain their notes for hours at a time. These can be distinctly 
 heard after the bird has risen to such a height as to be beyond 
 the range of the best human vision. 
 
 -■to 
 
 Family RALLID^. 
 
 R.iLAUS EIEGANS Audubon. (208.) 
 
 KING RAIL. 
 
 For many years after I became a resident of the State, my 
 duties called me daily considerable distance into the country in 
 various directions, and not infrequently in the night. In my 
 solitary rides I became,f amiliar with almost every sound habitu- 
 ally heard in the darkness, one of which came uniformly from 
 certain marshy water courses, and the borders of reedy ponds 
 near which I passed. At such times my ears were the princi- 
 pal organs of sense, and I noticed amongst the many sounds, 
 one that seemed to formulate the syllable greek, repeated four 
 to five times in succession, with the heaviest emphasis on the 
 first utterance, which diminished with each repetition, the last 
 being considerably less emphatic, yet still fairly distant. 
 
 Its resemblance in some respects to the notes of the Vir- 
 ginia Rail, suggested to me the King Rail, but I could neither 
 find one myself in all my explorations nor could I learn of any 
 one else finding the first individual of that species, until ?in the~ 
 summer of 1875, Mr. George W. Tinsley brought me one for 
 identification. He obtained it on the first day of August, on 
 the Minnesota river bottoms, some ten to twelve miles south of 
 Minneapolis. It proved to be an adult male in remarkably fine 
 plumage. He sought for the female and nest or young, but in 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 103 
 
 vain, for if there were either, the concealment was too com- 
 plete. The location abounded with wild rice and reeds, as those 
 in which 1 had so often heard its notes did. Since then I have 
 secured several, and have had it reported by different corres- 
 pondents from widely severed sections of the province with 
 which my investigations are specially concerned. The earliest 
 record of its observance is May 5th, and I think will not soon 
 be found much earlier, for from an average in my personal 
 notes I find they arrive about the twelfth to the fifteenth. 
 
 The exact date it is impossible to arrive at, as their move- 
 ments are in the night. That they breed in many sections can- 
 not be reasonably doubted, after having been observed so many 
 times in June and July, although no nests nor young broods 
 have yet been found. They appear to have all gone from those 
 localities where hitherto found, by the fifth to the tenth of Sep- 
 tember, although from the variability of the seasons from year 
 to year, instances may occur in which they will be met with 
 still later. Their food is principally leeches, worms, snails, 
 and aquatic insects, but in the season when seeds and grains 
 are ripe, they fatten readily upon them, as we are informed by 
 several writers. This is the largest species of the Rails in the 
 United States, as well as the most beautiful. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts olive brown, with longitudinal stripes of brown- 
 ish-black, most numerous on the back; line from the base of 
 the bill over the eye, dull orange-yellow; space before and be- 
 hind the eye brownish- cinerous; throat and lower eyelid white; 
 neck before and breast, bright rufous-chestnut; sides, abdomen, 
 and under tail coverts, with transverse bands, of brownish- 
 black and white, the dark bands being the wider; tibia dull 
 yellowish-white, with spots and transverse bars of ashy brown; 
 upper wing coverts reddish-chestnut; under wing coverts 
 black, with transverse lines of white. 
 
 Length, 17; wing, 6.50; tail, 3. 
 
 Habitat, United States. 
 
 RALIUS YIRGINIANUS L. (212.) 
 VIRGINIA RAIL. 
 This bird is very generally distributed over the country where 
 the conditions exist for its maintenance. No one can tell just 
 how or when they arrive, but either very early in the morning 
 or late in the twilight at evening. Like its congeners, it is 
 somewhat of a nocturnal species and makes its pilgrimages, as 
 well as its local excursions in the gray of the morning or in the 
 
 -8z 
 
104 NOTES ON THE 
 
 gloaming of the evening. They are found to have arrived 
 about the first of May with great uniformity, and after about 
 three weeks the nests are built, and consist of a pile of weeds 
 and grass of considerable bulk, having only about an inch in 
 exavation, sometimes a little deeper, into which they deposit 
 eight to ten eggs. I should say that when the first egg is layed 
 the depression is very slight indeed, but the male continues to 
 build up the structure around the female, or she rearranges 
 the material so as to increase the elevation around herself, or, 
 which is the more probable, the weight of her narrow body 
 upon the loose, light materials, continues to deepen the excava- 
 tion for sometime after she begins to occupy it. The color of 
 the eggs is a dark, dirty buff, blotched with different shades 
 of brown, or a reddish and brown, Their habits confine them 
 to swamps, marshes and meadows difficult to approach, and 
 are therefore less frequently discovered. From these consider- 
 ations we are justified in the presumption that they may be 
 much more numerous than at first appears. Except in unusu- 
 ally favorable seasons they leave in their autumnal migrations 
 early in September, but they are occasionally seen as late as 
 the 25th of that month. During the summer I find them about 
 the reedy bays of most of the lakes in different seasons and not 
 infrequently along the marshy borders of several streams 
 within an hour's ride of my home. Examples of this species 
 are often to be seen mounted, in the shops of the taxidermists, 
 representing both sexes and the young of the year. 
 
 Although Mr. Washbutn made his explorations of the Red 
 river valley between the 28th of July and the 12th of Sep- 
 tember, for some reason or other he failed to find these Rails, 
 although he met with Soras in abundance everywhere. Mr. 
 Holzinger reports them as frequently seen about Lake Winona. 
 I am not a little surprised that so careful an observer as Dr. 
 Hvoslef did not mention their presence at Lanesboro. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Much smaller than either the King or the Clapper Rail, but 
 resembles them both in form and the former in color. Upper 
 parts olive-brown with longitudinal stripes of brownish-black; 
 line from the base of the bill over the eye reddish- white; throat 
 white; neck before, and breast bright rufous; abdomen and 
 under tail coverts, with transverse bands of black and white, 
 the black being the wider; upper wing coverts bright rufous- 
 chestnut; under wing coverts black, with trransverse lines of 
 white. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 4; tail, 1.50. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 105 
 
 PORZANA CAROLINA (L). (214.) 
 SOKA. 
 
 "Thin as a Rail" is a very common expression, without 
 much sense or significance until a genuine Rail has been 
 looked upon, after which its figurative applicability receives 
 a new force. The relative depth and breath of the body when 
 seen explain it all. Everything is adapted to the place in 
 which Infinite Wisdom placed it; the laterally expanded Goose, 
 as well as the laterally contracted Rail. The one with its 
 webbed toes for a natatorial life; the other with its immoder- 
 ately elongated, disenthralled toes to run, squirrel-like over 
 the lightest drift-wood and expanded lily pads on the water. 
 The casual straggler, with only his cane in his hand, in lan- 
 guid idleness sitting down on a log near an expanse of the 
 water-lillies about sunset, will see more of these birds in a 
 half hour of observation, than a collector will in ten days of 
 constant tramping. Tail erect, the bird is seen tripping along 
 the debris of tHe shore, and onto the frail, floating lily-pads, 
 pausing not a moment before an open space, but dropping 
 into the water, swimming unconcernedly across to more lilies 
 or a point of drift, seizing an insect first on one side and then 
 on the other, till it disappears in the twilight, or beating a, 
 circuit it returns again. In the mean time, more individuals 
 have come upon the scene, and there are a half dozen, busily 
 and cheerily searching for the wanted food, while they all 
 keep up a rather subdued "ca-weep-eep, ca-weep-eep-eep-ip-ip-ip" 
 like a flock of young domestic chickens. 
 
 These birds reach Minnesota about the 25 th of April, and 
 begin to build by the second week in May. The structure con- 
 sists of weeds and grass in abundance, making a large pile for 
 the size of the bird, hollowed somewhat, and placed on a bunch 
 of coarse grass, in the marshes. They are said to be some- 
 times found under extremely different circumstances, as brier 
 patches, cranberry vines, or even under the current bushes in 
 a country garden, but if the full history of such cases could be 
 known, a sufficient reason would be revealed for the excep- 
 tions. The eggs are a yellow- drab, with the slightest tinge of 
 olive-green, and from five to ten in number. 
 
 Their food as has already been indicated, is made up of 
 different forms of aquatic insect life, to which must be added 
 small molusca, Crustacea, and seeds of different kinds. They 
 remain until late in October, very frequently. This is by far 
 
106 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the most abundant species of the Rails which spend their sum- 
 mers in nearly all parts of Minnesota. In speaking of his 
 observations of this species in the Red river valley Mr. Wash- 
 burn says: — "They are extremely abundant everywhere in the 
 marshes and sloughs. During the summer, one only catches 
 occasional glimpses of them, although their crek, crok, crek, is 
 heard everywhere in the reeds. In September, however, I 
 find the young and old birds more easily observed, there being 
 more of them, and consequently they are less shy. They are 
 then seen running over the reedy surface of the ponds, and 
 slipping in and out among the rushes and reeds that fringe the 
 shores. " The same gentleman found them still common in the 
 meadows of Otter Tail county between October 9th and Novem- 
 ber 10th. Mr. Westhoven told him he had often captured 
 them when mowing in the meadow, by placing his two hands 
 quickly over the spot in the grass where he had seen them go 
 down, the grass holding them effectually without injuring 
 them. 
 
 Few but those who are specially interested are apt to notice 
 the little busy Carolina Rails, so well concealed do they 
 keep themselves in the presence of man, but after one has the 
 secret of their habits he may easily find and make his notes 
 in their closest proximity. 
 
 In the early history of Minneapolis a fifteen minutes' walk 
 in almost any direction, just after sunset, would place the Rail- 
 hunter in its haunts, and again the same in the gray of the 
 morning. Amongst the later haunts in which I have found 
 it abundant for its kind is one along the northwestern shores 
 of Lake Calhoun (Mendoza?) where a narrow tamarack swamp 
 touches it for a distance of about 100 yards, and another about 
 a mile west of the Falls of Minnehaha. 
 
 Mr. Efell, who had been spending some time in the vicinity 
 of Moorhead late in the summer, became very much interested 
 in their local habits from finding their nests to be quite com- 
 mon in the cultivated fields, especially the corn fields; the 
 nest was degenerated to a simple depression in the soft earth, 
 with a slight lining of weeds, of which there were generally 
 an abundance. This seemed quite remarkable . to one who 
 cannot see through evolution, but it shows that when we have 
 written up the natural history of the world, we shall need to 
 do it all over again every season or two. 
 
BIKDS OP MINNESOTA. 107 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Space arouad the base of the bill extending downwards on 
 the neck before and over the top of the head, black; under 
 parts greenish-brown, with longitudinal bands of black, many- 
 feathers having narrow stripes of white on their edges; behind 
 the eyes, side of the neck and breast, fine bluish-ashy, with 
 circular spots and transverse bands of white on the breast; 
 middle of abdomen and under tail coverts white; sides and 
 flanks with transverse bands of brownish-black and white; bill 
 greenish-yellow; legs dark green. 
 
 Length, 8.50; wing, 4.25; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, temperate America. 
 
 PORZANA NOVEBORACENSIS (Gmelin). (215.) 
 YELLOW RAIL. 
 
 I introduce this Rail with the satisfaction of having seen 
 enough of them to regard them no longer as mere semi-occa- 
 sional stragglers, but as rare summer residents. Mr. Shroeder, 
 of St. Paul, for many years the only taxidermist in that city, 
 had two specimens of them in 1865, and Mr. Howling of Min- 
 neapolis, secu:red one in 1869, since which I have found two 
 more in private collections. I have never seen one of them 
 alive. I could not learn who obtained those in the collections 
 of either of the taxidermists, but the others were secured by 
 two hunters* who supposed they were "some new kind of 
 snipe." I know nothing of their local habits except that those 
 referred to were obtained in the season when the other Rails 
 were breeding. I hope to learn more about them in other 
 localities in the State in due time. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Entire upper parts ochre- yellow, with longitudinal wide 
 stripes of brownish-black, and transverse narrow stripes of 
 white; neck and breast reddish-ochre-yellow, many feathers 
 tipped with brown; middle of abdomen white; flanks and ven- 
 tral region with wide transverse bands of dark reddish-brown 
 and narrow bands of white; under tail coverts rufous, with 
 small spots of white; under wing coverts white. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 3.25; tail, 1.75. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 Note. But one seen since the above was written ten years 
 ago. 
 
 * Jas. Smithson (since dead) and John R. Smith, ot Loclcport, N. Y. 
 
108 NOTES ON THE 
 
 PORZANA JAMAICENSIS (Gmelin). (216.) 
 BLACK RAIL. 
 
 I record this southern species entirely upon a report that one 
 individual was taken last year in Fillmore county. Its descrip- 
 tion was so well given that, without seeing the specimen, which 
 was taken to some eastern collection before I had an opportu- 
 nity to examine it, I believe there can be no reasonable doubt 
 of its identity. Besides, it is a matter of record that it has been 
 obtained in Wisconsin several times, a good many years since. 
 (Birds of the N. W., Coues. ) 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Smaller than the Sora, or any other North American Rail. 
 Head and entire under parts bluish ash, or nearly slate color; 
 darker and nearly black on top of head; abdomen and under 
 tail coverts with transverse bands of white; neck behind and 
 upper part of back dark reddish-chestnut; other upper parts 
 brownish-black with circular spots and irregular transverse 
 stripes of white; quills brownish-black, with small spots of 
 white; tail nearly same colors. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 3.25; tail, 1.50. 
 
 Habitat, middle and southern states. L. B.R. 
 
 GALLINULA GALEATA (Lichtenstein). (219. ) 
 
 FLORIDA GALLINULE. 
 
 This is another species which I found in the hands of Mr. 
 Shroeder as long ago as 1865. Since then I have had ample 
 opportunity to decide that although not common, it is a regular 
 summer resident, breeding in the Minnesota River bottoms at 
 Big Stone lake, and along the Red river. 
 
 It has been seen very rarely earlier than in June, when they 
 were unquestionably breeding, although in one or two instances 
 it has been observed in April, thereby showing that it migrates 
 in all probability as early as the Rails do, and possibly the 
 principal ducks. One nest obtained by a gentleman residing 
 at Fort Wayne, Indiana, (Mr. George), and brought in with the 
 bird, was constructed entirely of reeds, which constituted but 
 the upper portion of a mass that had been built up out of the 
 water. It contained ten eggs of a light brown color, spattered 
 and splotched with reddish-brown, more marked about the 
 larger end. Other nests have been described to me as having 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 109 
 
 been constructed of different materials, and placed on floating 
 debris. The newly hatched young resemble black chickens in 
 their appearance and notes. In their habits they resemble the 
 Rails. 
 
 Langille, in his work, "Our Birds and their Haunts," page 
 403, says of the young of this Gallinule: — "These birds which 
 swim, dive, or run upon the lilly-pads with equal ease, are to 
 be associated with still waters, and with that queen of our 
 ponds and lakes, the sweet-scented water-nymph. No infant 
 of a royal household ever sported under a more beautiful can- 
 opy than is found by these Gallinule chicks beneath the snowy 
 wreath of odorous petals and central crown of gold, standing 
 like an elegant sunshade in that quiet nook, which mirrors the 
 bluff and the surrounding landscape." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Frontal plate large, obovate, terminating square on top 
 of the head; bill shorter than head, rather thick, compressed; 
 wing rather long; tail short; legs moderate; toes and claws 
 long and robust; head, neck, and entire under parts dark- 
 bluish cinerous, frequentlj' nearly black on the head and neck, 
 and generally lighter on the abdomen; a few feathers on the 
 flanks widely edged with white; shorter under tail coverts 
 black, longer ones white; upper parts brownish-olive, darker 
 on the rump; quills dark brown; tail brownish -black; frontal 
 plate and bill, bright red, tipped with yellow; tibia with a 
 bright red space on the bare portion next to the feathers; 
 lower portion of the tibia, tarsus and toes yellowish-green. 
 
 Length, 12.50; wing, 6.75; tail, 3; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.75-2. 
 
 Habitat, temperate and tropical America. 
 
 FULICA AMERICANA Gmelin. (221.) 
 AMERICAN COOT. 
 
 A most abundant and universally distributed species, reach- 
 ing us but little if any later in spring than the Mallards, 
 breeding in extensive communities on inaccessible bogs, with 
 nests of half rotted reeds loosely built, in which they lay ten 
 or a dozen dirty-cream eggs, speckled and spotted with dark- 
 umber. This is the terse record of the Coot or Mud Hen, in 
 Minnesota. 
 
 From the Iowa line to the British possessions, the testimony 
 of observers is the same, that they are "abundant every- 
 where." Mr. Washburn's report of the ornithology of Otter 
 Tail county speaks of their presence in great numbers on a 
 little lake near Dead lake as late as the 26th of October (1885), 
 
110 NOTES ON THE 
 
 even after the ice had formed, leaving only small patches of 
 open water into which they crowded in a dense black mass. 
 Quoting from his memorandum of the 21st, he says: — "Last 
 night was cold and still, and this morning it is a comical sieht 
 to see them standing on the slippery surface of the ice. When 
 alighting, the impetus of their flight causes them to slide 
 along like a schoolboy on skates. A foot slips from under 
 one, down it goes, sprawling with outstretched wings, but soon 
 regaining its feet to try again. In the unfrozen spots, the 
 water was black with them, mingled with Ducks, the whole 
 looking like a compact black body, while on the edges of the 
 ice, large Mallards and Ked-heads stood looking with suspicion 
 towards the spot where I stood." 
 
 Rev. J. H. Langille's description of many of the habits of this 
 species is so nearly like the notes I find in my own note book, 
 that I should subject myself to the suspicion of plagiarism if I 
 did not either reword them, or quote him, so I accept the latter 
 alternative, with the cheerful acknowledgment that I think him 
 entitled to the copyright, for although the later written, they 
 are the better. He says in his ' ' Our Birds in their Haunts, " 
 pp. 405-6; "Its breeding habitat is from Northern New Eng- 
 land, the Great Lakes, and corresponding latitudes, northward. 
 It breeds in such abundance as to be the characteristic bird on 
 St. Clair flats, where they are as common as hens in a farm 
 yard. The nest is in reedy pools or shallow water about rivers, 
 lakes and ponds, composed of dried grasses and sedges, after 
 the manner of the Rails and Gallinules, sometimes tied to the 
 tall clumps of sedges, and yet resting on a mass of floating debris; 
 sometimes resting on the dry ground near their watery abodes. 
 On St. Clair flats it is a floating nest, anchored to the cat-tails 
 and sedges, resembling that of the Common Gallinule, but gen- 
 erally placed further out in the flooded marshes, towards the 
 channels and the lake. 
 
 "Some twelve inches in external diameter, and rising about 
 eight inches above the water, it is almost invariably built of 
 the dried and bleached leaves of the cat-tail; the saucer shaped 
 interior being often lined with fine marsh grass. Like that of 
 the Gallinule, the nest often has a gradual inclination on one 
 side, forming a convenience for the bird to enter from the water. 
 So free is the motion of this nest, that it may rise and fall with 
 the changes of water level, or rock in the storm with perfect 
 safety. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. Ill 
 
 'The eggs, some 9-14, 1.87x 1.27 to 2.00x1. 80, are slightly 
 tinged with brown being very minutely specked and spotted all 
 over with black, or dark brown, and so near the color of the 
 bleached material on which they are laid, as scarcely to be dis- 
 cernible at any considerable distance. The bird does not sit 
 very closely, but running on the debris or water for a few feet, 
 takes wing with a peculiar splatter, never rising high or flying 
 far. When swimming, the Coot will often allow an approach 
 within shot range, then starting on a run on the water it will 
 rise into the air gradually with a spatting, spattering noise, 
 which soon becomes very familiar and distinguishable to the 
 ear. Often shaking the large lobed feet when clear of the 
 water, it flies with the bill pointing down and the feet bending 
 upward, its broad wings differing from those of the Ducks; and 
 its near splash into the water being about as peculiar to itself 
 as is its noise on rising. Very properly do the western hun- 
 ters call this bird the " Splatterer. " When the black clouds 
 of a near thunder storm are overhead, its white bill in front of 
 its black head becomes very conspicuous, fairly gleaming with 
 whiteness. It is decidedly a noisy bird, its coo-coo-coo-coo-coo 
 being heard both day and night, the first note being prolonged 
 on a much higher key, while the rest are somewhat accelerated. 
 It will often quack similar to a duck, and has other notes too 
 unique and difficult of description to be given here. 
 
 ' 'The Coot is quite playful on the water, and when the male 
 stretches his neck forward, partly elevates his wings like the 
 swan, and spreads his tail, showing the white underneath, he 
 is quite a beauty no doubt, in the eyes of the female." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck glossy black, with a tinge of ashy; under tail 
 coverts white; entire other plumage dark bluish cinereous or 
 slate color, with a tinge of olive on the back and darker on the 
 rump; edge of wing at shoulder and edge of first primary, 
 white; secondary quills tipped with white; rump frequently 
 tinged with brownish; bill very pale, or nearly white, with a 
 transverse band of brownish black near the end, the tip white; 
 legs dull grayish green. 
 
 Length, 14; wing, 7; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
Order LIMICOL^. 
 
 FamUy PHALAEOPODIJJ^. 
 
 CRYMOPHILIIS KULICARIUS (L). (222.) 
 RED PHALAROPE. 
 
 The Phalaropes are chiefly distinguished from the other 
 families of the order to which they belong by their lobate feet. 
 There are only three species known in this country, and they 
 are divided into two genera. This one stands alone in its 
 genus, but is a companion of the Northern Phalarope in its 
 breeding only in the artic latitudes so far as is at present 
 known. It is only a transient migrant here, seen in its spring 
 migration about the 10th of May, and again in August, usually 
 not far from the 25th in its southern movements. I have 
 generally found them at those times occupying sandy knolls in 
 the vicinity of the smaller lakes and ponds, yetnot infrequently 
 on the dry, cattle grazed prairies; notably in early times in the 
 vicinity of Fort Snelling and westerly from there upon the 
 highlands along the Minnesota river. When looking for them 
 I have seldom been disappointed in finding them very regularly 
 at these times and in these localities until in late years they 
 have sought more relired spots to avoid the pothunters, whose 
 bags bear testimony that they still visit us at the usual times 
 mentioned. They remain about from two to three weeks, when 
 the maternal impulse sends them to their chosen latitudes for 
 breeding in their spring migrations, and towards the south for 
 food in their autumnal 
 
 Should the time of their migration be characterized by ex- 
 tremes of the weather, they remain but a very short time. I 
 have seldom failed to find more or less of them in the hands of 
 those indefatigable taxidermists, Messrs. Wm. Howling and 
 Son, at these seasons, freshly procured for mounting to fill 
 orders from distant sections for museums, or for private 
 collections. Mr. Washburn's visits to the Red river country 
 were a little too early for their presence. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 113 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill strong, flattened and widened towards the end; wings 
 long, tail short; legs short, plumage thick and compact like that 
 of the swimming birds; head above, space around base of bill, 
 throat and back, brownish-black; feathers of last edged broadly 
 with pale, ochre-yellow; wings and tail ashy-brown, paler on 
 the wing coverts; greater wing coverts widely tipped with 
 white; stripe on cheek white; entire under parts deep, brownish 
 red, inclining to purple on the abdomen, and with a glaucous 
 cast in very mature specimens; under wing coverts and axil- 
 laries pure white; bill greenish -yellow; feet dark-bluish. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 5.25; tail, 2.75; bill, 1; tarsus, 0.75. 
 
 Habitat, northern parts of northern hemisphere, breeding in 
 the artic regions, and migrating south in winter; in the United 
 States south to the Middle States, Ohio Valley, and Cape St. 
 Lucas. Chiefly maritime. 
 
 PHALAROPUS LOBATUS (L). (223.) 
 NORTHEEN PHALAROPE. 
 
 About as well represented as the Red, the Northern Phala- 
 rope reaches us at the same time in May with the other, in 
 small parties of five or six, or even less in many instances, in 
 the vernal migrations. In the latter part of August, they 
 return with their numbers somewhat augmented, which are 
 still increasing somewhat until their final departure in Sep- 
 tember. Graceful in every movement, and extremely active 
 in procuring their food, which consists of small moUusks, insects, 
 worms, and crustaceans, they cannot fail to arrest the atten- 
 tion wherever seen. It affects pools, and ponds of water con- 
 taining different forms of aquatic insect life. A tender bird, 
 all leave on the first advent of the first decided frost, which has 
 occurred within my own memory several times, on the night of 
 August 31st and September 1st. 
 
 They are known to breed in the higher latitudes, but none 
 are known to do so this side of the British possessions. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Neck encircled with a ring of bright rufous, with a stripe of 
 the same on each side; head abo^e and -neck behind, sooty- 
 ash; back, wings and tail, brownish-black, paler on the rump, 
 mixed with bright ferruginous on the back; tips of greater 
 wing coverts white; sides and flanks ashy, frequently mixed 
 with reddish; throat, breast, and abdomen white; bill, legs and 
 iris dark brown. 
 • Length, 7; wing, 4.50; tail, 2.25; bill, 1; tarsus, 0.75. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America. « 
 
114 NOTES ON THE 
 
 PHALAROPCS TRICOliOR (Vieillot). (224.) 
 WILSON'S PHALAROPE. 
 
 Of all the shore birds which are ever seen about our ponds 
 and numerous lakes, Wilson's Phalarope is the most beautiful. 
 Reaching the lower borders of the State by the 25th of April, 
 they gradually spread over its whole extent where the food- 
 conditions invite them, and after about three weeks, build their 
 nests in canebrakes, and reed-embraced pools, in close prox- 
 imity to those of several other species of water birds. The 
 nests are constructed of fine reeds, grass, and invariably a little 
 moss, — sometimes principally of moss with no reeds and but 
 little grass, and is a loose structure, placed on a hummock of 
 moss, or in a tussock of reeds or grass. 
 
 They contain three to four olivaceous-drab colored eggs, 
 splotched all over with large spots of dark umber. These 
 colors vary exceedingly in different specimens. 
 
 The young are following the parent by the third week in 
 June, and are full grown by the first week in August. They 
 remain but little later than the other Phalaropes in the autumn 
 generally, although not very infrequently individuals have been 
 obtained in October. 
 
 Their chief food seems to be moUusca, but embraces excep- 
 tionally nearly everything eaten by the other Phalaropes, and 
 the different species of Snipe. 
 
 Their habits are so occult that it is no easy task to observe 
 them. Wading about in a busy, contented manner in a shal- 
 low pool, picking out its food nimbly, and unerringly, or 
 creeking a note repeatedly that is much more easily learned 
 than written, they seem the embodiment of beauty, grace, and 
 absolute contentment amidst the humblest circumstances of en- 
 vironment. 
 
 A good number of these birds have found their way into the 
 different taxidermal and scientific collections in the State, in 
 different stages of developement, and many more find their way 
 into the markets in snipe season during fall shooting. 
 
 My greatest diffuculty in getting the eggs of this species into 
 my records rightly has been the popular confounding of the 
 birds with the "snipes." I have insisted upon the bird accom- 
 panying the nests and eggs until in two instances I have at- 
 tained certainly, and in one fairly so, although I have never 
 had the great pleasure of securing them myself. Their local 
 breeding habits ao-e above any question. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 115 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Larger than either of the other Phalaropes; bill, slender, 
 flattened; wings, long; tail, short; legs, moderate; tarsus, com- 
 pressed; plumage very compact; head above and neck behind, 
 light ashy; wide stripe behind the eye, reddish-black; neck be- 
 fore, and wide stripe running upwards onto the back, bright red- 
 dish- brown, darker on the sides of the neck; back, wings, and 
 tail, cinereous; darkest on the wings, and mixed with reddish 
 on the back; rump, and upper tail coverts, white; entire under 
 parts white, except the neck before, which is pale reddish; bill 
 and legs, black. 
 
 Length, 9.50; wing, 5.50; tail, 2.25; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
 Family RECURVIROSTRID^. 
 
 RECURTIROSTRA AMERICANA Gmelin. (225.) 
 
 AMERICAN AVOCET. 
 
 These waders are less abundant in Minnesota than in either 
 of the Dakotas, but I have met them in their spring migrations 
 almost uniformly, and in small flocks occasionally in the autumn. 
 They arrive about the first week in May, sometimes a little 
 earlier, and mostly disappear in a few days, the majority 
 going either farther north, or west into the states mentioned, 
 where the general conditions are more favorable for their food. 
 Except in San Diego, California, I have found them mostly 
 about the shores of small lakes in dry sections, many of them 
 sandy, and without much if any timber. Nearly every dryland 
 lake has somewhere along its outline a marshy, muddy border 
 that affords just the kind of condition most likely to be charged 
 with an abundance of larvae and worms which constitute their 
 chief diet. However, during migration and the interval be- 
 tween their arrival and the nesting, I have found them along 
 the borders of running water, and the sandy, stony shores of 
 large lakes like Minnetonka, but only in pairs. At these times 
 they are not infrequently associated with the Stilts. The only 
 nest that I ever saw was on the shore, perhaps not more 
 than a yard from the water, and consisted of little more than a 
 moderate depression in the dry earth between tussocks of 
 coarse grass, with some fragments of grass and weeds laid 
 loosely around it. It contained four eggs the ground color of 
 which was an olivaceous-drab, but varying in intensity in the 
 
116 NOTES ON THE 
 
 entire clutch, and marked very distinctly with different shades 
 of brown. They are less frequently seen in the fall than in the 
 spring, and are all gone sometime before the frost has cut off 
 their supply of food. 
 
 Since my first records of this species I have been told that 
 several specimens have been seen along the Minnesota- bottoms 
 during summer, leaving a reasonable presumption that they 
 breed there limitedly; and rumor makes them occasionally seen 
 at the same season along the Red river in the vicinity of Moor- 
 head, but with how much assurance of being correct I cannot 
 say. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill rather long, depressed; wings long; legs long; tarsi com- 
 pressed; tail short; head and neck pale reddish-brown, darker 
 on the head, fading gradually into white; back, wings, coverts 
 and quills, black; scapulars, lips of greater wing, coverts, 
 rump and tail, and entire under parts, white, the last fre- 
 quently tinged with reddish; bill brownish-black;- legs bluish. 
 
 Length, 17; wing, 9; tail, 3.50; commissure, 3.75; tarsus, 3.50. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 HIMA.NTOPUS MBXICANUS (Muller). (226.) 
 BLACK-NECKED STILT. 
 
 This wader has as nearly the same history in Minnesota as 
 the Avocet as any description could make it. Arriving simul- 
 taneously, they are found essentially in the same localities, 
 and breeding alike as to nesting and feeding. However, I will 
 say that this species is found more abundantly represented in 
 those places where the Avocets are least, and quite as well 
 represented in their main breeding locations on the Red river. 
 I have never seen its nest "in situ," but the eggs I have seen. 
 They are pale brownish-olive, and covered with dark brown 
 splotches, varied with lighter brown. 
 
 Mr. Lewis reports them common along the Red river from 
 spring till late in October. Mr. Washbnrn does not mention 
 them at either that section, or at Mille Lacs, Mr. Treganowan 
 notes them at Kandiyohi, and in Grant county in limited num- 
 bers, but not in the breeding season. It is quite evident that 
 migrants from the north in September, distribute themselves 
 over sections that are not visited by birds breeding here. It 
 is very sure that none have ever been observed in those sec- 
 tions at other times than those of migrations. A few have 
 been seen at Duluth on Lake Superior (Laurie), and others in 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 117 
 
 Le Sueur county, (sent to this city for mounting), and they get 
 into the Snipe market occasionally in the fall. The latest 
 date at which 1 have any record of seeing them is October 15th, 
 (1874). 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Legs very long and slender; wings long; large space in front 
 of the head, spot behind the eye, and entire under parts, white, 
 frequently with a very pale reddish tinge; head above, neck 
 behind, back and wings, glossy black; rump and tail white, the 
 latter frequently tinged with ashy; bill black; legs red, 
 
 Length, 14; wing, 8.50; tarsus, 4; tail, 3; commissure, 3. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 Note. The Black-necked Stilts are much more common in 
 Minnesota than I formerly supposed, breeding in general sec- 
 tions in which the Avocets breed as evidenced by their 
 presence during the entire season of nidification. After they 
 disperse to breed, they are seldom seen except by those speci- 
 ally devoted to the critical study of their specific habits, and 
 then very infrequently as they are much devoted to their 
 special duties, and as it is well known that the male assumes 
 equal responsibility in covering the eggs in the intervals of 
 the absence of the female, and as the young are cared for much 
 longer than many other species look after theirs, their vigi- 
 lance in maintaining great secrecy would add greatly to the 
 difficulties in finding their nests. I have never seen it, but the 
 eggs have been sent to me under circumstances under which I 
 could have no doubt of them, and corresponded to the descrip- 
 tions of the acknowledged authorities. 
 
 Family SCOLOPACID^. 
 
 PHILOHELA MINOR (Gmelin). (228.) 
 AMEKICAN WOODCOCK. 
 
 As early as the full tide of the Duck migration reaches us, 
 the Woodcock is here, and invariably in small parties of five or 
 six, rarely more. At this time it will be found in the low 
 brushlands bordering heavier growths on the southern side. 
 I have no record of its arrival earlier than the last week in 
 March, when it was obtained by Mr. J. C. Bailey near Whale 
 Tail lake, in the western part of Hennepin county, at a spot 
 long known to him as a favorite one for the Woodcocks. He 
 discovered it by having observed it about the same date in 
 former years, and being on the alert for its first arrival, 
 watched for it at twilight in the morning. Its habits are so 
 well known to sportsmen, that it would be time unprofitably 
 spent to refer to most of them here, but for the fact that all 
 
118 NOTES ON THE 
 
 who are interested in the natural history survey of Minnesota 
 are not sportsmen. It is essentially a nocturnal bird, beginning 
 its movements in search of food at the early twilight and ter- 
 minating them only at the opening day. As the food consists 
 of animalcules, insects and worms chiefly, and the bill is long, 
 slim and slender, it must find pools of stagnant water, and soft, 
 muddy soil in which to secure it. When visiting such localities, 
 the borings of their bills in soft mucky places, will often attract 
 the experienced eye, and result in the early capture of a brace 
 of these birds. Often times during the spring and summer, I 
 have determined their presence in some favored locality by 
 hearing their notes in the night. These consist of several 
 forms or variations, the principal ones of which are more 
 nearly expressed by chip-ah, cMp-ah, chip, and another some- 
 what resembling tweet, tweet, tweet-ah, tweet-ah, &c. 
 
 If not already mated when they reach this latitude, they are 
 soon after, for by the fifth to the tenth of April the nests are 
 constructed, and the eggs laid. These are from three to four 
 in number, of a creamy-drab, with a little shade of olivaceous, 
 more or less spotted with reddish-brown and lilac. Both sexes 
 participate in the sacrifices of incubation, and vie with each 
 other in faithfulness to the eggs and young, the latter being 
 fed by them until about full grown I think the new family re- 
 mains unbroken till their southern migration has taken place, 
 unless broken by their destruction. 
 
 I have found them as late as the fifteenth of October, yet I 
 am satisfied that this is exceptionally late for the larger part 
 of them. In every respect the Woodcock is unique. In struct- 
 ure, it certainly is so remarkable that the commonest observer 
 would at once recognize it. No other bird has its eyes so near 
 the top of its head, a characteristic so marked as to lead 
 to the identity by anyone who ever saw a plate of it, or even 
 had read a popular description of it. Its nocturnal habits are 
 such that it may be comparatively abundant in a given locality 
 without the slightest suspicion of its presence, until familiar 
 with its ' 'borings" which may be numerous in the immediate 
 vicinity of the residence. For years this was the case with 
 a family residing near the banks of the Mississippi, within the 
 limits of this city. The borings had yearly been noticed near 
 the stable and attributed to worms, while the bird tracks asso- 
 ciated with them were credited to snipe that came to feed upon 
 them. As soon as an intimation of their real origin came to 
 the gentleman residing there, he began a series of careful 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 119 
 
 observations resulting in the discovery of several nests within 
 a hundred yards of his barn. For as much as five years after 
 the observation of the borings, part of which passed before 
 his knowledge of their real cause, these birds returned to the 
 same place, but new nests were constructed each season. He 
 was able to secure me all the eggs of Woodcock that I desired, 
 and allowed me full opportunity to share all his observations 
 during the last year of their return. The extension of the 
 streets of the city demanding the removal of the barn, thicket, 
 and the soft, mucky springhole, put an everlasting end to 
 their return. One of the nests alluded to seemed to have been 
 constructed entirely of leaves, while another had a large mix- 
 ture of dried grasses. Still, in the larger number of instances 
 it consists only of leaves, with very little attempt at architec- 
 ture. The choice of the place for the nest is perhaps more 
 commonly a meadow rather than a thicket, and in a clump of 
 small willows, alders or birches, wherein are accumulated 
 many leaves of the previous year out of which to construct 
 them. The period of incubation is fourteen days. That time 
 is made equal to a much longer one, by the circumstances of 
 the male occupying the nest in the absence of the female to pro- 
 cure herself food. It was remarkable to me to see how tena- 
 ciously the sitting bird would cling to the nest in the immediate 
 presence of danger, allowing me to almost reach it with my 
 hand before slipping off and flying away. At other than the 
 time of incubation, they shift their feeding grounds in what 
 appears a most capricious manner, but really under the indica- 
 tions of the weather, a circumstance familiar to expert Wood- 
 cock hunters. Their flight is spirited and rapid, and attended 
 with a twittering note that is very characteristic. They have 
 a remarkable habit of poising a moment on their wings when 
 they have been flushed, in which position they are pretty sure 
 of death from the sportsman's shot, if he is accustomed to 
 shooting Woodcock, and it is the only position in which any 
 one except an expert will be likely to harm them, for they 
 drop out of sight as if killed when they disappear again. 
 They are rapid runners and hard to flush the second time, but 
 will stand for a dog to point as long as almost any other bird 
 in the sportsman's calendar. During the latter part of the 
 summer, they disappear until early in September, or even a 
 little later, it being their moulting season, when it is nearly 
 impossible to find them, indeed I must say that I have never 
 quite satisfied myself where they go. 
 
 9z 
 
120 NOTES ON THE 
 
 But when they return in that month, instead of affecting the 
 former localities, they are generally found in cultivated fields, 
 amidst corn, grain shocks, etc., and occasionally in ditches in 
 the meadows. Itinerant collectors have failed to contribute 
 any information about this species in other sections of the 
 State, and I am left to sportsmen for facts concerning their 
 local distribution. Through them I have ascertained that 
 while nowhere extremely abundant, it is found in all sections 
 favorable for their securing food. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill long, compressed, punctured and corrugated near the 
 end; upper mandible longest, and fitted to lower at the tip; 
 wings moderate, first three quills very narrow; tail short; legs 
 moderate; eyes inserted unusually distant from the bill; occi- 
 put with three transverse bands of black, alternating with 
 three others of pale, yellowish rufous; upper parts of the body 
 variegated with pale ashy, rufous, or yellowish-red of various 
 shades, and black; large space in front, and throat, reddish- 
 ashy; line from the eye to the bill, and another on the neck 
 below the eye, brownish-black; entire under parts pale rufouSj 
 brighter on the sides and under wing coverts; quills ashy- 
 brown; tail feathers, brownish-black, tipped with ashy, darker 
 on the upper surface, paler and frequently yrhite on the under; 
 bill light brown, paler and yellowish at the base; legs pale 
 reddish; iris brown. 
 
 Length, 11; wing, 5.25; tail, 2.25; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern province of North America, north to Brit 
 ish provinces, west to Dakota, Kansas, etc. 
 
 GALLINAGO DEIICATA (Ord). (230.) 
 WILSON'S SNIPE. 
 
 In the last days of February, some sixteen years ago, the 
 Ducks, Geese, and this species of Snipe came into this latitiide 
 as unseasonably as the farmers commenced sowing their wheat. 
 And cold as several ' 'snaps" were subsequently, none of these 
 species left the country, appearing constantly afterwards on 
 the fields and in the marshes where the waters were open. 
 The Snipes are usually either preceded by the Geese and 
 Ducks somewhat, or being quite nocturnal in their habits, are 
 overlooked for more or less time after their arrival, which is 
 probably the case. Excepting the spring mentioned, and 
 another in which they were observed on the 27th of March, 
 they have never come under my notice, nor have they been re- 
 ported to me by others before the first of April. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 121 
 
 They come in small parties that resort to the ponds, and are 
 found in the meadows late in May, more frequently in pairs 
 than in these small flocks of half a dozen. A few are occasion- 
 ally seen as late as the 15th of May, but the most have disap- 
 peared by the end of the last week of April, or the first of May. 
 
 Sportsmen insist that they belong in Kandiyohi county, but 
 I do not fully credit the statement, although the lateness of 
 the date on which they have come under my own observation 
 here, make such a fact possible, especially in the northwestern 
 portions of our territory. No nests have yet been reported 
 within our borders. They return here in flocks of twenty to 
 thirty, or even more sometimes, about the 25th of August. 
 These flocks are gradually augmented until hundreds may be 
 flushed on their favorite feeding grounds by the 25th of Sep- 
 tember. Mr.- Washburn found them abundantly represented 
 everywhere in favorable localities in the Red river valley, from 
 October 10th till the 25th, (when he left there), and Dr. Hvoslef 
 reports them in Fillmore county, November 8, (1885). Mr. 
 Lewis was always confident that a few remain in the south- 
 western section of the State all winter. The latest that any 
 have been seen in Hennepin county (latitude 45), is November 
 12th, 1868. Their habits while here are too well known to 
 need any description. 
 
 Since writing the above, many circumstantial proofs have 
 reached me that this species does breed considerably within our 
 limits, and I shall hope that before this report is finally closed, 
 I shall be fully assured that such is the case, for everybody in 
 general believes so. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill long, compressed, flattened, and slightly expanded 
 towards the tip, pustulated in its terminal half ; wings rather 
 long; legs moderate; tail short; entire upper parts brownish- 
 black, every feather spotted and widely edged with light 
 rufous, yellowish, or ashy -white; back and rump transversely 
 barred and spotted with the same; a line from {he base of the 
 bill over the top of the head, throat and neck before, dull 
 reddish-ashy; wing feathers marked with dull brownish-black; 
 other under parts white, with transverse bars of brownish- 
 black on the sides, axillary feathers, under wing coverts, and 
 under tail coverts; quills brownish-black; outer edge of first 
 primary white; tail glossy brownish-black, widely tipped with 
 bright rufous, paler at the tip, and with a subterminal 
 narrow band of black; outer tail feathers paler, frequently 
 
122 NOTES ON THE 
 
 nearly white, and barred with black throughout their length; 
 bill brown, yellowish at base and darker towards the end; 
 legs dark brown; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 10.50; wing, 5; tail, 2.25; bill, 2.50; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 MACRORHAMPHUS SCOLOPACEUS (Say). (232.) 
 
 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER. 
 
 The migrations of this Snipe do not materially differ in any 
 respect from Wilson's. If anything, ,it is habitually the more 
 abundantly represented, especially in the fall migrations. Some- 
 times they reach us simultaneously with the earlier Ducks, but 
 more frequently they are in spring a little later. They fly very 
 compactly, and are thus slaughtered in great numbers for the 
 market in the autumn. In the absence of positive proof I 
 nevertheless believe that they breed here more or less, as they 
 are occasionally met with until late in July when they are 
 moulting, and seek the most secluded and unapproachable 
 places. Scarcely a season passes in which I do not meet a 
 few solitary individuals in my own county, and wherever I go 
 I get the same report. It is often well into October before the 
 last of them are gone. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Rather smaller than the preceding; bill long, compressed, 
 flattened, and expanded towards the end where it is punctula- 
 ted and corrugated; wing rather long, shaft of first primary 
 strong; tail short, legs rather long; upper parts variegated 
 with dark ashy, pale reddish and black, the latter predomi- 
 nating on the back; rump and upper tail coverts white, the 
 latter spotted and barred transversely with black; under part's 
 pale ferruginous-red, with numerous points and circular spots 
 of brownish-black on the neck before, and transverse bands of 
 the same on the sides and under tail coverts; axillary feathers 
 and under wing coverts white, spotted and transversely barred 
 with black; quills brownish-black, shaft of first primary white; 
 tail brownish-black, with numerous transverse bands of ashy 
 white, frequently tinged with ferruginous, especially on the two 
 middle feathers; bill greenish-black; legs dark greenish-brown. 
 
 Length, 10; wing, 5.75; tail, 2.25; bill, 2.25; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, Mississippi Valley and Western Province of North 
 America. 
 
 Note. After Dr. Coues had spoken so emphatically in the 
 rejection of the specific name of this species, in his Birds of 
 the Northwest, p. 477, and upon what seemed to be the best of 
 reasons, I am not a little surprised to find it adopted by the 
 American Ornithological Union. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 123 
 
 The extreme variations in the measurements of individuals 
 of the same species amongst the Limicoline birds is too well 
 known to be questioned, but fifty against one settles it till 
 another forty-nine shall arise to help him fight his battle over. 
 The tinkering with the nomenclature of the birds has been the 
 terror of the tyros. 
 
 MICROPALAKA HIMANTOPUS (Bonaparte). (233.) 
 STILT SANDPIPER. 
 
 This Sandpiper was one of the first of my trophies in my early 
 collections in the then Territory of Minnesota. In years after- 
 wards, I had made many a collecting tour before I had this bird 
 in hand again. Since then for some twenty-five years, it has been 
 my good fortune to meet them many times, but not every sea- 
 son of migration, nor even every year, and they are never com- 
 mon. Coming to us in the night, as do all of the scolopaceous 
 birds, they are easily overlooked for some time after their 
 arrival in most cases, but through the long series of observa- 
 tions I have recorded, I find that they have come under my 
 notice on the average about the fifth of April. 
 
 They remain but a short time before the last have disap 
 peared in a further northward movement. They come in 
 small fiocks, and keep mostly about shallow ponds, and along 
 the smaller streams flowing through the marshes, but I have 
 found them on the sandy beaches of some of the larger lakes 
 on several occasions. Their food while here does not differ 
 from that of most other species of the family. They are shy, 
 and exceedingly vigilant, making it no easy matter to get 
 them. By the last week in August they begin to return to us 
 in appreciably larger numbers, and remain until about the first 
 of November. I have no record later than October 27th. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Legs long, slender; toes slender, united at base with web, 
 the outer of which is the larger; hind toe small; bill long, some- 
 what arched, slender, much compressed, expanded and flat- 
 tened at the tip, which is minutely punctulated and corrugated, 
 pointed; tail short, middle feathers longest, outer feathers 
 frequently longer than the next, under coverts long; lower 
 half of tibia naked; upper parts brownish- black, nearly all the 
 feathers edged with ashy-white and yellowish-red; narrow 
 band from aoove the eye to the occiput, bright brownish-red, 
 inclosing the brownish- black of the top of the head; spot on 
 the ears the same red; rump and upper tail coverts white, with 
 transverse narrow stripes' and pointed spots of brownish black; 
 
124 NOTES ON THE 
 
 under parts ashy-white, tinged with pale reddish, with numer- 
 ous longitudinal stripes of brownish -black on the neck, and 
 transverse stripes of the same on the other under parts; axil- 
 lary feathers white; under wing coverts ashy- white; bill and 
 legs greenish-black. 
 
 Length, 9; wing, 5.25; tail, 2.25; bill, 1.75; tarsus, 1.75. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern Province of North America. 
 
 TRINGA CANUTUS L (234.) 
 KNOT. 
 
 There have been two or three years in succession when I 
 failed to find this rather rare Sandpiper, followed by as many 
 more when I would get one or two of them, but for the last ten 
 years I find more of them in the market, brought "from 
 beyond the Big Woods, " than I find anywhere else. 
 
 They are found single in the spring migrations, or at most 
 in pairs, but in the late summer and fall they are invariably 
 mingled with other species. Their stay is very short in ,the 
 spring, but in the fall they remain until November. There is 
 little in their habits while with us to distinguish them from 
 the other members of the family. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill straight, rather longer than the head, compressed and 
 slightly enlarged at the tip; upper mandible with the nasal 
 groove extending to near the tip; legs moderate; tibia with its 
 lower third naked; neck, moderate; wing, long; tail, short; toes, 
 free at base, flattened beneath, widely margined, hind toe small 
 jand slender; entire upper parts light gray, with lanceolate, 
 inear and irregular spots of black, and others pale-reddish; 
 ^ump and upper tail coverts white, with transverse narrow 
 bands and crescent shaped spots of black; under parts light 
 brownish-red, paler in the middle of the abdomen; under tail 
 coverts, tibial feathers, flanks, axillary feathers, and under 
 wing coverts white, generally with spots and transverse bars 
 of brownish-black; quills brownish -black with their shafts 
 white; tail, light brownish-cinereous without bars or spots, all 
 the feathers edged with White, and frequently with a second 
 sub edging of dark-brown; bill, brownish- black; legs, greenish 
 black. 
 
 Length, 10; wing, 6.50; tail, 2.50, commissure, 1.50; tarsus 
 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, nearly cosmopolitan. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 125 
 
 TRINGA MACULATA Vieillot. (239.) 
 
 PECTORAL SANDPIPER. 
 
 This familiar bird to the sportsmen is a common species dur- 
 ing its migrations, arriving in spring about the 1st of April, or 
 a trifle later, and remaining until about the first week in May. 
 They appear in -^ery small scattered parties, or singly. While 
 with us they seem to become paired, as in shooting one, another 
 one is almost sure to flush", and quite certain to be if hunted 
 with a dog, when the two are found to represent opposite 
 sexes. They are usually found on dry meadows near to that 
 which is somewhat wet, and their food is principally crickets 
 in spring, interlarded with various dry-land larvae, small beetles 
 and ground worms. In the fall the grasshoppers are first 
 chosen, after which crickets and whatever other insects prevail 
 at the season. They remain almost unobserved by any one 
 except the sportsman until about the 20th of October before 
 moving away southward, but are not all gone very quickly then. 
 
 Never really abundant, but uniformly fairly common in their 
 migrations, and now well known to breed in nearly all portions 
 of the State to some extent. It was not until I had been on a 
 close lookout for • their local habits in this respect for many 
 years that I obtained a nest with three eggs, in the neighbor- 
 hood of Herman. Having often seen some of these birds in the 
 market in June, in the earlier years of my residence here, I 
 could have no doubts of their breeding here, and I had read in 
 the Pacific Railroad Reports that "This species has been as- 
 certained to breed abundantly in Wisconsin by Professor T. 
 Kumlein, an energetic cultivator of zoological science, now 
 resident in that state, " when I was directed to the locality where 
 the birds had been observed by a hunting friend of mine. It 
 was no small task to find the nest, but the reward was amply 
 satisfactory. It was placed directly on the ground, which was 
 hollowed out somewhat, and consisted of a small quantity of 
 dried grass, loosely disposed, and containing three eggs, col 
 ored yellowish-gray with spots of amber thickly scattered 
 around the larger end. Since then, I have received satisfac- 
 tory assurances that they have been found by others in several 
 sections of the State. Their habits, and their relative num- 
 bers, make observations of them during the incubating season 
 extremely difficult. 
 
126 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill rather longer than head, compressed, slightly depressed, 
 and expanded at the tip; nasal groove long; wings long; legs 
 rather long; tibia with nearly its lower half naked; toes free 
 at base, flattened underneath, and slightly margined; tail rather 
 short; middle feathers pointed; entire upper part brownish - 
 black, all the feathers edged and tipped with ashy and brown- 
 ish red; rump and upper tail coverts black, some of the outer 
 feathers of the latter edged with white; line from the bill over 
 the eye ashy-white; throat, abdomen, under wing coverts, axil- 
 liary feathers, and under tail coverts white; breast and neck 
 before, ashy white, all the feathers darker at the base and 
 with partially concealed lanceolate or pointed spots of brown- 
 ish-black; quills brownish-black; shaft of first primary white, of 
 the others brown; secondaries tipped and edged with white; 
 tertiaries edged with dull reddish-yellow; bill and feet dark 
 greenish-black. 
 
 Length, 9; wing, 5.25; tail, 2.50; bill to gape, 1.12; tarsus, 1. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 TRINGA BAIRBII (Coues). (241.) 
 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER. 
 
 In the spring of 1875, Dr. T. S. Roberts stated that he had 
 obtained several specimens of this species, . since which time 
 they have been collected by different parties on many occasions, 
 Mr. J. Ransom of Pelican lake, has sent several in the flesh, 
 all of which were spring birds, in good plumage. 
 
 There is no doubt of their habitual migrations through the 
 State, and in considerable numbers in the fall, reaching the 
 upper counties early in August, and passing on below, in the 
 latter part of September. 
 
 They are said to breed in Alaska. The description of the 
 species, of the habits of which I know nothing, I quote from 
 "Birds of the Northwest" by Coues. Adult Male. "Bill 
 wholly black, small and slender, slightly shorter than the 
 head, just as long as the tarsus,, or as the middle toe and claw, 
 slightly expanded or lancet shaped at the end, the point acute; 
 grooves long, narrow, deep; feathers on side of lower mandible 
 evidently reaching further than those on upper. Upper parts 
 brownish-black (deepest on the rump and middle upper tail 
 coverts, and lightest on the neck behind), each feather bor- 
 dered and tipped with pale brownish-yellow, the tipping of the 
 scapulars broader and nearly white, their margining broad and 
 brightest in tint, making several deep scollops towards the 
 shafts of the feathers. Only the outer series of upper tail 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 127 
 
 coverts on each side varied with whitish. Middle tail-feathers 
 brownish-black, the others plain gray with paler margins. 
 Jugulum tinged with light, dull yellowish-brown, spotted and 
 streaked with illy-deflned blackish markings, as are also the 
 sides under the wings. Throat and other under parts white, 
 unmarked. Feet black like the bill. 
 
 "Length, 7^; extent, 15^; wing, 4.9; bill, 0.85; tarsus and 
 middle toe and claw the same." 
 
 TRINGA MINUTILLA Vieillot. (242. ) 
 LEAST SANDPIPER. 
 
 Abundant everywhere in Minnesota during the migrations. 
 The numbers greatly reduced about the first week in May, but 
 no time during the remainder of the season when there is not 
 a fair representation until after the first sharp frosts. They 
 reach the locality where I live, about the 20th of April, in 
 backward seasons still later. Their first appearance here is in 
 flocks of ten to fifteen, which after about ten days more, grow 
 steadily less iu numbers until the species entirely disappears 
 as flocks. 
 
 There is no week in all the summer when at least one indivi- 
 dual may not be seen in the course of a day's collecting in the 
 marshes, amongst the muddy, or sandy shored ponds and 
 sloughs, or along the pebbly beach of a clear pure lake. 
 Never more than one at a time until in August, when the num- 
 ber increases from time to time, until by the 20th, they are seen 
 in considerable flocks. Of course they are breeding, but just 
 where, how, and when, are the unanswered questions still 
 pending. Four eggs were brought to me in 1880, said by the 
 kindly donor to be those of the Least Sandpiper, and I guess 
 that they were, but how am I to know? The bird which covered 
 them had not been secured. They answered the description, 
 " Buffy-yellow, thickly spotted with brown and drab." But 
 there are others that have all of these characteristics. I am not 
 certain that I have ever seen the eggs of this species. But I 
 do not hesitate to say that the Least Sandpiper breeds nearly 
 everywhere in the State. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef reports the species present at Lanesboro late in 
 May, and on the 4th of August, 1879. Mr. Washburn, who visi- 
 ted the Red river valley on the 28th of July, 1885, and re- 
 mained until the 12th of September, found them at Crooks ton 
 "in muddy fields, and on plowed ground, over which water 
 was standing; and again at Mud lake." He further remarlcs 
 
128 NOTES ON THE 
 
 "they were very tame and could be shot at again and again, 
 returning to the same place, and walking unconcernedly about 
 on the mud among their dead and dying comrades, perfectly 
 oblivious in their search for food, of the author of so much 
 destruction." And I could add similar reports from other 
 localities if they were needed. The flocks increase in size until 
 they are driven away by the cold, but they never assume the 
 proportions which they do on the sea coast. The above was 
 written in 1880, since which the bird, eggs and nest have been 
 added to my personal collections, and obtained by several col- 
 lectors. The nest is located on dry knolls, or sand dunes near 
 the shore of a pond, and consists of a hollow in the friable 
 soil, into which is placed a moderate quantity of dried grass. 
 There are four pretty, creamy eggs, dotted and blotched with 
 dark-brown more pronounced near the larger end. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 The smallest of all known species of this group found in 
 North America; bill about as long as the head, slightly curved 
 towards the end, which is very slightly expanded; grobvesin 
 both mandibles to near the tip; wing long; tertiaries nearly as 
 long as the primaries; tail short, middle feathers longest, 
 outer feabhers frequently longer than the intermediate; legs 
 long; lower third of the tibia naked; toes long, slender, mar- 
 gined, and flattened beneath; hind toe small; upper parts with 
 nearly every feather having a large central spot of brownish- 
 black, and widely margined with ashy and bright brownish-red; 
 rump and middle of the upper tail coverts, black; outer coverts 
 white, spotted with black; stripe over the eye, throat, and 
 breast, pale ashy-white, with numerous small longitudinal spots 
 of ashy- brown; abdomen and under tail coverts, white; quills, 
 dark brown, with the shafts of the primaries white; tertiaries 
 edged with reddish; middle feathers of the tail, brownish-black; 
 outer feathers light ashy- white; uuder surface of wing, light 
 brownish-ashy, with a large spot of white near the shoulder; 
 axillary feathers, white; bill and legs, greenish-brown, the 
 latter frequently yellowish-green. 
 
 Length, 5.50 to 6; wing, 3.50 to 3.75; tail, 1.75; bill to gape, 
 0.75; tarsus, 0.75. 
 
 Habitat, North and South America. 
 
 EREUNETES PUSILLUS (L.). (246.) 
 
 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPEE. 
 
 A regular migrant, reaching the section where I reside about 
 the 25th of April, intimately associated with the Least Sandpip- 
 ers, they remain about the smaller lakes and ponds for a short 
 time, and disappear so much like that species after three or 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 129 
 
 four weeks, that I strongly suspect tliat while they principally 
 go farther north to breed, some remain to do so with us. 
 
 For evident reasons already mentioned, if such is the case, 
 there is little occasion for surprise that the nests have not been 
 discovered. Their constant note, repeated in a subdued tone, 
 tweet, tweet, is similar to that of the other species. Indeed, all 
 their habits are indistinguishable, and I am compelled to have 
 the bird in my hands to identify it with any feeling of certainty 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill about the length of the head, rather thicker than usual 
 in this group; both mandibles somewhat expanded and flattened 
 at the tip, and minutely punctulated as in the genera Scolopax 
 and Oallinagoj wings, long; legs, moderate, rather slender; 
 toes united at the base by a membrane which is large, "between 
 the outer and middle toes, extending to the first joint; hind toe 
 small; tail, short, with the middle feathers longest; outer 
 feathers frequently longer than the third, presenting a doubly 
 emarginate character to the tail; under coverts nearly as long 
 as the tail; upper parts, light brownish-ashy, with lanceolate 
 or ovate spots of brownish-black in the middle of the feathers; 
 rump and upper tail coverts, black; front, band of the eye, and 
 entire under parts, ashy-white, with small spots on the breast 
 of ashy-brown; quills, brownish-black, lighter on their inner 
 webs, and with their shafts white; middle feathers of the tail, 
 brownish-black; outer feathers, pale brownish -ashy; under 
 wing coverts and axillaries, white; bill, greenish-black; feet 
 dark, the lower parts of the tarsus and toes, frequently tinged 
 with yellow; upper part in summer, mixed with light reddish; 
 iris, brown. 
 
 Length, 6.50; wing, 3.75; tail, 1.75; bill from gape, 0.75; 
 tarsus, 0.75 to 1. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern Province of North America. 
 
 CALIDRIS ARENARIA (L.). (248.) 
 SANDERLING. 
 
 The Sanderling has long been a common bird on the sea 
 coasts, and I had not expected to be permitted to list it in Min 
 nesota, when Mr. W. L. Tiffany (then a resident of this city 
 and enthusiastically interested in birds) brought me an adult 
 male in the spring of 1875. Since then I have found it a rather 
 regular visitor in both migrations, but some years I am confl 
 dent that they fail to appear, or in one of the migrations at 
 least. 
 
 They are never numerous, but come to us about the middle 
 of April in company with the Sandpipers and Snipes. It is 
 usual to find them mating to some extent while here, but they 
 
130 , NOTES ON THE 
 
 are soon gone afterwards. An individual I obtained in July 
 suggests the possibility of a few breeding here. All prejudged 
 conclusions as to the breeding limits of species are valueless. 
 And when emanating from persons assuming to be authori 
 ties in the matter they are often unjust to earnest, ambitious 
 young naturalists by reflecting shadows of doubt upon their 
 best work. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 No hina toe; front toes moderate or rather long, flattened 
 underneath; distinctly margined with a membrane; bill rather 
 longer than the head, straight, rather thick; ridge of upper 
 mandible flattened; nasal groove deep and nearly as long as the 
 upper n;andible, not so distinct in the lower; both mandibles 
 widened and flattened at the tip; aperture of the nostril large 
 and covered with a membrane; wing long; tail short, witkthe 
 middle feathers longest; under coverts as lon'g as the tail; legs 
 moderate; lower third of the tibia naked; upper parts light 
 ashy with lanceolate, hastate and ovate spots of brownish black 
 on top of the head, on the back, scapulars and shorter quills; 
 rump and upper tail coverts with fine transverse lines of black; 
 under parts pure white; shoulders brownish-black without 
 spots; quills brownish black with their shafts white and much 
 paler on the inner webs; greater wing coverts widely tipped 
 with white; middle feathers of tail ashy-brown, edged with 
 white; outer feathers paler; bill and legs greenish-black; sexes 
 alike; iris brown. 
 
 Length, 8; wing, 5; tail, 2; bill, 1;. tarsus, 1. 
 
 Habitat, nearly cosmopolitan. 
 
 LIMOSA FEDOA (L.). (249.) 
 MARBLED GODWIT. 
 
 Fairly cqmmon for a few days in early May, these larger 
 birds of the Scolopacidae family are with us but a short time in 
 their migrations, especially in the spring. They are already 
 paired when they come in most cases, and are seldom found in 
 anything like flocks at this time, but when they return about 
 the 15th of August, or the 20th, as occurs more frequently per- 
 haps, they are generally in parties of five or six, rarely more. 
 They remain in autumn until the 20th of September if no severe 
 frosts appear, in which case they are all gone the next morn- 
 ing early, taking to wing before the dawn. Specimens were 
 not uncommon in the shops and private cabinets of St. Paul 
 thirty years ago, and may still be found as common in the 
 museums of the academies and educational institutions from 
 the State University through. It is somewhat irregular in 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. • 131 
 
 respect to the lines of its passage through Minnesota, failing 
 to put in an appearance on some for .two or three seasons in 
 succession, in one or the other migration, and appearing by a 
 fair representation in others. 
 
 Mr. Holzinger does not give them in the list of the Normal 
 School collection and Mr. Washburn makes no mention of them 
 in theRed river valley. On the undulating prairie lying be- 
 tween the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, near Fort Snelling,! 
 formerly found the Marbled Godwit without much uncertainty 
 in its autumnal migrations, rarely however in the vernal. In 
 what is now the northwestern section of the city where I reside 
 there are two or three shallow lakes, between and around 
 which are some rather sterile knolls. On several collecting 
 tramps T found a number of this species on them. At a little 
 distance, those on the highest looked to be much larger than 
 they really were, and were utterly unapproachable except by 
 strategy, as one of the number invariably remained on guard. 
 But when by any means one individual got within shot, and was 
 either killed or crippled, the others would fly within range in 
 their solicitude for the unfortunate one, when a second, usually 
 no doubt the mate, was most likely to share its fate. 
 
 The first week in September is the golden time for finding 
 them, and they are then much sought for by sportsmen familiar 
 with them. The fiesh is very delicious eating. Their stay is 
 too brief for any but the initiated to secure them and when 
 others obtain them it is by the accidence of their association 
 with flocks of more common species. From the uniform late- 
 ness of their arrival in spring, and the early date of their re- 
 appearance in fall, or rather late summer, I hoped to have 
 found their nests long ago, but although I learned indirectly of 
 others having done so in 1864, I had no personal knowledge of 
 them until in the autumn of 1872, when I found three eggs, and 
 what was said to be the male and female associated with them, 
 in the St. Paul Academy's collection. Coues' "Birds of the 
 Northwest" was published two years afterward, in which he 
 mentions seeing the same, so that it is probable that he saw 
 them before I had done so, and I quote briefly what he says. 
 ' 'The only perfect set of eggs of the Godwit I have seen were ■ 
 taken June 1, 1871, fifty miles northwest of Saint Paul, Minne- 
 sota; both parents were secured and deposited in the Saint 
 Paul Academy, where I examined them; so that the identifica- 
 tion is unquestionable. There are three eggs in this set, 
 measuring 2.30 by 1.60, 2.28 by 1.56 and 2.25 by 1.62. The 
 
132 NOTES ON THE 
 
 color is a clear, light olivaceous-drab; the markings are small 
 and numerous, but not very strongly pronounced — there is noth- 
 ing (in this set) of the heavy blotching and marking usually 
 seen in wader's eggs. The spots are pretty evenly dis- 
 tributed, though rather larger in two instances, and more 
 numerous in the other instance, about the butt than elsewhere. 
 These markings are of various umber-brown shades, with the 
 usual stone-gray shell spots." Since those days it has been re- 
 ported that several nests have been obtained which I have not 
 seen, and I have had only one brought to me. The nest was 
 described as constructed exclusively of grass, in a superficial 
 excavation in the ground, on a dry prairie about 12 miles 
 southwest of this city, and was found on the 5th of June, 1879. 
 The eggs were three in number and essentially as described 
 above, except that the largest was not quite as long as the 
 longest given, and the shortest was a trifle shorter than the 
 shortest, while of the same width. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill long, curved upwards, both mandibles grooved; wings 
 long; tail short; legs long; tibia with its lower half naked; toes 
 rather short, margined and flattened underneath; the outer and 
 middle toes united by a rather large membrane; entire upper 
 parts variegated with brownish-black and pale-reddish, the 
 former disposed in irregular and confluent bands, and the 
 latter in spots and imperfect bands; in many specimens the 
 black color predominating on the back, and the pale-red on the 
 rump and upper tail coverts; under parts pale rufous, with 
 transverse lines of brownish-black on the breast and sides; 
 under wing coverts and axillaries rufous; outer webs of 
 primaries dark brown, inner webs light rufous; secondaries 
 light rufous; tail light rufous with transverse bars of brownish- 
 black; bill pale yellowish-red at base, brownish-black at the 
 end; legs ashy-black; iris brown. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 9; tail, 3.50; bill, 4 to 5; tarsus, 3. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 LIMOSA HJIMASTICA (L.). (251). 
 HUDSONIAN GODWIT. 
 
 I have never met with this bird in the flesh, but have found 
 it in several collections, leaving no question of its presence in 
 migration. 
 
 The first instance of its coming under my observation was 
 in t'le collection of Mr. Schroeder, of St. Paul, and subse- 
 quently in Mr. Howling's, of this city. It is found only as 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 133 
 
 associated with other flocks of its family, and so far as I have 
 been able to learn, has only been obtained in fall migrations. 
 I know nothing of its habits to distinguish it from the other 
 species of its genus. The description of the species is as 
 follows: 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Smaller than the preceding; bill longer than the head; both 
 mandibles grooved, slightly recurved; wingg long; legs mod- 
 erate; membranes uniting the outer and middle toe large. 
 Upper parts brownish-black, with dots and transverse bars of 
 pale reddish on the back; rump brownish-black; upper tail 
 coverts white; wing coverts and shorter quills dark cinereous; 
 primaries brownish black; under parts yellowish-red, with 
 transverse bars of brownish-black on the breast and sides, and 
 under tail coverts, and frequently with the feathers on the 
 abdomen widely tipped with white; tail black with the base 
 . white and narrowly tipped with white; under wing coverts and 
 axillary feathers black; shafts of primaries white; bill pale 
 yellowish at base, tip brownish-black; legs bluish-brown; iris 
 brown . 
 
 Length, 15; wing, 8; tail 3; bill, 2.75 to 3.50; tarsus, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern, northern and middle America . 
 
 T0TANU8 MELAN0LEUCU8 (Gmelin). (254.) 
 GREATER YELLOW-LEGS. 
 
 This bird is a typical wader, being almost constantly in the 
 puddles, pools and ditches in spring, in quest of its food, found 
 mostly in those places. 
 
 They rarely resort to strands and sandy beaches except in 
 passing from one of the former localities to another. It is gen- 
 erally about the 10th of April, when they appear about our 
 ponds and muddy lakes in considerable numbers, for a time, 
 and then disappear until the latter part of August when they 
 come back in force. In their fall migration, they not only 
 remain longer but resort in large flocks to the fields, where 
 wheat and corn have been grown, in which they find an abun- 
 dance of larvae, worms, and various species of insects in large 
 numbers. They are the terror of the sportsman, for as soon 
 as they discover anything suggestive of a man or a gun, they 
 set up a loud, shrill noise that awakens every game bird in 
 the region for a quarter of a mile around in all directions. The 
 ' 'quack" by the ducks as they take to wing before having seen 
 any danger themselves, is the unwelcome farewell to the next 
 hour's sport. It takes no ordinary measure of strategy to bag 
 them after they have once been flushed. . 
 
134 NOTES ON THE 
 
 They remaiii often into November before taking final leave 
 for the milder latitudes. The Red river country is their 
 abounding region in their migrations, yet there is no section 
 which they do not visit in greater or lesser numbers. I have 
 them abundantly reported from Big Stone lake (Cutter), Her- 
 man, Grant county (Clague), Red River (Washburn), Lanes- 
 boro (Dr. Hvoslef ), Lake Shetak (Herrick), Waseca (Everett), 
 Elbow Lake (Sanford), and many other localities indicating 
 their distribution. Mr. Washburn states that when he visited 
 the Red river region late in July and early in August, he 
 found both the Telltales (the sportsman's name for the Yellow- 
 legs), still non-gregarious, only one or two individuals being 
 seen in one place, which hints strongly at their being in prox- 
 imity to their breeding places, for in a very short time after- 
 wards they were seen in considerable flocks on the plowed 
 fields. On August 6th he says "many single birds observed 
 along the Thief river." On the 20th, I found them in large 
 flocks along the Minnesota river, ten to fifteen miles above St 
 Paul. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill longer than the head, rather slender, curved towards the 
 tip; wings rather long, first quill longest; tail short;neck and legs 
 long; toes moderate, margined and .flattened underneath, con- 
 nected at base by membranes, the larger of which unites the 
 outer and middle toe; hind toe small, claws short, blunt; 
 grooves in both mandibles extending about half their length; 
 entire upper parts cinereous of various shades, dark in many 
 specimens in full plumage, generally light with white lines on 
 the head and neck, and with spots and edgings of dull white 
 on the other upper parts; lower back brownish-black; rump 
 and upper tail coverts- white, generally with more or less im- 
 perfect transverse narrow bands of brownish-black; under 
 parts white, with longitudinal narrow stripes on the neck, and 
 transverse crescent, lanceolate and sagittate spots and stripes 
 on the breast and sides; abdomen pure white: quills brownish- 
 black with a purplish lustre, shaft of first primary white; sec- 
 ondaries and tertiaries tipped, and marked with transverse 
 bars and spots of ashy- white; tail white, with transverse nar- 
 row bands of brownish-black, wider and darker on the two mid- 
 dle feathers; bill brownish-black, lighter at the base; legs 
 yellow; iris dark brown. 
 
 Length, 14; wing, 7.50 to 8; tail, 3.25 to 3,50; bill, 2.25; tar- 
 sus, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, America generally. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 135 
 
 TOTANUS FLAVIPE8 (Gmelin). (255.) 
 
 YELLOW-LEGS. 
 
 From the first to the tenth of April the Yellow-legs appear 
 about the shallow pools and muddy ponds in small parties. In 
 these they wade about constantly for hours at a time when 
 unmolested, and when driven to wing, fly very swiftly away 
 in an irregular, Snipe-like manner, making a loud, whistling 
 note, illy adapted to concert melody. Their flight is wonder- 
 fully compact, the flock moving as if by one impulse through 
 all the gyrations incident to indecision where next to go, 
 which however often results in their return to the same pool 
 when the gunner has concealed himself effectually. From the 
 repeated observation of this phenomenon in many species of 
 bird life, I am convinced that in such cases only the individual 
 leading the flock takes the least cognizance of their surround- 
 ings, all others maintaining an instinctive attention to the mo- 
 tions of the leader alone. If by an exceptionally sudden sur- 
 prise the flock is momentarily deranged, in an instant the 
 former compactness is resumed as if nothing had occurred, 
 which would be impossible upon any other conceivable hypo- 
 thesis. The noisy, whistling notes of the species soon becomes 
 familiar to the gunner, which some of them learn to imitate 
 so well, that the deluded flock easily falls into the range of 
 his deadly missile. Their meat is scarcely less palatable than 
 the best of the Snipe kind. By the first of May most of them 
 have gone, probably much further north, to multiply by 
 reproduction and return here again about the first week in 
 September. I know nothing of their nidification habits, and 
 have never seen their eggs under circumstances to describe 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Washburn, (as have nearly all my correspondents) 
 met with some flocks late in October. He says: — "At Dead 
 lake, October 23d, I saw a few flocks of these birds flying 
 south. They were very tame, and exceedingly fat. Although 
 repeatedly shot at, they would return again to me on my 
 imitating their call." Great numbers of them are usually 
 found in the markets and restaurants at this season, as well as 
 earlier. Most of them have gone southward by the first of 
 November, but I have some records of their remaining until 
 the middle of that month. 
 
 lOz 
 
136 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill rather longer than the head, straight, slender, com- 
 pressed; wing long, pointed; tail short; legs, lower half of the 
 tibia naked; toes moderate, slender, margined, the outer and 
 tniddle united at the base; rump and upper tail coverts white, 
 the latter transversely barred with ashy-brown; the other 
 upper parts ashy, many feathers having large arrowheads and 
 irregular spots of brownish-black, and edged with ashy-white; 
 under parts white, with numerous longitudinal lines on the , 
 neck before, and arrowheads on the sides of dark ashy-brown; 
 axillaries and under wing coverts white, with bands of ashy- 
 brown, very indistinct in many specimens, but generally well 
 defined; quills brownish-black; tail ashy white with transverse 
 bands of dark-brown, middle feathers darker; bill greenish- 
 black; legs yellow; iris dark brown. 
 
 Length, 10 to 11; wing, 6 to 6.50; tail, 2.50; bill, 1.50; tarsus, 2. 
 
 Habitat, America in general. 
 
 TOTANUS SOLITARIUS (Wilson). (256.) 
 SOLITARY SANDPIPER. 
 
 This little shorebird reaches us as late as the 10th of May; 
 rarely earlier, and always in pairs. They are at once found 
 running along the shores of ponds, lakes and streams, with 
 very little regard to solitude, as the din of all the vast flouring 
 and saw mills, with trains of cars passing on an average of 
 every ten minutes, to which vastly more confusion should be 
 added, does not in the least disturb them. Their food consists 
 of aquatic insects and their larvae, with minute moUusca enter- 
 ing in to vary the variety. In a short time, or about the 25th 
 of May, they principally disappear, evidently to nest and rear 
 their young, for only a few are seen, and then in unmistakable 
 solitude. This continues until early in August, when they 
 begin to seek the former localities in family parties of from six 
 to eight. As the summer passes into autumn, these families 
 become winged communities of thirty, forty, or more, which 
 increase in size to some extent until they leave, about the first 
 of October. They are universally distributed over the entire 
 State. 
 
 I have several times had the eggs of this species brought to 
 me, with all but positive assurance that the identification was 
 correct, and I hear of others in the possession of amateur 
 oOlogists, reputedly collected locally, but in the case of the 
 former, the eggs have either been those of the Spotted Sand- 
 pipers, of which I have a full supply of my own collection, or 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 137 
 
 there is no possible distinction between the eggs of the two 
 species. Nothing less than the simultaneous obtaining of the 
 bird with the eggs will satisfy me now. 
 
 As in my first remarks respecting the species, I was at a loss 
 to see why it was named Solitary until I learned for myself 
 the difficulty of finding the birds at all during their breeding. 
 By going to those sections where they are most commonly 
 found at other times, very early in the morning, as I have done 
 many times to observe other birds, I have occasionally seen a 
 single Sandpiper of this species at the season of nesting. 
 Finally I discovered them between sunset and twilight, silently 
 running about as if not far from the rest of the family. Then I 
 resorted to the locality in the middle of the day, and ' 'pros- 
 pected" every square yard of considerable territory, but never 
 yet have been rewarded by the discovery of the nest, or indeed 
 the birds either at such a time. In the early days of August 
 they begin to come out of their hiding places, and are more 
 and more frequently seen as the- season advances, until in 
 September they are often on the wing in small flocks which 
 again increase in size until they leave for the winter. I must 
 conclude that the setting bird possesses the same instinct for 
 secreting the nest and eggs which is well known to be shown 
 in other orders of birds. On the approach of an intruder, the 
 bird slips silently off the nest and at once covers it with such 
 debris as surrounds it, and wends a dubious way rapidly to a 
 place of unquestioned safety. 
 
 I cannot resist the impulse of quoting from Coues' "Birds of 
 the Northwest," page 500, where is' to be found an example of 
 his almost peerless genius in the description of the minuter 
 traits of those humbler forms of bird life overlooked by less 
 observing ornithologists, in which this species has his attention 
 until immortalized. He says : "I generally found two or three 
 to half a dozen together; frequently one at a time; occasionally, 
 but not often, upwards of a score, that seemed, however, to be 
 drawn together by their common tastes in the matter of feeding 
 grounds rather than by any gregarious instinct. They are 
 moreover pretty exclusive in their own set; rather declining, 
 than encouraging, familiarity on the part of other waders; 
 though the Peetweets and others sometimes intrude their hoy- 
 denish society upon the more sedate and aristocratic members 
 of the long-legged circle. They should rightly, however, rather 
 embrace than merely endure such company, for they are easy 
 going, contemplative natures, and their sharp-eyed associates 
 
138 NOTES ON THE 
 
 often do them good service in sounding alarms. These Tattlers 
 indulge on all occasions, a propensity for nodding like Lord 
 Burleigh, or the Chinese Mandarins in front of a tea shop, and 
 when they see something they cannot quite make out, seem to 
 reason with themselves, and finally come to a conclusion in this 
 way; impressing themselves heavily with a sense of their own 
 logic. They go through the bowing exercise with a gravity 
 that may upset that of a disinterested spectator, and yet all 
 through the performance so ludicrous in itself, contrive to pre- 
 serve something of the passive sedateness that marks all their 
 movements. This bobbing of the head and foreparts is the 
 correspondent and counterpart of the still more curious actions 
 of the Spotted Tattlers, or Tip-ups, as they are aptly called 
 from this circumstance; a queer balancing of the body upon 
 the legs, constituting an amusement of which these last named 
 birds are extremely fond. As often as the Tip-up, or Teter- 
 ■tail, as it is also called, stops in its pursuit of insects, the fore- 
 part of the body is lowered a little, the head drawn in, the legs 
 slightly bent, while the hinder parts and tail are alternately 
 hoisted with a peculiar jerk, and drawn down again with the 
 regularity of clock-work. 
 
 ' 'The movement is more conspicuous in the upward than in 
 the downward part of the performance; as if the tail were 
 spring-hinged and in constant danger of flying up, needing 
 constant presence of mind to keep it down. It is amusing to 
 see an old male in the breeding season busy with this opera- 
 tion. Upon some rock jutting out of the water he stands, 
 swelling with amorous pride and self-complacency, puffing out 
 his plumage till he looks twice as big as natural, facing about 
 on his narrow pedestal, and bow:ing with his hindparts to all 
 points of the compass. A sensitive and fastidious person 
 might see something derisive, if not actually insulting in this, 
 and feel as one may be presumed to have felt when the savages 
 who attacked his ship in canoes showed the signs of contuma- 
 ceous scorn that De Foe records. But it would not be worth 
 while to feel offended, since this is only the entirely original 
 and peculiar way the Tip-up has of conducting his courtships." 
 
 Much has been said of these peculiarities of the Tip-ups, and 
 with much plausibility, but sad to relate, the ornithological ver- 
 dict is still unproclaimed as to what all the wonderf iil bowings, 
 and waggings, and puffings really are designed to express. 
 
 Dr. Coues further says: "The solitary Tattlers, that we have 
 lost sight of for the moment, are fond of standing motionless 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 139 
 
 in the water when they have satisfied their hunger, or of 
 wading about, up to their bellies, with slow measured steps. 
 If startled at such times, they rise easily and lightly on wing, 
 fly rather slowly a little distance with dangling legs and out- 
 stretched neck, to soon re-alight and look about with a dazed 
 expression. Just as their feet touch the ground, the long, 
 pointed wings are lifted till their tips nearly meet above, and 
 are then deliberately folded. The Esquimaux Curlews and 
 some other birds have the same habit. The Tattlers are usually 
 silent birds, but when suddenly alarmed, they utter a low and 
 rather pleasing whistle as they fly off, or even without moving." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill rather longer than the head, straight, slender, com- 
 pressed, both mandibles with narrow grooves; wing long, 
 pointed; tail medium or rather short, rounded; legs rather long, 
 slender; lower half of the tibia naked; toes long, the outer 
 united to the middle by a small membrane, flattened under- 
 neath, marginated; upper parts greenish- brown with numerous 
 small circular and irregular spots of ashy- white; upper tail 
 coverts darker; under parts white; breast and neck before with 
 numerous longitudinal lines of greenish-brown; sides, axillaries 
 and under wing coverts white with numerous transverse narrow 
 bands of dark greenish-brown; under tail coverts white with a 
 few transverse bands of dark brown; quills brownish-black with 
 a slight bronzed or reddish lustre on the primaries; two middle 
 feathers of the tail greenish-brown; other feathers of the tail 
 pure white with abbut five transverse bands of brownish- black; 
 bill and legs dark greenish- brown; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 8 to 8.50; wing, 5; tail, 2.25; bill, 1.25; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 STMPHEMIA SEMIPALMATA (Gmelin). (258.) 
 WILLET. 
 
 The Willet is a summer resident of Minnesota, reaching this 
 latitude about the 20th of April in sparing numbers; never even 
 commonly represented, yet quite uniformly so. They mani- 
 festly prefer sandy localities during their entire stay, in which 
 places they are more ordinarily found by collectors, yet they 
 are not confined to such by any means, for I have often dis- 
 covered them in extensive marshes, partly overflown with 
 water, feeding after the manner of the Yellow-legs and other 
 waders. They are paired by the first week in May, and build 
 their nests about the 25th; occasionally a little earlier, but 
 oftener a little later, according to the season. I have seen the 
 
140 NOTES ON THE 
 
 nest in situ but once, but have reports from several others, 
 with the eggs. I am satisfied if careful search could be made 
 in grant or Otter Tail county in June more could be found than 
 further south, yet^the Willet must breed in occasional instances 
 in the most southern counties, for individuals are seen there 
 during the summer months when they should be breeding, as 
 they reappear in August with their progeny in the northern 
 sections, followed by their increasing presence below, approach- 
 ing the 1st of September. They remain about in families until 
 the latter part of October, when, after uniting the families into 
 small flocks, they move ofE to some lower latitude (Brazil?) to 
 escape our inclement winters. 
 
 The nests have been found quite remote from water of any 
 kind on the dry prairie south of the Minnesota river, and in 
 the bottom of that river. 
 
 It is constituted of grass and weeds, in a tussock of weeds, 
 or grass in some cases, and in others in a hollow in the ground 
 into which they have gathered and arranged very little mate- 
 rial of any kind. They have four pear-shaped, pale-olive eggs 
 marked with blotches of various shades of brown, more conflu- 
 ent about the larger end. They are very noisy birds when dis- 
 turbed during the breeding season, uttering vehemently, as near 
 as has yet been expressed, the syllables pil-wilet, it-pil-wilet, in 
 shrill cries which arouse all the water fowls in the section in- 
 stantly. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef met with these birds on the 26th of April in his 
 section, Mr. Lewis at Big Stone at the same date, and in June 
 in Douglas county, while I myself found them relatively com- 
 mon in Becker and Crow Wing counties in the last week in 
 May (1887). 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 The largest American species of its genus; bill longer than 
 the head, straight, rather thick and strong; groove in the up- 
 per mandible extending about half its length, in the lower 
 mandible nearly obsolete; wings long; legs long, strong; toes 
 moderate, united at base by membrane, the largest of which 
 unites the outer and middle toe; hind toe small; tail short; en- 
 tire upper parts dark ash color without spots; the shafts of the 
 feathers brownish- black; rump and upper tail coverts white; 
 under parts white, tinged with ashy on the neck and sides; ax- 
 illaries and under wing coverts brownish-black; primary quills 
 white at base, tipped with brownish-black; secondaries white, 
 spotted with brownish-black; tail ashy white, the two middle 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 141 
 
 feathers strongly tinged with ashy; others spotted with dark 
 ashy-brown; bill dark bluish-brown, lighter at the base; legs 
 light blue; iris brown. 
 
 Length, 15; wing, 8.25; tail, 3.25; bill, 2.50; tarsus, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 BARTRAMIA lONGICAUDA (Bbchstein). (261.) 
 BARTEAMIAN SANDPIPER. , 
 
 Sub-common and resident. Arrives the first week in April in 
 small parties when they are found on the open pastures on dry 
 knolls, after the manner of the plovers. Its habits in these 
 respects confound it with the other species mentioned, hence 
 the popular name of Upland Plover. Sometimes for a short 
 time following their arrival they seem quite common, but by 
 the 10th of May they are manifestly diminishing in numbers, 
 and by the 25th only those which are to bi:eed here are left, the 
 others having mostly passed on further north, and those re- 
 maining having paired, enter upon the structure of their nests 
 and depositing their eggs, which are three to four in number, 
 and vary exceedingly in the shades of color from creamy drab 
 to pure buff, between which are all gradations of those two 
 colors They are spotted with different degrees of brown and 
 almost obsolete lilac. Few of the Wading Birds have so wide 
 a range of choice of location for their nest. One many years 
 since was in a closely grazed pasture near a rice marsh in the 
 northwestern part of the city in which I am writing, and was 
 a mere excuse for a structure of the kind, consisting of a pinch 
 of grass blades loosely strung around a slight depression in 
 the ground and partially under a tuft of rank grass where the 
 offal of the preceding year had made the cattle refuse to crop 
 it. Another discovered a few years later, with an incomplete 
 complement of eggs, was on the sandy, high plains west of 
 Fort Snelling, and had no covert, and still less grass distribu- 
 ted around the depression in the ground. 
 
 Competent observers assure me that they more commonly 
 build close to the hills of corn in the cornfields, where the in- 
 cidental protection leaves them less apparent motive to seek 
 concealment, yet the nest is much more bulky with grass and 
 weeds. Their food, as indicated by the contents of their crops 
 at this time in the year, consists chiefly of crickets, grasshop- 
 pers, small beetles and seeds of different kinds. These kinds 
 of food are abundant at that time of the year. 
 
142 NOTES ON THE 
 
 In August the families begin to unite in flocks, and some 
 small ones are seen as late as the 1st of November, but as a 
 rule they have all disappeared by the 15th to the 20th of 
 October. 
 
 Wherever in the State that I have made collections, or only 
 observations, I have almost uniformly obtained facts enough to 
 satisfy me of their presence at least in one migration. Mr. 
 Washburn notes them as common in August in Otter Tail 
 county, as had Mr. Lewis still later in previous years. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill about as long as head, rather wide and flattened at the 
 base, curved at the tip; nostrils with a large membrane, nasal 
 groove long; wing long; tail long for this group; legs moderate, 
 or rather long; lower half of -the tibia naked; toes moderate, 
 the outer and middle united by a membrane, inner and middle 
 free to the ba.se, hind toe small; general color of the upper 
 parts brownish-black with a greenish lustre, and with the 
 feathers edged with ashy-white and yellowish, the latter 
 especially on the wing coverts; lower part of back, rump and 
 upper tail coverts brownish-black; lateral coverts of the tail 
 yellowish-white with arrow-heads and irregular spots of black; 
 wide stripe over the eye, and entire under parts very pale yel- 
 lowish-white, nearly pure white on the abdomen; neck before 
 with numerous longitudinal lines of brownish-black; breast and 
 sides with waved and pointed transverse narrow bands of same; 
 axillary feathers and under wing coverts pure white with num- 
 erous nearly regular transverse narrow bands of black; quills 
 brownish-black with numerous transverse bands of white on 
 their inner webs very conspicuous on the under surface of the 
 wing; shaft of first primary white; middle feathers of tail same 
 greenish-brown as the back with irregular and imperfect trans- 
 verse bands of black; outer feathers pale reddish yellow, 
 edged and tipped with white, and with several irregular trans- 
 verse bands and a large subterminal arrowhead of black; bill 
 greenish yellow, with the under mandible clearer yellow 
 towards its base, tip brownish-black; legs light yellow; toes 
 darker; iris hazel. ' 
 
 Length, 12; wing, 6.50; tail, 3.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 TKTNGITES SUBEUFICOLLIS (Vieillot). (262.) 
 
 BUPF-BEBASTBD SANDPIPER. 
 
 Many times in my prolonged observations of the Sandpipers 
 had I thought that I had secured this species only to find 
 myself disappointed, when some of them were brought in for 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 143 
 
 me, which had been secured by a trio of young naturalists* 
 residing in my city. This was in August, 1877, since which 
 time I have secured them in June, July and August, in several 
 years, settling the question of their local nidification. They 
 come to us early in April, in numbers enough to show that 
 many must go further north to breed. I have not been able to 
 obtain any information as to their distribution within our 
 limits which, extend further north than Grant county, how- 
 ever I think they probably breed in the northern counties to 
 some extent. They are an extremely active species when on 
 the wing, and essentially ploverine in all respects, seeking 
 sandy barren prairies, where they live upon grasshoppers, 
 crickets and insects generally, and ants and their eggs speci- 
 ally. I have found them repasting upon minute mollusc^ on 
 the feandy shores of small .and shallow ponds, in the warmest 
 part of the day. when they were apparently little more sus- 
 picious than the Solitary Sandpipers are notably. The flight 
 is in a rather compact form, dipping and rising alternately, 
 and with a disposition to return again to the neighborhood of 
 their former feeding places. 
 
 The latest record of their presence here in the autumn 
 which I find in my .notes is October 23d. I have not seen 
 their nest or eggs yet. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill about the length of the head, straight, compressed, nar- 
 row at the point; nasal groove long, wings very long; first quill 
 longest; tertiaries rather shorter; tail moderate, or longer than 
 usual in this group; legs rather long; lower third of tibia bare; 
 toes free at base, flattened underneath and slightly margined; 
 hind toe small; upper parts pale and dull ashy-brown, with a 
 yellowish tinge; every feather with a large central lanceolate, 
 crescent shaped, or oblong spot of black, frequently with a 
 glossy- green tinge, especially on the back and shorter ter- 
 tiaries; under parts light yellowish- red, or pale-fawn color; 
 many feathers tipped with white, and paler on the flanks and 
 abdomen, on the breast with partially concealed small spots of 
 black; axillary feathers white; quills with their outer webs 
 light- brown, inner webs ashy- white, marbled with black, and 
 narrowly tipped with white; middle tail feathers brownish- 
 black; outer feathers lighter, with transverse waved lines of 
 black, tipped with white; bill black; legs greenish- yellow; 
 iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 7,50 to 8; wing, 5.50; tail, 3; bill, from gape 1; tarsus, 
 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 *T, S Eoberts, 0. L. Herrick, E. S. Williams. 
 
144 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ACTITIS MACULARIA. (L.). (263.) 
 SPOTTED SANDPIPER. 
 
 Kennicott found these birds at the Lake of the Woods on 
 the 31st of May, but says nothing of their breeding there, 
 nevertheless, from an acquaintance with their habits over the 
 rest of the State generally, I have no doubt that they were. They 
 reach the southern parts about the second week in April, and in 
 exceptio^ally early springs, in the last days of March, (1864, ) in 
 large numbers, and after distributing themselves universally 
 over the country, so that scarcely a stream of water of any magni- 
 tude from the outlet of a perennial spring in the wilderness, 
 to the Mississippi river, or lake of any size down to a pond or 
 a pool, can be found which has not its representation of the 
 species. About the 25th of April they begin nesting in all 
 sorts of places, from the margins of the water to the depth of 
 the brushlands and forests, wherever they can scratch a hollow in 
 the ground, not already provided, and when they have sparingly 
 lined the depression with grass, moss, or straws of almost a^ny 
 available, flexible material, they deposit in them four yellow- 
 ish- buff colored eggs, blotched and spotted with ' ' umber and 
 sienna" which often becomes confluent on -the larger end. 
 
 Their nests are frequently found in May and June. Several 
 have been discovered in the wheat-fields, and corn-fields near 
 the small lakes south of Minneapolis, and a ramble of a couple 
 of hours in Grant county is rewarded with securing more or 
 less almost uniformly. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef obtained them at Lanesboro on the 30th of May, 
 and I have private records as late as July 3d, so there can be 
 little doubt that they bring out two broods, or vary the time of 
 incubation almost unprecedentedly. 
 
 Early in August the families begin to be seen occasionally, 
 and later flocks, which gradually increase in size till about 
 their time for the fall migration, when they become larger, and 
 are almost constantly on the wing until they are all gone, 
 which is sometimes from October 25th to November 10th. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Small; bill rather longer than head; straight, slender; long 
 grooves in both mandibles; wing pointed, rather long; tail 
 medium, rounded; legs rather long; lower third of tibia naked; 
 toes long, margined, flattened underneath; outer connected to 
 the middle toe by a large membrane; inner very slightly con- 
 nected to the middle toe; upper parts brownish olive-green. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 145 
 
 with a somewhat metallic or bronzed lustre, and with numerous 
 longitudinal lines, and sagittate, lanceolate, and irregular spots 
 of brownish-black, having the same lustre; line over the eye 
 and entire under parts, white, with numerous circular and oval 
 spots of brownish black, smaller on the throat, largest on the 
 abdomen; quills brown, with a green lustre; primaries slightly- 
 tipped with white and having a white spot on their inner edges; 
 secondaries white at the base and tipped with white; middle 
 feathers of the tail same green as the other upper parts; outer 
 tipped with white, and with irregular bars of brownish-black; 
 bill yellowish-green, tipped with brown; feet reddish-yellow; 
 iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 7.50 to 8; wing, 4.50; tail, 2; bill, 1; tarsus, 1. 
 
 Habitat, North and South America. 
 
 NUMENIUS LONGIROSTRIS (Wilson). (264.) 
 LONG-BILLED CURLEW. 
 
 This widely distributed species is nowhere better represented 
 than in Minnesota,* or strictly speaking, in portions of it. 
 They reach this latitude varioijsly from the 20th of March to 
 the first of May, usually about the 10th of April, and about the 
 middle of May they mostly move beyond the Big Woods (re- 
 ferred to previously), whence to the British possessions they 
 breed in different localities. 
 
 The nests, which I have not personally seen, are said to be 
 in general scolopacine in character, never in communities, and 
 located near, but not on wet lands or marshes as a rule. Not 
 far from the 25th of May, they lay four eggs, ' 'clay colored, 
 with more or less olivaceous in some instances, and in others 
 decidedly buffy shade. The spotting is generally pretty uni- 
 formly distributed and of small pattern, though in many cases 
 there is larger blotching and even massing about the great end. 
 The color of the markings is sepia or umber, of different shades 
 in the buffy-tinged specimens, rather tending to chocolate. The 
 shell markings are commonly numerous and evident." (Coues.) 
 Early in August, the young have become strong enough for 
 flight, and small flocks of them begin to be seen in the sections 
 where the breeding has taken place. They gradually extend 
 their range southward with the advance of the season, until by 
 the flrst or second week in September, they have reached the 
 whole southern portions of the states, while continued acces- 
 
 * The above was true when written, but the Curlews of this species, once so common, 
 have become less so within the last decade, and now, having been driven back from 
 both coasts by civilization, are found in great numbers far inland on the dry plains, 
 where they are killed by scores and hundreds. 
 
146 NOTES ON THE 
 
 sions from more northern regions have more than filled their 
 former places. By the middle of October, the northern, cen- 
 tral portions, or perhaps I should say, the western central, 
 longitudinal, have very large numbers of these birds, occupy- 
 ing the high or more sandy tracts. These afford them an 
 abundance of their favorite food, the grasshoppers, to which 
 may be added insects of several other species, like crickets and 
 beetles, with land snails, and some species of berries. 
 
 When moving from one section to another, and when in their 
 migrations they fly very high, and generally in a V-shaped 
 flock, with the point of the angle foremost, after the manner of 
 the geese, but not as persistently. 
 
 All leave the State by the lOth of October, a part of them a 
 little earlier oftentimes. Accounted a marsh bird along the 
 Atlantic coast, I find them quite as frequently on the dry prai- 
 ries, far removed from any considerable marshes or ponds. 
 They frequent plowed fields, and dry, extensive flats which 
 have previously been overflowed, and have become dry again. 
 This suggests earth worms, and certain forms of terrestrial 
 mollusca, as preferred food. Their nests have been found in 
 many sections, but uniformly on dry prairies so far as I have 
 known. Like most others of the family, the struccure is very 
 primitive, consisting of a small quantity of grass, circularly 
 disposed in a hollow made by the bird in the ground, under the 
 lea of a few rank weeds, or a bunch of coarse grass. The 
 eggs are four in number, rather of a drab, or clay color. I 
 think they might sometimes be called buff-colored, when hav- 
 ing a shade of olivaceous. They are uniformly spotted with 
 umber of several shades, more pronounced about the larger 
 end. 
 
 In form they are decidedly gallinaceous, differing in this 
 markedly from most Scolopacine species. They rear but a 
 single brood, the nest for which is built from the 20th to the 
 30th of May. In their fall migrations most of them depart be- 
 fore the 25th of October, yet I have met with a few as late as 
 the 10th of November. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill very long, much curved; upper mandible longer, some- 
 what knobbed at the tip; wing rather long; legs moderate; toes 
 united at the base; entire upper parts paler rufous tinged with 
 ashy; each feather with transverse and confluent bands of 
 brownish-black, most numerous and predominating on the back 
 and scapulars; secondary quills, under wing coverts and axil- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 147 
 
 laries bright rufous; primaries with their outer webs brownish- 
 black; inner webs rufous with transverse bands of black; under 
 parts pale rufous, with longitudinal lines on the neck and 
 sides; tail rufous, tinged with ashy transversely barred with 
 brownish-black; bill brownish- black; base of under mandible 
 reddish-yellow; legs bluish-brown; specimens vary to some 
 extent in the shade of the rufous color of the plumage, and 
 very much in the length of the bill, the rufous probably being 
 more distinct in the young; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 25; wing, 10 to 11; tail, 4; bill, 5 to 8; tarsus, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, Temperate North America. 
 
 Mr. "Washburn in his report of the birds of the Red river 
 valley, covering his observations made between July 28th and 
 September 12th, 1885, says of this species: "I have been much 
 disappointed in not finding more of these birds. Only a few 
 individuals observed. Was informed by sportsmen in Ada that 
 they were not present this season in regions where they were 
 extremely abundant last year. They are found, too, farther 
 east near 'The Ridge' in larger numbers than close to the Red 
 river. " 
 
 NUttENIUS HUDSONICUS Latham. (265.) 
 HUDSONIAN CURLEW. 
 
 I formerly met with this species more frequently than of late 
 years, and why so I cannot explain to my own satisfaction. 
 They were always associated with the Long-bills, except upon 
 one occasion, when I found a flock of eight by themselves in 
 spring migration, it being then early in April. 
 
 Only a single bird was obtained, but a number found their 
 way into the taxidermist's collections. And from time to time 
 I have found specimens of this species in those places. They 
 are more f requentlyobtained in the autumnal than in the vernal 
 migrations, and except as above, invariably mingle with the 
 other species. I know nothing of their habits beyond the fact 
 of their presence in migration in very limited numbers. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill about twice the length of the head; wings long; tail 
 short; legs moderate; head above brownish-black, with a 
 longitudinal band; other upper parts brownish-black, tinged 
 with ashy, spotted with dull yellowish- white, and lighter on 
 the rump; under parts dull yellowish- white, with longitudinal 
 , narrow stripes of blackish-brown on the necJ£ and breast; under 
 wing coverts and axillaries pale ashy-rufous, transversely 
 barred with black; quills brownish-black, with transverse bars 
 of pale rufous on the inner webs; tail brownish- black, with 
 transverse bars of pale ashy-brown; bill brownish-black, base 
 
148 NOTES ON THE 
 
 of flower mandible reddish-yellow; legs greenish- brown; speci- 
 mens vary in the shade of the lighter colors of the plumage, 
 and in the length of the bill; iris brown. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 9; tail, 4; bill, 3 to 4; tarsus, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, North and South America. 
 
 NUMENIUS BOREALIS (Forster). (266.) 
 ESKIMO CURLEW. 
 
 I find specimens of this species of Curlew occasionally in the 
 hands of the taxidermists, and have had them sent to me from 
 the Red river once, but have never seen them alive. I was 
 ready to doubt their specific identity almost, until I read 
 Coues' account of his observations of them in the Missouri 
 region, in his Birds of the Northwest, pp. 510-512. 
 
 If they are so abundant along the Missouri, it seems most 
 probable that flocks may not altogether infrequently find their 
 way along the Mississippi, and up the St. Peters or Minnesota 
 rivers, and be regarded as rather small representatives of the 
 "Short Bills" by the hunters, who have more interest in them 
 as game than specimens for the cabinets of birdologists. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill rather longer than the head, slender; wings long; tail 
 short; legs moderate; entire upper parts brownish-black, spot- 
 ted with dull yellowish rufous; quills brownish-black, uniform 
 on both webs, without bars on either; under wing coverts and 
 axillaries light-rufous, with transverse stripes of brownish- 
 black; under parts dull- white; tinged with rufous, with longi- 
 tudinal narrow stripes of brownish-black on the neck and 
 breast, and transverse stripes of the same on the sides and 
 under tail coverts; tail ashy-brown, with transverse bands of 
 brownish-black; bill brownish-black; base of under mandible 
 yellow; legs greenish-brown; iris dark-brown. 
 
 Length, 13.50; wing, 8.25; tail, 3; bill, 2.25 to 2.50; tarsus, 1.75. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 Family CHABADRIID^. 
 
 CHARADRIUS SQUATAROLA (L.). (270). 
 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER. 
 
 I know of no other species of Plover which is a more reg- 
 ular, and numerically uniform migrant in both spring and 
 autumn in the locality from which I write. They are only 
 moderately represented, arriving about the last of April in 
 flocks of ten to twenty, but do not seem to remain but three or 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 149 
 
 four days before they disappear, and I supposed for many 
 years that they all passed beyond the State line, but some 
 time in the summer of 1875, a clutch of four eggs were sent me 
 with the female, which proved to be a Black-bellied Plover. 
 It was obtained in the vicinity of upper Lake Minnetonka, in 
 my own county. Since then several nests have been reported 
 by persons competent to determine them, and I accept the 
 conclusion that this species breed to a limited extent in some 
 portions of the State. The nest differs in no particular from 
 those of the other species of the family. 
 
 A natural depression in the ground, of about the size desired, 
 is selected, or else one is scratched out by the female, and lined 
 with a few leaves, blades of grass, or moss, in which are de- 
 posited the orthodox four eggs. These are a creamy-buff color 
 with spots and confluent blotches of umber and obscure touches 
 of lilac, chiefly about the larger end. They reappear in mod- 
 erate flocks about the middle of September and are frequently 
 seen until the second week in October. They are offered in 
 the market in autumn, and are regarded good eating. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill and legs strong; wings long; a very small rudimentary 
 hind toe; around the base of the bill to the eyes, neck before 
 and under parts of body, black; upper white, nearly pure and 
 unspotted on the forehead, sides of the neck and rump tinged 
 with ashy, and having irregular transverse bars of brownish- 
 black on the back, scapulars and wing coverts; the brownish- 
 black frequently predominating on those parts, and the rump 
 also frequently with transverse bars of the same. Lower 
 part of the abdomen, tibia, and under tail coverts white. 
 Quills brownish-black, lighter on their inner webs, with a 
 middle portion of their shafts white, and a narrow longitudinal 
 stripe of white frequently on the shorter primaries and secon- 
 daries. Tail white, with transverse imperfect narrow bands 
 of black. Bill and legs black, and black color of the under 
 parts generally with a bronzed or coppery lustre, and present- 
 ing a scarelike appearance; the brownish-black of the upper 
 parts with a greenish lustre. 
 
 Length, 11.50; wing, 7.50; tail, 3. 
 
 Habitat, nearly cosmopolitan. 
 
 CHARADRIUS DOMINICUS Muller. (272.) 
 
 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER. 
 
 A very abundant migrant, but a very uncertain one, sometimes 
 reaching us in spring in considerable flocks, and at other seasons 
 giving us the complete ' 'go-by. " They reach the State in the 
 
150 NOTES ON THE 
 
 last week of April, and are all gone beyond our borders by the 
 5th of May. Not later than the last week of August they 
 return in force, as a general thing,- when they remain till 
 October 25th to November 1st, gradually diminishing in num- 
 bers, however, after about the 25th of September. Indeed, 
 there is not more than ten days good shooting, before the 
 diminution of their numbers is visible. 
 
 As in the spring migration, they often elude any given local- 
 ity in the fall, evidently being capricious as to the special line 
 taken. Dr. Hvoslef reports them abundant during October, 
 1884, in Fillmore county. And so from most sections of the 
 entire field of my inquiries. 
 
 In their flights over the plowed fields, where they mostly 
 feed in autumn, they are a beautiful composite on wings, con- 
 stantly changing hues of colors as they alternately exhibit the 
 upper and the under parts in the rays of an October sun. 
 Grasshoppers are their ordinary diet, but when they resort to 
 the plowed fields it must be for larvae and other insects, as the 
 former are chiefly obtained on the grass lands. 
 
 We seldom see them when they are not mixed with other 
 species to some extent at least. I know very little of their 
 habits. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill rather short; legs moderate; wings long; hind toe want- 
 ing; tarsus covered before and behind with small, circular or 
 hexagonal scales, upper parts brownish-black, with numerous 
 small, circular and irregular spots of golden yellow, most 
 numerous on the back and rump, and on the upper tail coverts, 
 assuming the form of transverse bands generally; also with 
 some spots of ashy- white; entire under parts black, with a 
 brownish or bronzed lustre; under tail coverts mixed or barred 
 with white; forehead, border of the back of the neck, under 
 tail coverts and tibia white; axillary feathers cinereous; quills 
 dark brown; middle portion of the shafts white, frequently 
 extending slightly to the webs, and forming longitudinal stripes 
 on the shorter quills; tail dark brown with numerous irregular 
 bands of ashy-white, and frequently tinged with golden yellow; 
 bill black; legs dark bluish-brown. 
 
 Length, 9.50; wing, 7; tail, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, Arctic America. 
 
 My correspondents all report it occurring in the different 
 sections of the State much as above given. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 151 
 
 J;GIALITIS YOCIFERA (L. ). (273.) 
 
 KIIiLDEER. 
 
 A common summer resident, reaching the State generally 
 amongst the earliest migrants of its family, if not the earliest 
 itself. In 1869 they came on the 18th of March, and in 1884, 
 on the 25th of that month, between which days in March are 
 nine-tenths of their arrival records for two decades. 
 
 At these times they are in parties of 5 to 7 or 8 individuals, 
 "roaming about high in air, tracing the shore of the river, or 
 running amidst the watery flats and meadows. As spring 
 advances, they resort to the newly plowed fields, or level 
 plains bare of grass, interspersed with shallow pools; or dry 
 sandy fields. In some such situation they generally choose to 
 breed, about the beginning of May. The nest is usually 
 slight, a mere hollow, with such materials drawn in around it 
 as happen to be near; such as bits of sticks, straws, pebbles 
 or earth. * * * In some cases there are no vestiges of a 
 nest. The eggs are usually four, of a bright rich cream, or 
 yellowish clay color, thickly marked with blotches of black. 
 
 * * * * Nothing can exceed the alarm and anxiety of 
 these birds during the breeding season. Their cries of 
 kill-deer. Mil-deer, as they winnow the air over head, drive, and 
 course around you, or run along the ground counterfeiting 
 lameness, are shrill and incessant." (Wilson). No locality I 
 have visited in the State, where the conditions favoring their 
 habits exist, has failed to have a fair representation of these 
 familiar birds from March till late in October, and sometimes, 
 the tenth of November. In the early part of their residence, 
 they are seen in the small flocks mentioned, but after a short 
 time in pairs only until in July, when the brood full grown, 
 with the parents, constitute small flocks again, in which they 
 are mostly seen until their departure- for the winter. Dr. 
 Hvoslef reports them common for the species in the southern 
 part of the State, and Mr. Washburn found them the same in 
 the western, while it has been mine to find them fully up to 
 their observations in the central and northern to Duluth. 
 When thoroughly fattened they are fairly good eating in the 
 autumn. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wings long reaching to the end of the tail, which is also 
 rather long; head above and upper parts of body light- brown 
 with a greenish tinge; rump and upper tail coverts rufous. 
 -11 'i 
 
152 NOTES ON THE 
 
 lighter on the latter; front, and line over and under the eye 
 white; another band of black in front above the white band; 
 stripe from the base of the bill towards the occiput brownish- 
 black; ring encircling the neck, and a wide band on the breast 
 black; throat white, which color extends upwards around the 
 neck; other under parts white; quills brownish-black with 
 about half their inner webs white, shorter primaries with a 
 large spot of white on their outer webs, secondaries widely 
 tipped or edged with white; tail feather pale rufous at base; 
 the four middle feathers light olive-brown tipped with white 
 and with a subterminal band of black; lateral feathers widely 
 tipped with white; entire upper plumage frequently edged 
 and tipped with rufous. 
 
 Length, 9.50; wing, 6.50; tail, .3.50. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
 -EGIALITIS SEMIPALMATA Bonaparte. (274.) 
 SEMIPALMATED PLOVEK. 
 
 The lateness of the season when this Plover enters Minne- 
 sota, early suggested that it must breed here, but no nests 
 were fonnd for many years. Flocks of a dozen or less are 
 quite uniformly met with in the last week in April along the 
 streams, and about the ponds and lakes, more after the man- 
 ner of the Snipes than the Plovers, which affect the dry open 
 plains. After remaining where they are frequently seen for 
 about ten days, they disappear as abruptly as do the Swallows 
 in autumn, and are seldom seen again till August 20th to the 
 25th after which they remain until the early part of October 
 before taking 6nal leave of us for the more genial climes, said 
 to be Brazil and Peru and South America. At this season 
 they gather into quite large flocks before retiring, which we 
 are told become much larger as they gradually work their 
 way southward. The nest is little more than a slight hollow, 
 excavated in the sand by the bird, near the shores of ponds, 
 and contains the stereotyped number, four eggs of a dull yel- 
 lowish color, spotted and blotched all over with varying 
 shades of darkish-brown. They are almost typically pyri- 
 form in shape. One nest was discovered near St. Paul in 1879, 
 by Mr. Gober, who sent the eggs away to some eastern obl- 
 ogist as a capital trophy, but not until I had an opportuity to 
 examine them, and see the female, obtained at the same time. 
 The other nest was obtained by a resident of Minneapolis, and 
 not far from the city, and still more recently with which the 
 bird was secured also. I hear of one, also found quite as near 
 the city, by a young man who, for some reason best knox^ to. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 153 
 
 himself, is disinclined to let his oSlogical acquisition lend its 
 rush light to the State Natural History Survey. Dr. Hvoslef 
 writes me that he obtained the species in Lanesboro on the 
 first and fourth of August, 1884. Mr. Lewis did not meet 
 with the nests in Becker county, but found the birds occasion- 
 ally in July and August. I have seen flocks still flying about 
 in one year as late at the 20th of October, but this was excep- 
 tional. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Small, wings long; toes connected at base, especially the 
 outer to the middle toe; front, throat, ring around the neck, 
 and entire upper parts, white; a band of deep black across the 
 breast, extending around the back of the neck below the 
 white ring; band from the base of the bill, under the eye, 
 and wide frontal band above the white band, black; upper 
 parts light ashy -brown, with a tinge of olive; quills brownish- 
 black, with their shafts white in the middle protion, and occa- 
 sionally a lanceolate white spot along the shafts of the shorter 
 primaries; shorter tprtiaries edged with white; lesser coverts 
 tipped with white; middle feathers of the tail ashy olive- 
 brown, with a wide subterminal band of brownish-black, and 
 narrowly tipped with white; the two outer tail feathers white, 
 others intermediate like the middle, but widely tipped with 
 white; bill orange-yellow, tipped with black; legs yellow. GZ] 
 
 Length, 7; wing, 4.75; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, Arctic and Subarctic America. 
 
 Family APHEIZID^. 
 
 ARENARIA INTERPRES (L.). (283.) 
 TURNSTONE. 
 
 I can only record this species as extremely rare, as I have 
 but a few instances of its observation amongst my notes for 
 almost thirty years. 
 
 The earliest was in the fall of 1867, when I found it in a 
 collection of mounted birds, the individual having been ob- 
 tained recently in a flock of Sandpipers, on the Mississippi 
 river just below St. Paul. 
 
 I saw no more until 1874, which I obtained from another 
 flock of Sandpipers near Minneapolis, since which one or two 
 have come into our market in strings of scolopacine birds, and 
 always in autumn. 
 
154 NOTES ON THE 
 
 It may be accounted rare, but not a straggler, for I am satis 
 fled now that it remains within the vicinity of where I have 
 met with it, as it was late in July in two instances. Their 
 habit of prodding under the stones along the beach of the 
 lake near which my summer cottage is located, inte^-ested me 
 exceedingly. The crop was abundantly stored with larvae and 
 insects that abound there. I think +hat they remain about as 
 late in the autumn as do the average of the Sandpipers, before 
 retiring for the winter. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts variegated with black, dark rufous, and white; 
 head and neck above white, with numerous spots and stripes 
 of brownish-black on the crown ajid occiput; space in front of 
 eye white, surrounded with black; throat white on each side 
 of which is a stripe of black running from the base of the 
 bill downwards and joining a large space of black on the 
 neck before the breast; abdomen, under wing coverts, under 
 tail coverts, back and rump, white; quills brownish-black, /j 
 
 with white shafts; tail white at base, with its terminal half 
 brownish-black, tipped with white; greater wing coverts 
 widely tipped with white, forming a conspicuous oblique bar 
 across the wing; bill black; legs orange; in winter the black 
 of the upper parts is more apparent; the rufous of less ex 
 tent, and of lighter shade; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 9; wing, 6; tail, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, nearly cosmopolitan. 
 
 A'.i 
 
Order GALLING. 
 
 Family TETBA0:N^IJ:)^. 
 
 COLINUS VIRGINIANUS (L.). (289.) 
 BOB-WHITE. 
 
 This species whose notes from the corn field or the fence 
 down by the woods, are a part of the legacies of childhood 
 memories, is following up the progress of agriculture steadily, 
 but is nowhere yet abundant. After a series of mild winters 
 it has several times become greatly increased in numbers, to be 
 again decimated by an exceptionally vigorous one. 
 
 However, the extension of agriculture throughout the State 
 generally, has increased the measure of their protection so 
 much, by affording a more reliable supply of food, and com- 
 fortable covert, that they give promise of a permanent aug- 
 mentation of their numbers. 
 
 For quite a number of years now, the notes of Bob-white 
 have grown familiar in the region where I reside, and the sight 
 of his form along the roadways through the less frequented 
 brushlands, as well as the denser woodlands, is by no means an 
 uncommon event during the summer and autumn. Their dis- 
 tribution is yet restricted to the more favorable localities, es- 
 pecially in the advanced sections of occupation. But each year is 
 contributing to make the special distribution less defined in 
 proportion to the increase of the agricultural appropriation of 
 the lands, as well as the prohibition of brushland fires. The 
 earliest record that I have of its nesting in the section where I 
 reside, is May 5th, and I think that not exceptionally early. 
 My correspondents in the lower counties give it a week earlier 
 and the greater abundance of the species there gives them 
 ample opportunities to know in this matter. Mr. J. C. Baillie 
 who has given their whole breeding habits great attention for 
 many years, has contributed more than any other to my own 
 
156 NOTES ON THE 
 
 observations of this species. The nest varies considerably in 
 the amount, as well as the kind of material of which it is com- 
 posed. In the vicinity of meadows where grass is abundant, 
 it is constructed entirely of that material, necessitating con- 
 siderable bulk, but is nevertheless very perfectly concealed in 
 a thick tuft with the entrance at one side, somewhat after the 
 manner of the Oven Bird. When in the forest, the preference 
 is given to a little hollow under an old decayed log, where the 
 nest is constructed of leaves principally, or entirely. 
 
 In these cases, it has no covering, but when the eggs are 
 in process of being laid, the female covers them com- 
 pletely with leaves to conceal them in her absence. If those 
 ingeniously distributed leaves are disturbed by man or 
 animal before she returns, she will instantly dis- 
 cover the intrusion, and abandon her nest even though 
 no eggs have been broken or removed. Whether from 
 a perception of smell or the difference in the placing of 
 the leaves by the intruder I was never able to tell until upon 
 finding one a few years since, I removed each leaf carefully 
 with a pocket forceps, and after making all desired observa- 
 tions of the eggs, I replaced the leaves one by one as nearly 
 as I found them as possible, and repeated the process every 
 day or two, until the clutch was completed, without arous- 
 ing the maternal suspicions in the least. This result satisfied 
 me that she could smell an intrusion made without the use of 
 the forceps. Winds might disarrange the leaves during her 
 absence as much as I would, but leave no scent upon them or 
 .upon the eggs. The usual number is from 14 to 16, or even 
 18, but upon removing the seventh each time after it was 
 deposited, in one instance, a gentleman of extensive observa- 
 tion, who has contributed much valuable information upon the 
 habits of different birds, succeeded in obtaining 32 succes- 
 sively before the little dispenser had suspected her mathema- 
 tics. Their appearance is too familiar to require mention. 
 Although with its order a seed eater, that is not all. 
 
 The quail is another of the many maligned species of birds 
 that is entitled to the protection of the State as a friend to 
 agriculture. Although they may appropriate occasionally 
 some of the late planted berries of grain in spring they pay 
 soundly for it in the destruction of insects that are injurious 
 to grain, fruit and vegetables later. Nearly the entire food of 
 the breeding birds consists of larva and insects, and that of the 
 numerous brood exclusively so, for the other sources of sup- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 157 
 
 ply are not yet developed. Of course during the late autumn, 
 winter and early spring, they depend upon seeds, grain and 
 buds, out only the unavoidable waste of the farm and garden. 
 During these seasons, if possible, they should have the great- 
 est measure of legal protection against hunters and trappers, 
 for then must they become most available to them, being 
 driven by the necessities of food to the vicinity of outhouses, 
 barns, straw-stacks and dwellings. Their habits at the dif- 
 ferent seasons of the year afford one of the most interesting 
 studies of birdlife. Protect them and they rapidly become 
 tame and confiding. 
 
 In my early boyhood in western New York, I was led to 
 habits of observation of birds in winter, by this species more 
 than any other. Following the example of older observers, 
 whose interest was not as disingenuous as mine, I often 
 caught several of them at a time in a lath-trap of the figure 
 four kind, and in a few hours had them sufficiently domesticated 
 to eat freely of corn and wheat dropped down to them through 
 the slats, and within a week, upon setting them free, instead of 
 flying away never to return they were afterwards to be seen 
 daily feeding amongst the hens and the cattle in the barnyard. 
 I am happy to say that I never permitted my love for ' 'quail 
 on toast" to appropriate one these who had thus confided in me. 
 
 It seems to be superfluous to give any specific description 
 of this bird, yet for those whose opportunities have been less 
 favorable, from having long resided so far north where the 
 circumstances have been unfortunate for their multiplication, 
 I will say that the Quail measures about 10 inches in length; 
 the wing, 4.70; and tail 2.85. Their color is a bright reddish- 
 brown, streaked frequently with black, shading into gray. 
 The under parts are white with zigzag lines of black crosswise. 
 The throat of the male is much whiter than that of the female. 
 It is found in the middle and western states, including Canada 
 West and Minnesota to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 I have learned from Rev. Mr. Gear, who was. an army chap- 
 lain, stationed at several fortifications from time to time in the 
 earliest history of Minnesota, that there were no Quails here 
 until imported and set at liberty by the sportsmen amongst 
 the army officials on different occasions, but the want of food 
 and covert in severe winters prevented their material increase 
 in numbers until the advent of general farming. 
 
 Only one or two flocks have yet been seen as far north as 
 Red Lake Falls and at a few points in the latitude of Otter Tail. 
 
158 NOTES ON THE 
 
 DENDRAGAPUS CANADENSIS (L). (298.) 
 CANADA GROUSE. 
 
 The lumbermen of the forests east and north of Brainerd, 
 for years before I ever obtained one, repeatedly told of a 
 " patridge " in logging sections that was different from those 
 we ordinarily see. 
 
 By a good fortune, two Canada Grouse were sent to my 
 taxidermist, Mr. Wm. Howling, to be mounted many years ago, 
 one of each sex, which I had ample opportunity to examine. 
 Since then many more have reached me through the same 
 channel, and I have myself procured several. They are per- 
 manent residents of the northern half of the State, scattering 
 individuals reaching a south line of its habitat about sixty 
 miles northeast of Minneapolis. It is said to be, a very dull, 
 stupid Grouse, easily obtained by almost any ignoble means 
 which lumbermen and Indian boys may adopt, and conse 
 quently subject to exceptional destruction where desired for 
 food. The flesh is not as desirable as the Ruffed or Pinnated 
 Grouse, yet the Indians of the section where it has most 
 abounded have made them relatively quite scarce of late years. 
 But as a whole, it is a common species in the sections named, 
 and not at all confined, to the spruce swamps as we have been 
 Informed hitherto. Its nest, consisting of moss and leaves, is 
 on the ground, with less effort at concealment than the other 
 members of the family manifested in the evergreen swamps of 
 the regions they inhabit, and are rather easily found. The 
 eggs, said to be about the same in number as those of the 
 Ruffed Grouse, are a dirty-cream color, blotched considerably 
 with dark-bxown. Their note is described as a suppressed 
 cluck. Langille says of this species: "It is the aristocrat of 
 the family, stepping daintily on its moss-covered and deeply- 
 shaded apartments, feeding in the summer on such berries as 
 may be found in the forest, and in winter being content with 
 even the leaves of the evergreens."* 
 
 In his excellent report to me of the birds of Otter Tail, 
 Aitkin and Mille Lacs counties, Mr. Washburn says of this 
 grouse : ' 'This bird was reported to me as common north of the 
 centre of the State, and in the northeastern part. In Otter 
 Tail county, there being no pine or spruce, I did not expect to 
 find it, but was much disappointed in not meeting with it at 
 
 *Birds in their Haunts, p. 409. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 159 
 
 Mille Lacs, whel-e there is more or less spruce. In a conversa- 
 tion with Mr. E. 0. Garrison, of this latter place, he said that 
 from 1865 to 1868, the Spruce Partridge was quite common 
 about the lake, frequenting the spruce groves. He often met 
 with covies of six or more in his walks, and found them nest- 
 ing on mossy hummocks among the spruce. Since then, how- 
 ever, they seem to haVe been exterminated in that locality. 
 They are such a stupid bird, so very tame that they form an 
 easy mark for the arrow of- the young Indian boy. They are 
 often captured alive by a noose fastened to a short pole. " 
 
 It is represented to be common north of Mille Lacs, and gen- 
 erally throughout the evergreen sections of northern Minne- 
 sota. Its habits exempt it from all suspicions of enmity to 
 agriculture in its widest sense. In confinement it fattens 
 quickly upoh food that makes its flesh acceptable even to the 
 daintiest epicures 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail sixteen feathers; feathers above banded distinctly with 
 plumbeous; beneath uniform black, with a pectoral band of 
 white and white on the belly; chin and throat above black; tail 
 with a broad brownish-orange terminal band. Prevailing 
 color in the male, black; each feather of the head, neck, and 
 upper parts generally having its surface waved with plumb- 
 eous-gray in the form of two or three well defined concentric 
 bars parallel to each other, one along the exterior edge of the 
 feather, and the others behind it; sides of the body, scapulars, 
 and outer surface of wings mottled like back, but more irregu- 
 larly, and with a browner shade of gray, the feathers with 
 a central white streak expanding towards the tip (on the wing 
 these streaks are seen only on some of the greater coverts); no 
 white above except as described: under parts mostly uniform 
 black, feathers of sides of belly and breast broadly tipped with 
 white, which sometimes forms a pectoral band; a white bar 
 across the feathers at base of upper mandible, usually inter- 
 rupted above; a white spot on the lower eyelid, and a white 
 line beginning on the cheeks and running into a series of white 
 spots in the feathers of the throat; lower feathers of this are 
 banded terminally with whitish; feathers at base of bill, head, 
 below the eyes and beneath, pure black; quills dark brown, 
 without spots or bands, the outer edges only mottled with 
 grayish; tail feathers similar but darker, and tipped with a 
 band of orange-chestnut nearly an inch wide, obscured on the 
 central feathers; under tail coverts black, broadly barred and 
 tipped with white; the feathers of the legs mottled brown and 
 whitish; dirty white behind the tarsi; bill black. 
 
 Length, 16.20; wing, 6.70; tail, 5.50. 
 
160 NOTES ON THE 
 
 BONASA UMBELLU8 (L.). (300.) 
 RUFFED GROUSE. 
 
 Nowhere was the Ruffed Grouse more abundant than in all 
 the deciduous forests of this State, until mercilessly slaught- 
 ered by the pot-hunters. Almost any cluster of trees, particu- 
 larly if well interspersed with brush, to say nothing of the 
 extended forests of hardwoods stretching north and south and 
 east and west over the middle and southern portions of Minne- 
 sota, formerly contained its covey of "pheasants," as these 
 birds are popularly called. But their "glorious day is passing 
 away" as fast as about 300 dogs and 700 double-barrelled 
 breech-loading shotguns can accomplish their annihilation. 
 Improved game laws, which restrict the limits of the time in 
 which their destruction may be continued, may prolong their 
 represantation among the bird-fauna of the State somewhat, 
 but how much, time alone can demonstrate. 
 
 Not long after the first of May, the female seeks a retired 
 spot on slightly elevated ground or on a gentle declivity, and 
 under a more or less weathered log or in a bunch of thick 
 brush, she scrapes out a slight hollow in the ground, into 
 which she gathers a plentiful supply of leaves, which by 
 treading while turning round and round she shapes into a 
 loose nest, in which she drops about fourteen eggs. 
 
 Whenever she leaves her nest she carefully brings a good 
 supply of dry leaves and drops them over it in such perfect 
 imitation of the work of the wind that there is not the slight- 
 est indication of a nest left. For many years these birds 
 bred on the rear end of my ' 'Cosy Nook Cottage" lot, on the 
 east shore of Lake Minnetonka, where I had an exceptionally 
 good opportunity to study their habits in the period of incuba- 
 tion. I am satisfied that the male has no part in domestic 
 duties during this time but spends his time to a considerable 
 extent in the society of the other coxcomb shirks of his sex 
 — for at those times I have never seen one of them in the same 
 section. While yet laying, if the female hears footsteps ap- 
 proaching her, she steps off the nest and turns and places 
 leaves over the whole, one at a time, so rapidly that before 
 the spot has been reached all is perfectly concealed and she 
 has a chance to get from ten to twenty yards away where she 
 watches the intruder until he has clearly passed the nest, when 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 161 
 
 she will bound up with a whirl, and putting a tree between 
 herself and the invader, flies half a mile away before alight- 
 ing on the limb of a tree in safety. 
 
 Every chick will follow her the next day after the last one 
 is out of the shell, and they have all become nearly full grown 
 before the male resumes his place at the head of the family. 
 
 The covey remain together until pairing time in the next 
 spring when all the members are supposed to pair and set up 
 for themselves. 
 
 After the most careful observations I am entirely unable to 
 decide how the sound of the drumming is produced. Like the 
 question how a bjrd flies, the answer is yet in the shadowy 
 distance if it has itself ever taken wing yet. I have heard all 
 of the arguments pro and con, and know from personal obser- 
 vation that not one of them will "hold water." Yet it seems 
 strange that phenomena so obvious to both the senses of 
 hearing and seeing and under the observation of so many 
 critical observers cannot be explained unanswerably. 
 
 It is a very universally distributed species, though less 
 abundant in those portions of the State that are occupied by 
 the Canada Grouse.* Everywhere else, as above intimated, 
 where the hunters have not ruthlessly "cleaned it out," (to 
 use their own expressive language,) the Ruffed G-rouse is 
 abundant in its characteristic haunts. 
 
 From the southern line of the state to the Lake of the Woods 
 in the extreme north, I have the most reliable reports of the 
 species.** 
 
 Its drumming has been heard in Fillmore county as early as 
 the 28th of March, and in Hennepin county on the first of 
 April, from which I infer that the nesting may in some cases 
 be earlier than above given. Their patent diet of seeds, ber- 
 ries, grapes, and insects in summer, and ' 'the leaves of ever- 
 greens" in winter needs no repebition, but I have nowhere seen 
 any mention of the buds of the ironwood, (Ostrya virginica), 
 ^ which constitutes almost their exclusive food in winter here. 
 Their general habits otherwise do not differ from those of the 
 species in other sections of its distribution. Farmers would 
 think better of them after examining the contents of the 
 stomachs of as large a number as I have at various seasons of 
 the year. They are as partial to most species of insects as are 
 domestic fowls. 
 
 *P. L. Washburn's Bed River Valley, Thief River, snd Mille Lacs Rep. 
 **Dr, Hvoslef and Kennlcott's Lake of the Woods Rep. 
 
162 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of eighteen feathers; reddish-brown or gray above, the 
 back with cordate spots of lighter; beneath whitish, transverse- 
 ly barred with dull-brown; tail tipped with gray, and with a 
 subterminal bar of black; broad feathers of the ruff black. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 7.20; tail, 7. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern United States. 
 
 LAGOPUS LAGOPUS (L. ). (301.) 
 
 WILLOW PTARMIGAN. 
 
 Having listed this bird from time to time on the fact of find- 
 ing it in several collections, and in the hands of the taxider- 
 mists, without having found it after many years of observation, 
 I had about concluded to regard it as a straggler, when I was 
 more fortunate and secured one at least 20 miles northeast of 
 Anoka. Since ' then I have obtained several, and have in my 
 possession as perfect a pair in winter plumage as I have ever 
 seen, mounted and presented to me by the Messrs. Howling, 
 on Christmas, 1890. 
 
 The entire plumage is white in winter except the tail which 
 is black, narrowly tipped with white, and the shafts of the 
 quills which are also black. The bill is very robust and arched, 
 and black, while the liails of the toes are black at the base, and 
 pale horn color at the tips. I have learned nothing of their 
 habits from personal observation. They must be accounted 
 rare in Minnesota. Their habitat as given by the A. O. U. is 
 "Arctic regions; in America south to Sitka, British Provinces, 
 and to Northern New York. " To this we must add Minnesota. 
 
 TYMPANUCHUS AMERICANUS (Reichenbach). (305.) 
 
 PRAIRIE HEN. 
 
 The local history of the Pinnated Grouse does not differ ma- 
 terially from that of any other prairie country recently brought 
 under civilization and cultivation. Prom the most reliable 
 sources within my reach, I learn that when the white man first 
 came to Minnesota, these birds were by no means common. 
 Rev. E. G. Gear, one of the earlier chaplains in the regular 
 army, stationed first at Port Snelling and afterwards at Fort 
 Ripley, (or perhaps in the reverse order), was a very accurate 
 observer of all natural history phenomena, and especially so 
 in the department of birds. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 163 
 
 Enjoying a prolonged acquaintance with him, I availed my- 
 self of his observations in those early times, to learn the habits 
 of the more common species especially. He stated that the 
 pr«airie hens were seldom seen at the first, but after the country 
 began to become settled considerably, they increased in num- 
 bers perceptibly from year to year. The Blackfoot Grouse, 
 [Fedioccetes phasianellus (Linn. ), were the dominant grouse-kind 
 of the territory, and very well represented in tbe openings, and 
 wherever there was much brush- lands, but were never found 
 on the open, uncultivated prairies. This corresponds with my 
 own observations of the habits of the Pinnated Grouse in Illi- 
 nois, as far back as in 1836, the first summer of my residence 
 there. 
 
 I shall never forget the first boomings of the males at day- 
 break. My duties called me out at that early hour, and far on 
 to the prairies, six days every week, when I had ample oppor- 
 tunities to become familiar with the weird notes of the amorous 
 males. At that time I never could make out more than three 
 sources, rarely more than two, from which these boomings 
 seemed to come, but from year to year the numbers increased 
 until I am sure there were not less than as many dozens, and 
 whereas at the first, a bag of ten or twelve birds was a good 
 showing for an expert ' 'on the wing, " for one day, it was a 
 common affair afterwards for ' 'a common shot" to bring in 50 
 to 60 birds after a very short day, and experts many times 
 boasted their one hundred. 
 
 The grain fields afforded both food and protection for them 
 until the farmers complained of them bitterly, but not half so 
 bitterly as they did afterwards of the bird-destroyers who ran 
 over their broad acres of wheat, oats and corn in the order of 
 their ripening. The farmers are proverbially hard — for sports- 
 men — to please. Just here I may best introduce some portion 
 of Mr. Washburn's report of his experiences when in the Red 
 river valley, and with special reference to this species. He 
 says: 
 
 ' ' Extremely common in the prairie lands throughout the 
 valley, particularly near farming lands in the vicinity of wheat 
 fields. Replaced in a great measure by the preceding species 
 in the northern part of the State. Perhaps for the benefit of 
 the uninitiated, it would not be out of place to here give an 
 account of the modus operandi of hunting a bird which is an 
 object of such universal pursuit among sportsmen, and has be- 
 come an article of commercial importance; and this may pos- 
 
164 NOTES ON THE 
 
 sibly be best accomplished by recalling the pleasant experiences 
 of a chicken hunt in the southwestern part of the State, par- 
 ticipated in by the writer, at the invitation of three others, 
 Mr. Rand, Mr. George Morrison, and Mr. DoUiver. It was 
 my first experience in western shooting, and the memory of 
 the hunt, and the thought of that pleasant company with which 
 it had been my good fortune to be united for two days, will 
 always be a source of pleasure. Two of that party we shall 
 never see again here, but I am not the only one who has been 
 made happy by their genial presence; there are many of us 
 who will never forget them. 
 
 ' 'As a rule business men can spare but a day or two from the 
 city for a 'chicken hunt,' and these were no exception. A 
 telegram August 13th to New Richland, advised a well-known 
 and well-tried landlord there, that a party of four would be 
 down on the evening of the 14th; "have good rooms ready; we 
 want you, your team and dog on the 15th.' Then, on the after- 
 noon before the auspicious 15th, the jolly company, with per- 
 haps three dogs tied in the baggage car, and a liberal supply 
 of ammunition in their carpet-bags, are transported, after two 
 hours' ride, to the little prarie town with its one street, a few gro- 
 cery stores, saloons, elevator, and one 'best' hotel. Here they find 
 everything in readiness, and after passing criticism on the dogs 
 of various other hunting parties, and a whispered, mysterious 
 conference with the landlord as to the location of the 'best 
 ground,' the party retire to -beds whose hardness is rendered 
 endurable only by anticipation of the morning pleasure. Then, 
 what seemed to be an hour's rest, rudely broken by the land- 
 lord who knocks at the door, with the announcement that 'it is 
 three o'clock,' 
 
 "A hasty donning of shooting jackets, filling of cartridges 
 bags or belts, a still more hasty breakfast, prepared by the 
 much enduring, patient wife of the landlord, a selecting of the 
 right dogs from the crowd of creatures, old and young, good 
 and bad, that are kenneled in and about the house, a packing 
 of lunch into the wagon, not ommitting a good supply of water 
 for man and dogs, and we are ofE at a brisk pace, while the 
 dawn is first lighting up the east. The uncomfortable feeling 
 caused by being awakened so early from a sound sleep, and be- 
 ing obliged to leave a comfortable (?) bed is soon forgotten in 
 the novelty of our situation. As the light grows brighter ob- 
 jects which looked indistinct and shadowy in the darkness, are 
 seen with more clearness and prove to be wheat stacks, or 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 165 
 
 clumps of trees, or log shanties, from which the sleepy farmers 
 are just emerging to milk the cows standing in the neighbor- 
 ing barnyard. As it grows lighter, occasional Teal are flushed 
 from, Uttle pools beside the road, and flocks of Mallards are ob- 
 served flying over the tall grass of prairie sloughs. Then 
 comes the sun gradually dispelling the mist which hangs low 
 in early morning, and warming the rather chilly air. Before 
 us stretch the hunting grounds, large wheat fields, from 
 which the grain has been removed, interspersed with meadows 
 of tall grass, numerous "sloughs," and farm houses where lo- 
 cations are marked by rows of cottonwood trees. The driver 
 turns into the stable, there is a loading of guns, and the dogs 
 are let out of the wagon, two at a time in order that they may 
 not all tire before the day's sport is ended. 
 
 ' 'These creatures, at whom the day before, we grumbled for 
 being under foot and who stalked gloomily about with droop 
 ing tails and ears, today are transformed ' into different beings, 
 and have our pleasure in their own noses. Away they go, 
 coursing the stubble from right to left and vice versa, at a mo- 
 tion of the master's hand. Mark! One has stopped. He is 
 eagerly sniffing the ground, picking his way carefully along, 
 while his tail in rapid motion shows his excitement. The 
 other dog soon sees his companion's agitation and hastening to 
 him, catches the scent of the covey. Then both their tails go- 
 ing round and round they push slowly on, step by step until 
 suddenly the foremost dog stops, his head turned a little to one 
 side and his nose pointing downward. His tail hassuddenly be- 
 come rigid. The other, the younger of the two, being some- 
 what of a tyro, and this being the first of the season, has in his 
 eagerness run too close to a chicken and when the bird files up 
 from under his nose, the startled dog gazes after him and then 
 turns his head toward the wagon to see what action his master 
 will take. If he could hear his master's remarks at that mo- 
 ment he certainly would blush, if a dog could blush, with 
 shame. But he has found another and both dogs now stand 
 like marble statues, while We, all four. Jump from the wagon 
 and with ready guns advance toward them amid cries of ' 'steady 
 Don, steady there? Hold him Grouse, steady sir!" Two are 
 to shoot the birds on the right as they rise, two will take the 
 birds on the left. Suddenly one of the covey, an old cock gets 
 up — a report — a few feathers floating on the morning air, and 
 the bird falls to the ground, where it soon flutters out its life. 
 This generally startles the rest of the birds and they rise in a 
 
166 NOTES ON THE 
 
 body, six, ten, fifteen or even twenty. Eight fall, the rest fly 
 half a mile or more, and are marked down by the driver. If a 
 few stragglers remain behind, they meet their death a few 
 minutes later when they rise. With the aid of the dogs the 
 dead and wounded birds are found, thrown into the wagon and 
 we drive on in the direction taken by the remainder of the 
 flock. In this way several covies are found during the morn- 
 ing. Oftentimes the birds will not wait when in the'stubble 
 for the hunters to approach, but when disturbed by the dogs 
 rise in a body and perhaps settle down again in tall meadow 
 grass a quarter of a mile off. 
 
 ' ' This is an unlucky move for the birds, since when in the tall 
 grass they lie close, and can be flushed one at a time. I shall 
 never forget our experience with a large covey of twenty birds 
 that were flushed by the dogs,and marked down by the driver in 
 a grassy slough half a mile away. On driving over there the 
 dogs easily found the birds, and the four of us, standing in tall 
 grass, kept up a furious fusilade for a few minutes. The birds 
 rose one or two at a time from under our feet. A rustle in the 
 grass beside or behind one. was followed by the sight of a 
 Chicken that flew but a few rods, only to fall dead, atnd by its 
 fall perhaps to startle another one from the covert to share the 
 same fate. This particular morning was damp and so much 
 smoke was hanging low over the grass thait it enveloped us in 
 a dense cloud and rendered firing a risky thing, for one could 
 not tell just where the others stood. At eleven the heat of the 
 sun obliges the sportsman to desist, and the team is driven to 
 some farmhouse where the horses are fed, and the whole party 
 reclining in the shade of the cottonwoods, discuss the morn- 
 ing's experiences and plans for the afternoon, and enjoy a 
 comfortable siesta. 
 
 ' ' During the middle of the day the Pinnated Grouse leaves 
 the short stubble and seeks cool, damp resorts in the hollows 
 of the prairie, where it is not so easily hunted, not coming to 
 the wheat fields again until four or after. 
 
 "At that hour, the gunners start again, and from four till 
 seven, repeat with varied luck, the morning's performance. 
 At dusk putting on overcoats to keep off the chilly night air, 
 and counting the birds, which during noontime they had drawn 
 and stuffed with cool grass, they ride merrily back over the 
 now dark prairie to the hotel, where a bountiful supper awaits 
 them, and they compare notes with parties who went out in 
 other directions. The second day is a repetition of the first. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 167 
 
 perhaps in another direction, and on the third the hunters 
 return home with their spoils, to distribute them among friends 
 not so fortunate as to own a gun and a dog, when the double 
 barrel is cleaned and put away, and business resumed." 
 
 I have introduced this detailed and circumstantial extract 
 from Mr. Washburn's communication as one of the most faith- 
 ful descriptions of a Prairie Chicken hunt that I have ever 
 read, and as representing in all probability not less than two 
 or three hundred other similar and simultaneous parties of 
 hen-killers, conveniently entitled "sportsmen," found for 
 several weeks within the dominion of our young State. No 
 member of the bird family has ever received more universal 
 recognition than this denizen of the broad prairies. Prom 
 royalty to rags all classes have honored it with a place in the 
 memory if not in the "bag," or the stomach, as proof of which 
 we have only to point silently to the motley array of the won- 
 drously improved double-barrelled shot-guns, ammunition, 
 pointers, setters, elegant trains of sportsmen's railroad coaches 
 side-tracked for days at a time in the vicinity of the bird's well 
 known haunts far within our borders. Nothing short of a 
 national jubilee and half -fares, so moves the masses and the 
 classes as the dawning of the morn of the "open season" for 
 shooting Prairie Chickens. Within the period of its history, 
 the species has borne many "common" names, among which 
 Heath Hen, Prairie Grouse, Prairie Chicken, Boomers, Pinnated 
 Grouse, etc. , and it is now refreshing and restful to learn that 
 the decrees of exact science have finally settled upon "Hen." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of eighteen feathers; general color varied, but domi- 
 nantly whitish-brown and brownish yellow, almost everywhere 
 with well defined transverse bars of brown on the feathers. 
 Body stout, compact; a tuft of long, pointed feathers on each 
 side of the neck, covering a bare space capable of inflation; 
 tail short, truncated, much graduated; lateral feathers about 
 two-thirds the middle; the feathers stiffened, nearly linear and 
 truncate, scarcely longer than the coverts, and about half the 
 length of the wing. Tarsi covered with feathers anteriorly 
 and laterally to the toes, but bare with hexagonal scutellse 
 behind; middle toe and claw longer than tarsus; toes margined ■ 
 by pectinated processes. A space above the eye provided 
 with a dense, pectinated process in the breeding season, some 
 times separated from the eye by a superciliary space covered 
 with feathers. Bands on body transverse throughout; lan- 
 ceolate feathers of the throat black; upper ones with a central 
 yellowish stripe; eyelids, and a stripe from the nostril along 
 
 -12 z 
 
168 NOTES ON THE 
 
 side the head (interrupted above the eye), brownish yellow; 
 sides of head below, a dusky infraocular stripe, with the chin 
 and throat above, similar; feathers of the body above and below 
 brown, with a terminal and two transverse bands of well de- 
 fined white; the brown almost black and the white tinged with 
 rufous above; scapular feathers sometimes showing more 
 black; wings banded like the back; primaries grayish-brown, 
 marked only on the outer webs with light spots, shafts black; 
 tail feathers sometimes uniform brown, sometimes with rufous 
 transverse bars; under coverts marked like the back, with 
 more white sometimes; membrane above the eye and of the 
 sounding bladder, orange. 
 
 Length, 16.50; wing, 8.80; tail, 4.70. 
 
 Habitat, prairies of the Mississippi valley. 
 
 pediocj;tes phasianellus campestris 
 
 RiDGWAY. (308b.) 
 PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE. 
 
 Thirty years ago the Sharp-tailed Grouse were distributed 
 over nearly the entire State, but were not popularly distin- 
 guished from the Pinnated Grouse. In common with the 
 latter, they were all called "chickens," and if an occasional 
 sportsman called attention to differences, the reply was "they , 
 are Nackfoots." 
 
 It seems difficult to satisfactorily account for the fact, yet 
 it nevertheless is such, that this species withdraws before the 
 advance of civilization and agriculture, as the other moves 
 along with it up to the occupation of a considerable proportion 
 of its agricultural area. Amongst the sportsmen of later years 
 have been some very observing amateur naturalists who have 
 noted this unmistakable retrocession of the species. With 
 characteristic pains. Dr. Coues approximatey traced the 
 southern lines of distribution of this species across Minnesota 
 in 1873, along the course of which an occasional "blackfoof 
 may still be found, but the representative numbers have de- 
 flected the aggregate line far to the north of west since that 
 time. In other words, the other species has overflowed and 
 buried it measurably out of sight for a considerable distance 
 north and east. This leaves the area over which both species 
 are in mutual possession much broader than formerly. 
 
 About the first of April, the booming of the males is heard. 
 Coues says in Birds of the N. W. , "at the rallying cry the 
 birds assemble in numbers of both sexes, at some favorable 
 spot, and a singular scene ensues as the courtship progresses. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 169 
 
 There is a regular "walk-around" as ludicrous to the disin- 
 terested observer, as some of the performances on the comic 
 stage. The birds run about in a circle, some to the right, 
 others to the left, crossing each other's path, passing and 
 repassing in stilted attitudes, stopping to bow, and squat, in 
 extravagant postures, and resuming their course, till one 
 would think their heads as well as their hearts were lost. But 
 this is simply their way." This is the inauguration of the 
 season, and very soon the nests are located in places almost, 
 but of course not quite, as various as the domestic hen, for the 
 latter does not always place it or the ground, while the former 
 always does. A moderate hollow is selected or made, and a 
 little grass is arranged in it after which a dozen or more rather 
 slimmer, and longer eggs than those of the Pinnated Grouse 
 but differing very little from them in color, are layed in it. 
 Th'e young of this species have been seen just out of the nest 
 as early as the 5th of May, and as late as the 20th of June. 
 
 In sections of the northwestern and western portions of the 
 State they are still abundant, but I have neither seen nor 
 heard of any of them for several years in the southwest. Dr. 
 Coues has a lengthy and exceedingly interesting description 
 of this Grouse and its habits in his Birds of the Northwest, 
 pp 407-419, which may be consulted for further information by 
 those interested to learn. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of eighteen feathers; colors white, black and brownish- 
 yellow; above with transverse bars; the wings with round, 
 white spots; beneath, pure white, with V-shaped blotches on 
 the breast and sides. 
 
 Length, 18; wihg, 8.50; tail, 5.25. 
 
 Habitat, more northerly than the last species. 
 
 Family PHASIANID^. 
 
 MELEAGRIS GALLOP AYO L. (310.) 
 
 WILD TURKEY. 
 
 Thirty-three years ago the Wild Turkey was not a rare bird 
 in northwestern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota, and it has 
 been seen as late as 1871, in Minnesota, since which I have 
 received no report from it, and I am of the opinion that it has 
 now (1891) totally disappeared from our State. Possibly a 
 straggler may yet be recognized in the southwest extreme of 
 
170 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the timber land of that section, and if so I trust that the 
 fact may find publicity through some channel. Grand and in- 
 spiring as is the sublime march of civilization, we cannot look 
 upon its tracks but with a degree of sadness and regret, 
 strown as it is with the annihilated forms of so many species 
 of birds, mammals and beautiful varieties of flowers. 
 
 The rear guard of that all-conquering force is pressed upon 
 by a herd of vandals speaking the dialect of gentlemen, but 
 wearing the habiliments of warfare on beings that can neither 
 employ diplomacy nor shoot back at their foes. Brave men 
 they are! It may be they have slain a majestic bufEalo during 
 the course of a ripe old youth and manhood. Perhaps they 
 can claim to have ' 'cleaned out the last chicken" or grouse in 
 an entire county, last Sunday. 
 
Order COLUMB^. 
 
 Family COLUMBID^. 
 
 ECT0PISTK8 MIGRATORIUS (L). (315). 
 PASSENGEE PIGEON. 
 
 Wild pigeons have been seen in the vicinity of Lanesboro, 
 Fillmore county, and Spirit lake, Jackson county, the southern 
 line of the State, as early as the 27th of March, but this is 
 earlier than the average arrival in even those lower counties. 
 A review of 20 years gives about the 5th of April, as nearer 
 that time. And their first appearance has never been in such 
 vast flocks as have characterized their spring migrations in 
 Illinois and Indiana in the first years of their settlement by 
 the whites. Still there have been occasional years when con- 
 siderable flocks have located and nested in somewhat restricted 
 localities throughout the state. I well remember one when a 
 large flock roosted for some time in an extensive popular grove 
 but a few miles out of the city of St. Paul. It subsequently 
 became distributed over a very wide extent of eastern Minne- 
 sota, and the western part of Wisconsin adjacent. The country 
 generally throughout this district is to a great extent charac- 
 terized by such groves of poplar, red and black oak brush- 
 lands. In these, on limbs generally not more than seven feet 
 from the ground, they constructed their nests about the first 
 of May. 
 
 These were very frail structures and placed on a limb where 
 there was a horizontal branch. They consisted of a few long 
 sticks scarcely as large as a clay-pipe stem, on which were 
 distributed a scanty supply of twigs, or still smaller sticks, 
 with a few leaves overlaying the whole. Some nests had no 
 leaves at all, when the egg could be easily seen from underneath 
 it. In all of my examinations of them I seldom found more 
 than one egg in a nest. It was pure white, nearly oval. 
 
 Their food consisted essentially of acorns in the spring, 
 but a heavy tax was levied on the wheat and oats in late sum- 
 mer and fall. Of late years but few are seen in any of the dis- 
 
172 NOTES ON THE 
 
 tricts which I have heard from. They have principally left the 
 country by the first of November, although straggling indi- 
 viduals remain as long as the abundance of mast is uncovered 
 by snow. 
 
 Wilson's estimate of the quantity of food they consume, is 
 one of the most wonderful revelations in the literature of orni- 
 thology. I think it highly improbable that large numbers will 
 ever give material cause for anxiety to the agricultural interests 
 of Minnesota, yet I cannot be assured, for the migrations of the 
 species are exceedingly capricious. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail of twelve feathersj upper parts generally, including 
 sides of body, head, neck and chin blue; beneath purple 
 brownish red, fading' behind with a violet tint; anal region and 
 under tail coverts bluish white; scapulars, inner tertials and mid- 
 dle of back, with an olive-brown tinge; wing coverts, scapulars 
 and inner tertials, with large oval spots of blue-black on the 
 outer webs, mostly concealed except on the latter; primaries 
 blackish, with a border of pale-bluish, tinged internally with 
 red; middle tail feathers brown; the rest pale-blue on the outer 
 web, white internally, each with a patch of reddish- brown at 
 the base of the inner web, followed by another of black, sides 
 and back of neck, richly glossed with metalic golden- violet; 
 tibia bluish-violet; bill black; feet yellow. 
 
 Length, 17; wing, 8.50; tail, 8.40. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern North America. 
 Note — The above was written many years ago since which it 
 has been further verified as correct in the older sections of 
 agricultural improvements, but restricted portions of several 
 northern countries have been somewhat annoyed by consider 
 able flocks both in spring and autumn in occasional years. I 
 have neither seen nor learned of any characteristic roosts. 
 
 ZENAIDIRA MACROURA (L ). (316.) 
 MOURNING DOVE. 
 
 For its species, the Mourning Dove may be said to be fairly 
 comon throughout the brush-lands, and subcommon over the 
 dry prairies. 
 
 Its presence here from the 15th to the 20 of April, is soon 
 recognized by its sad cooing notes, heard from the back past- 
 ure, or along the wayside, through brushy sections in which 
 are small patches of grass They do not usually arrive here 
 in large parties, but often much as they remain through the 
 summer, in pairs. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 173 
 
 ' Oak acorns, berries of nearly all kinds, seeds and grains 
 constitute their food, of which they find an abundance, and in 
 the enjoyment of which they are essentially undisturbed by 
 the gunners. 
 
 Once here, if not mated when they come, they are so soon 
 seen in pairs that it would be difflcult to say they were not so 
 when they came. A little after the first of May, perhaps not 
 far from the 10th, they devote themselves to nest-building. Gen- 
 erally on a high bush, or low tree, sometimes on a stump, a log, 
 or even directly on the ground, they cjonstruct a platform of 
 small sticks or twigs, on which they place some rootlets, or 
 stems of hay, on which may occasionally be found a few lichens, 
 or leaves. 
 
 Like the nestof the other, or Wild Pigeon, it is a rather frail 
 affair, and only hollowed enough to barely retain the two beau- 
 tiful white eggs which are to be entrusted to it. The general 
 habits of the species are so well known that it would be a work 
 of supererogation to attempt a detailed description of them. 
 
 They linger as long in the autumn as they can obtain their 
 food, which in some years is into November, but as a rule they 
 are mostly gone by the 25th of October. 
 
 I have neither visited any parts of the state, nor corresponded 
 with persons residing in different sections, where this species 
 has not been found fairly common. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail feathers fourteen; above, bluish, overlaid with light 
 brownish- olive, leaving the pure blue only on the top of the head, 
 the exterior of the wings, and the upper surface of the tail, which 
 is even slightly tinged with this color; entire head except the 
 vertex, sides of neck, and the underparts generally, light 
 brownish -red, strongly tinged with purple on the breast, be- 
 coming lighter behind, and passing into brownish-yellow on the 
 anal region, tibia, and under tail coverts; sides of the neck with 
 a patch of metallic purplish-red; sides of body and inside of 
 wings, clear light blue; wing coverts and scapulars spotted with 
 black, mostly concealed, and an oblong patch of the same be- 
 low the ear; tail feathers seen from below, blackish, the outer 
 web of the outermost white; the others tipped with the same, 
 the color becoming more and more bluish to the innermost, 
 which is brown; seen from above, there is the same gradation 
 from white to light blue in the tips; the rest of the feather, 
 however, is blue, with a bar of black anterior to the light tip 
 which runs a little forward along the margin and shaft of the 
 feather; bill black; feet yellow. 
 
 Length, 13; wing, 5.75; tail, 6.70. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
Order RAPTORES. 
 
 Family CATHARTID^. 
 
 CATHARTES ATJRA (L.). (325.) 
 TURKEY VULTURE. 
 
 Amongst our earliest migrants, reaching the lower sections 
 of the State immediately after the lifting of the ice-embargo, 
 the Vultures are never seen in sufficient numbers to record 
 them more than fairly common in some partially restricted 
 portions of the country. After a few years of observation, I 
 learned to look for their appearance about the 25th of March, 
 but have frequently been compelled to wait until the first day 
 of April. The first seen are more commonly a single pair, 
 attention having been drawn to them by their flying in large 
 circles while gradually making progress northwardly along 
 the general course of some considerable stream. A few days 
 later, a larger number is occasionally noticed, perhaps a flock of 
 half a dozen; rarely more, working their way to higher lati- 
 tudes. Formerly an average share of them remained along 
 the St. Oroix, St. Peter, and Mississippi rivers to breed, but 
 with the general progress of improvements, and the employ- 
 ment of steam whistles on the steam boats and the mills, and 
 on the railways, they have, in common with many other form- 
 erly rather common species of the larger birds, become locally 
 much rarer. The earlier nests are built, if so meagre an 
 attempt may be called building, about the middle of April, 
 (in 1864, April 10th), but later ones are occasionally found. 
 Mr. Lewis reports them as late as the 5th of May on Lake 
 Traverse, and the 15th of the last month in Becker county, 
 which is considerably further north. As intimated, the nests 
 are the merest apologies when attempted at all, J but in the 
 few instances of my own observation, they were only the 
 naked ledge overhanging the water, on which were a few 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 175 
 
 sticks, and some coarse stalks of weeds, or reeds. In each 
 instance seen or yet heard from, only two eggs were found. 
 Their color was in general a dirty, yellowish white, with dif- 
 ferent shades of brown spattered, or splotched somewhat, 
 nearly all over, but more so about the larger end. Their food 
 does not differ locally from that reported of them everywhere. 
 Mr. Washburn "found it very common for the species, 
 throughout the Red river valley." He made some consecu- 
 tive observations of their habits at Ada. Dr. Hvoslef thinks 
 that they come over our southern boundaries sometimes as 
 early as Feb. 1st, but if they do, I persume they go back again 
 promptly as a general thing. Next to this date he notes them 
 in this journal on Feb. 23d, and 28th, each, 1883, but not again 
 , until March 27th of that year. No one familiar with their 
 form in flight need be mistaken in their identity. In dignity 
 of motion on the wing, they have few peers and no superiors. 
 And the sustained ease of their prolonged flight is equally 
 wonderful. Weariness is never once suggested. The separa- 
 tion and upward inflection of the extremeties of the primaries 
 when floating around their wide circles on the wing, carries an 
 idea of tension which soon dissipates upon prolonged observa- 
 tion. They remain in their favorite districts until driven 
 away by the frost which cuts ofE their supply of food. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 • 
 
 Entire plumage brownish-black, darkest on the back and 
 tail above with a purplish lustre, many feathers having a pale 
 border; bill yellowish; head and neck bright red; plumage 
 commencing on the neck with a circular ruff of projecting 
 feathers; head and upper part of neck naked, or with a few 
 scattering hair-like feathers, and with the skin wrinkled; 
 nostrils large, oval, communicating with each other; tail rather 
 long and rounded. 
 
 Length, 30; wing, 23; tail, 12. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
176 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Family FALCON^ID^. 
 
 ELANOIDES PORFICATUS (L.). (327.) 
 
 SWALLOW-TAILED KITE. 
 
 For some time after I began to notice the birds here I re- 
 garded the Swallow-tailed Kite as a veritable rari avis, and 
 finding where one pair built their nest on the west side of Lake 
 Minnetonka, I made a careful note of everything pertaining to 
 their habits. Subsequently I found that the species was far 
 from being rare, indeed was comparatively common. My 
 mistake had been in looking for them on the prairies instead 
 of in the dense forests. Not one of all the species had been 
 found on any considerable prairie. In looking for the nest, 
 authorities directed me to the immediate vicinity of water. 
 Margins of lakes and running streams in or bordering large 
 bodies of tall timber were searched to the distance of a hun- 
 dred and fifty yards back from the water, but no nests were to 
 be found- In my extreme desire to gather knowledge of the 
 local habits of birds and having an opportunity to secure a 
 professional oologist, I employed him and sent him to the 
 eastern side of the lake mentioned, where, amongst a large 
 number of species I wished to learrf more about, I was confi- 
 dent this one nested, for during the last days of May and in 
 early June I had year after year seen the male. He spent some 
 ten days there and brought me many items of deep interest, 
 but of my Swallow- tailed Kite, nothing. It so happened that 
 he had fallen in with a friend of mine who was as profoundly 
 interested in birds as any of us, to whom he showed a clutch 
 of six eggs just obtained from a nest of these birds far back 
 in the dense forest of maple, oak, elm and basswood, on a tree 
 at an elevation of about sixty feet, all of which my friend very 
 innocently rehearsed to me a few days later. I had never 
 seen the egg at that time and regretted above words that I 
 could not have "received that which was my own", but deter- 
 mined to find the nest if possible, and did so. Everything 
 about its location seemed to preclude the presumption that 
 they would select the immediate vicinity of water. With the 
 key to the situation now in my hands, I never have since 
 thrown away precious time looking for their nests anywhere 
 but in the deep forests away from all running water. They 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 177 
 
 reach the State in pairs, often in the last days of March but 
 not usually later than the fifth of April, but do not build until 
 about the fifth or the tenth of May. 
 
 The nest is like most hawks' nests, rather bulky and consists 
 of sticks, twigs, grass and a few leaves, and is placed in a 
 fork of the tree about fifty to sixty feet from the ground. 
 The full complement is six cream-white eggs, considerably 
 splotched with iron -rust and speckled with dark brown. 
 
 After the young are grown they are met with in families in 
 their hunting excursion, when they extend them into small 
 prairie?, openings in immediate proximity to forests, being 
 their natural territory, into which they glide instantly in the 
 presence of supposed danger. Openings in the timber afford 
 them their chosen food, insects of the larger varieties and 
 reptiles of the smaller species, from which they affect those 
 so large as to be called small prairies, that are however more 
 or less embraced by bodies of timber. Late in summer they 
 almost subsist upon grasshoppers alone, so abundant are they 
 habitually at that season almost everywhere in the State. 
 About the first of September they leave us for warmer lati- 
 tudes. Rarely some remain a little later, if severe frosts are 
 delayed. 
 
 Their flight is simply a marvel of grace, ease and velocity 
 that must be seen to be fully appreciated. When a "hopper," 
 lizzard, or a diminutive snake is discovered by one of them, it 
 drops upon it more like a snowflake than a raptorial bird. Feet 
 . and bill seem to seize the victim simultaneously, but it is in- 
 stantly relinquished by the foot, if an insect, and by the bill if 
 a reptile. Mr. Washburn, who found the species common at 
 Mille Lacs and otherwheres that he went, gives an account of 
 one of these birds, after being annoyed by a blackbird (possi- 
 bly by a purple martin), quick as a flash turning upon its back, 
 seizing its pestiferous assailant and bearing him remorselessly 
 away for an unexpected luncheon. It is not accounted a very 
 brave hawk, but it is a mistake that they will not fight if at bay 
 with a broken wing. The extremely pointed talons, although 
 not as powerful as are those of many others of the hawks, are 
 capable of inflicting severe wounds, when sustained by a very 
 cruel beak. They are not inclined to fight unless driven to it, 
 but their discretion is seldom wanting when danger comes, out 
 of which those long, pointed wings bear them with the speed 
 of an arrow. 
 
178 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wings and tail long, the latter deeply forked. Head and 
 neck, under wing coverts, secondary quills at their bases, and 
 entire under parts white; back, wings and tail black, with a 
 metallic lustre; purple on the wing coverts and back; green 
 and blue on the other parts; tarsi and toes greenish-blue; bill 
 horn color. As with most hawks, the male is the smaller. 
 
 Length, (of female), 23 to 25; wing, 16 to 17.50; tail, 14. 
 
 Habitat, Southern United States and north to Minnesota. 
 
 CIRCUS HUDSONIUS (L.). (331). 
 MARSH HAWK. 
 
 This is undeniably the, most abundant of the hawks which 
 visit the State, arriving often before the ice has entirely disap- 
 peared from the lakes. About the 20th of March the avaunt 
 couriers of the species may be seen solitarily reconnoitering the 
 marshes, but an unfavorable change in the meteorological con- 
 ditions may send them away for a few days, to return next time 
 in greater numbers. Late in April incubation is entered upon. 
 Their favorite nesting places are in sedgy, marshy meadows, 
 that have bunches, or tussocks of shrub-willows, in the center 
 of which they build a somewhat bulky nest of grass, in which 
 they lay four to live dingy bluish-white eggs. When the young 
 are sufficiently advanced, they make short pedestrian excur- 
 sions in the immediate vicinity of the nest, before the wings 
 are sufficiently developed for them to take to flight, under 
 which circumstances the solicitude of the parents is manifestly 
 very great. To one acquainted with the habits of the species 
 it is not ordinarily difficult to find the nest after the young are 
 partially srrown. Their principal food consists of frogs, and 
 snakes are equally acceptable under all circumstances. They 
 catch occasionlly, a field mouse, moles and ground squirrels. 
 
 Their distribution is universal over the portions of the State 
 where the conditions are favorable to supply them with food. 
 Such a region is characteristically a country of lakes, a con- 
 siderable number of which have subsided, leaving both ex- 
 tensive and frequently limited areas in the most favorable con- 
 dition to make it the Marsh Hawk's paradise in the breeding 
 season. 
 
 And they yield their summer home only when the approach 
 of relentless winter compels them to do so, which, with the 
 hardier birds is not till in the ides of November. Occasionally 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 179 
 
 an individual refuses to leave the southern borders of the 
 State, and remains all winter, incredible as it may seem. I 
 have records of its presence there during each month of the 
 winter. 
 
 Noticing frequent reports of the Marsh Hawk's seizing small 
 birds, I have taken pains to ascertain their local habit in this 
 respect, but I have yet to record the first instance. I have 
 met with individuals in November, long after every trace of 
 either insect or reptilian life had disappeared, when presump- 
 tively, if ever, the urgencies of hunger should have revealed 
 this reserved proclivity, in the presence of several species of 
 sparrows, without preceiving the slightest disposition to inter- 
 fere with them. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef records the presence of the Marsh Hawk near 
 Lanesboro on the 13th of January, 1886. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found them everywhere from Bigstone to the 
 northern boundajries of the State, and Mr Washburn says in 
 his Red river valley notes, "Extremely common. Found 
 everywhere in the vicinity of open country. The most abun- 
 dant representative of the family, pairs or single birds being 
 constantly seen hovering over the prairie and over the fields of 
 grain. The immense numbers of frogs which throng the 
 meadows and fields this season must afford them bountiful 
 nourishment.'" 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAKACTEES. 
 
 Form long and slender; tarsi long; ruff quite distinct on 
 neck in front; entire upper parts, head and breast pale-bluish 
 cinereous; back of head mixed with dark fulvous; upper tail 
 coverts white; under parts white, with small cordate, or has 
 tate spots of light feruginous; quills brownish-black, with 
 their outer edges tinged with ashy, and a large portion of the 
 inner webs white; tail light cinereous, nearly white on inner 
 webs of feathers, and with obscure transverse bands of brown: 
 under surface silky- white; under wing coverts-white. Young — 
 Entire upper parts dark umber-brown; upper tail coverts 
 white; under parts rufous, with longitudinal stripes of 
 brown on breast and sides; tail reddish- brown, with about 
 three wide bands of dark fulvous, paler on the inner webs; 
 tarsi and toes yellow. 
 
 Length ^of female), 19 to 21; wing, 15.50; tail, 10. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 Note — At certain times of the day, notably mid-forenoon and 
 towards evening, I have repeatedly seen the young hawks while 
 yet unable to fly, scattered in different directions from one to 
 three yards from the nest searching for bits of food either 
 
180 NOTES ON THE 
 
 scattered accidently by the parent in tearing it for them from 
 large snakes and frogs, or consisting of insects discovered by 
 the young birds themselves. The observation has proyed a 
 valuable aid in searching for late nests. 
 
 ACCIPITER YELOX (Wilson). (332.) 
 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. 
 
 This hawk is a familiar one in its migrations, being quite 
 common, and some of them remain during the v?inter. As soon 
 as the season for nidification arrives, to the casual observer 
 they seem to have left the country, but they retire to the un- 
 frequented sections, notably the borders of forests and thickets, 
 which no one less a ' 'crank" than an industrious ornithologist, 
 would think of penetrating. I have secured a few nests, that 
 were all built in trees about fifteen to twenty feet from the 
 ground, and consisting of sticks and grass, lined with moss and 
 a few feathers. Some of them contained but two eggs, but as 
 one had five, I may reasonably suppose the former clutch was 
 incomplete. They build about the last week in April, having 
 arrived in the country about the first. The eggs are dingy- 
 whitish, irregularly splashed with different degrees of brown. 
 They begin to diminish in numbers about the middle of Sep- 
 tember, but, strange as the assertion may seem, it has been 
 impossible to say when they have all gone, for not a month 
 of the severest winters ever known in this high latitude has 
 failed to record its presence. For many years during my 
 earlier residence here, the practice of my profession took me 
 across the bleak prairies very frequently in winter, on which 
 occasions I constantly saw flocks of Snow Buntings. At differ- 
 ent times their actions indicated the presence of a hawk, but 
 the idea of the possibility was not entertained until on one occa- 
 sion, when 1 was returning from one of those trips, with the 
 mercury at 43 below, as I afterwards learned, and with a wind 
 blowing furiously from but a few degrees west of north, I saw 
 one of this species coming before it with inconceivable velocity, 
 and oblivious of my presence, as I was in a sleigh, it swept 
 close to the ground over the brow of a knoll close to me, and 
 seized a bunting out of a flock sitting so close that I had not 
 seen it, though directly in front of me. My astonishment was 
 boundless, but I had now the key to the actions of those flocks 
 I had so long observed. I was thoroughly familiar with the 
 Sharp shinned Hawk, having many times watched his peerless 
 accomplishments in hunting and seizing his prey, oftentimes 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. • 181 
 
 considerably heavier than himself, and the tragedy transpired 
 too near me to leave a doubt as to the identity of the assassin. 
 His prowess has no equal amongst Raptorial birds, attacking 
 without an instant's hesitation, birds and animals far exceeding 
 its own weight.* I have seen them do the things whereof I 
 make these statements. Wilson's account of its encounter 
 with a squirrel, and the outcome, was by no means a solitary 
 instance, for it has been witnessed on occasions since he des- 
 cribed it. I shot one within half a mile of the beautiful Falls 
 of Minnehaha on the 14th of Septemoer, 1869, that had the 
 denuded head of a large squirrel hanging firmly to one side of 
 its neck by the incisors, one eye destroyed, and a large hole 
 torn out of the hawk's maw, of sufficient size to reveal its con- 
 tents of small birds partially digested, protruding. It must 
 have been an encounter of some weeks, or months, previous, 
 for the squirrel's skull had become perfectly bleached and pol- 
 ished, while the opening into the maw bore no signs of recent 
 inflammation. Mr. Washburn found it common in the Red River 
 valley, and along Thief river in August, while others report it 
 everywhere in migration. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Small tail rather long; legs and toes slender; entire upper 
 parts brownish-black, tinged with ashy; occiput mixed with 
 white; throat and under tail coverts white, the former with 
 lines of black on the shafts of the feathers; other under parts 
 fine light rufous, deepest on the tibia, with transverse bands 
 of white; shafts of feathers with lines of dark brown; tail ashy- 
 brown tipped with white, and with about four bands of brown- 
 ish-black; quills brownish-black, with bands of a darker shade, 
 and of white on their inner webs; secondaries and tertiaries 
 with large, partially concealed spots of white. 
 
 Length (of female), 12 to 14; wing, 7.50to 8; tail, 6.50 to 7. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 AIJCIPITER COO PERI (Bonaparte.) (333.) 
 
 COOPER'S HAWK. 
 
 This is a very common species here, and is fairly distributed 
 over the openly timbered sections of the State. I have uni- 
 formly observed them early in April, and if any instance has 
 occurred of an arrival in March I have not been apprised of it. 
 
 * I once saw one of these hawks dash into a flook of wild pigeons, and strike a very 
 large, old bird, fifty per cent heavier than itself. It was done when the assailant was 
 moving with its highest velocity, and with such deadly certainty that the stroke in- 
 stantly killed the pigeon, for the head and wings all dropped, and I as speedily dropped 
 the hawk, pigeon and all, by a well-directed shot. Incredible though it seems to me 
 now, the keen, long, curved talons had pierced to its vitals. 
 
182 • ' NOTES ON THE 
 
 Others claim to have seen several of them associated upon their 
 first reaching us, but I have never seen more than a pair to- 
 gether, and in no half-day devoted to collections have I ever 
 met with more than two pairs. They preferably frequent dis- 
 tricts where there is considerable open, scattering timber, con- 
 taining brush and thickets. These afford it Ruffed Grouse, 
 quails, squirrels and rabbits, of each and all of which they 
 are exceptionally fond. Although reputedly a terror to do- 
 mestic fowls in other sections of the country, I have never 
 known- them to disturb them here. We undoubtedly have the 
 best of domestic cocks, and Minnesota enjoys a flrst-class rep- 
 utation for "crowing" (Crow Wing?) which may, or may not 
 account for the local exemption of the barnyards. Not far 
 from the 25th of April, they begin to build their nests in the 
 forks of large trees, elevated as much as the firmness of the 
 branching limbs will permit.* The nest consists of sticks 
 outwardly, lined variously with strips of bark, leaves, moss, 
 twigs and hay, and is quite bulky horizontally, with slight de- 
 depressions for the four dull white eggs. It has long since 
 been said that this species does not quit the nest after the first 
 egg has been deposited, and I am now satisfied that this is true 
 frequently enough to constitute a rule. It becomes possible 
 from the fact that both seexs equally share the incubatory 
 duties more faithfully than any other known species of the 
 hawks. A young bird is occasionally found in the nest ten 
 days before the last egg is hatched. Along the principal car- 
 riage way between Minneapolis and St. Paul, and not very far 
 from it, a pair of these hawks have built since 1874. It is not 
 a little remarkable that they should have escaped the shotguns 
 of the numerous boy-hunters of the two cities.so long, to say 
 nothing of the hazards of hunting their quarry after the whole 
 family have taken the field. I have never seen them moving in 
 circles after the manner of many others of the larger species, 
 but directly forward, skimming close to the tops of the taller^ 
 trees until diverted by the discovery of prey, when it dashes 
 downward with tremendous velocity. Should it prove to be a 
 rabbit, and once under way for its hole, the chase becomes 
 amusing to see how the bird will strike when the rabbit passes 
 an opening, which indeed must be a narrow one if it escapes, 
 as they not infrequently do. If the game is a Ruffed Grouse, 
 
 *While characteristic, this position of the nest is not without frequent exceptions, as 
 I have known them to occupy the forlts of a large horizontal limb fifteen or more feet 
 from the trunk, and underneath the larger portions of the top. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 183 
 
 its life or death depends upon the distances between the trees 
 through which it is escaping, for while the Hawk may fly the 
 swifter, the Grouse employs the trees for coverts successively 
 most ingeniously, until in a moment of seclusion it will drop 
 into the brush and dry leaves so suddenly, and remain so mo- 
 tionless as to elude the eye of its adversary completely. 
 
 Many of my correspondents in various sections of the State 
 have reported the presence of this species. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above a brownish-black, mixed with white on the occi- 
 put, other parts dark ashy-brown, with the shafts of the 
 feathers brownish-black; an obscure rufous collar on the neck 
 behind; throat and under tail coverts white, the former with 
 lines of dark brown, other under parts transversely bdrred 
 with light rufous and white; quills ashy-brown, with darker 
 bands and white irregular markings on their inner webs; tail 
 dark cinereous, tipped with white, and with four wide bands of 
 brownish-black. 
 
 Length (female), 18 to 20; wing, 10 to 11; tail, 8.50. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 ACCIPITER ATRICAPILLUS (Wilson). (334.) 
 AMERICAN GOSHAWK. 
 
 I have no positive evidence that this hawk breeds in Minne- 
 sota, yet I believe it does to some extent.- It is a winter visit- 
 ant in all the middle and southern counties, that arrived here 
 about the first of January. In the milder winters it often fails 
 to come at all, and it returns northward very early in the 
 spring. The first individual that came into my hands here, 
 was a mature male that was ta,ken by a farmer in his barn in 
 February in the act of capturing a hen which it had followed 
 in. The hawk was alive, uninjured and in good winter plum- 
 age, but he would not eat in captivity, and Tannerized himself 
 into a martyr to sciqnce. 
 
 In all, I have obtained half a dozen in various plumages, 
 mostly that of the young of the previous year. They leave 
 our latitude mostly in March. It is a beautiful species, not 
 easily forgotten after having been in the hands once, on 
 account of the delicacy of the markings of the feathers. The 
 flight, once observed, is so characteristic that the bird may be 
 quite reliably identified by it alone. I have never seen them 
 moving in circles, but in very direct lines; often high in the air 
 on cold days, but when hunting for Ruffed Grouse, Prairie Chick- 
 ens, and rabbits, all of which it will seize with the bearing of 
 a monarch of the wing, it flies comparatively low, but none the 
 13z 
 
184 NOTES ON THE 
 
 less direct until right upon its victim. If it misses the first 
 dash, the chase is by no means relinquished, but will be con- 
 tinued anywhere the pursued goes. I have known an instance 
 in which it followed a domestic fowl through an open window 
 of a farmhouse and under a bed. The severity of our winters 
 keeps the poultry housed too closely for them to do much dam- 
 age until the very last part of their stay in March. 
 
 Mr. Lewis observed them in the pineries so late in May as 
 to make it almost certain that they breed in the vicinity of 
 Mille Lacs, and further north in the State. Dr. Hvoslef 
 reported one in Fillmore county on the 19th of March, which 
 had doubtless begun its migration. 
 
 Of late years I rarely meet this hawk among the collections 
 of the taxidermists, or fresh specimens on the shelves of the 
 societies; a fact of common note with bird collectors. The 
 species evidently retires northward very early in the spring, 
 an d before the temperature of the weather has allowed the 
 •enthusiastic observer to reach fever point in his ambitions. 
 When I have found my way into the timbered sections early 
 after the winter has broken, I have found them sailing swiftly 
 along the brushy edges of the woods, or the borders of the 
 woodland streams, scarcely swerving in their course to seize 
 their prey, which was speedily borne into the trackless forest 
 to be consumed in undisturbed repose. They are a terror to 
 the early flocks of Wild Pigeons when they come, making sure 
 supplies of them under any circumstances conceivable. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above, neck behind and stripe from behind the eye 
 black, generally more .or less tinged with ashy; other under 
 parts dark ashy-bluish, or slate color, with the shafts of the 
 feathers black and frequently with the feathers narrowly 
 edged with black, presenting a squamate or scale-like appear- 
 ance; a conspicuous stripe over the eye and an obscure and 
 partially concealed occipital and nuchal band, white; entire 
 under parts mottled with^white and light ashy-brown, every 
 feather with a longitudinal line of dark brown on the shaft, 
 and with numerous irregular and imperfect transverse lines or 
 narrow stripes of light ashy-brown, more distinct and regular 
 on the abdomen and tibiae; quills brown with bands of a 
 deeper shade of the same color and of ashy-white on' their 
 inner webs; tail same color as other under parts; under 
 surface very pale, nearly white, having about four obscure 
 bands of a deeper shade of ashy -brown, njirrowly tipped with 
 white; under tail cbverts white. 
 
 Length (of female), 22 to 24; wing, 14; tail 10.50 to 11. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 185 
 
 BUTEO B0REALI8 (Gmelin). (337.) 
 RED-TAILED HAWK. 
 
 This is a fairly common species that comes the nearest to 
 being permanent of any of the commoner kinds of Hawks. 
 Winter has only commenced to relax its frigid grasp upon the 
 land when, flying at its highest altitudes, there may occasion- 
 ally be seen one of these bold birds going still further north. 
 When the drifts are all there is left of the snow and hope of 
 returning spring begins to prune her wings, the number of 
 returning Red -tails multiply, and anon, instead of all of them 
 passing over and onward, they pause in the forests and occa- 
 sionally within easy access of the farmer's barnyard. The last 
 days of February some years and not unfrequently the flrst of 
 March, have revealed instances of their return, but before the 
 twentieth I have seen considerable numbers of them. I am 
 satisfied that many individuals of them do not get far south 
 of the lower limits of the State to spend the rigorous portion 
 of the winter, for they are almost annually observed in the 
 border counties during each winter month and an exceptionally 
 early opening never fails to find them here promptly. 
 
 The nests are built early in April and along through the 
 entire spring — sometimes in March — in the forks of large 
 trees in the forests and are imposing masses of coarse sticks 
 overlaid with Smaller ones and twigs, over which again are 
 spread leaves and mosses to considerable depth. It is so 
 massive and shows so little attempt at , concealment, that hav- 
 ing been discovered, we see that nothing but its elevation has 
 kept us from seeing it at once when in the neighborhood of it. 
 They lay from three to four eggs of a dirty, yellowish-white, 
 with splotches of two shades of brown. 
 
 From 1867 until about 1876 I met with seven nests in the big 
 woods within two miles of the westerly shore of Lake Minne- 
 tonka. Their elevation was so great that but for some daring 
 lads living in the section, who climbed some of the trees con 
 taining them, for me, I might have been less confident of the 
 identity, of some of them in the absence of the nest builders. 
 However, in several instances the male was seen frequently. 
 One clutch of the eggs was all that I had the heart to let the 
 plucky little climbers attempt to obtain, besides their woods- 
 man fathers knew some of the objections to invading those 
 nests after the young birds were out of their shells. While an 
 occasional nest may be found in that section still they are be- 
 coming less common. 
 
186 NOTES ON THE 
 
 The flight of the Red-tailed Hawk is truly a marvel of dignity 
 and grace equalled by few and excelled by no other species of 
 btrd. Who would have every sentiment of poetry in his nature 
 awakened and "see God in his works," l^t him watch its flight 
 lovingly and reverently one hour. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail bright rufous, narrowly tipped with white, and having 
 a subterminal band of black; entire upper parts a dark umber 
 brown, lighter and with fulvous edgings on the head and neck; 
 upper tail coverts yellowish-white, with rufous and brown 
 spots and bands ;^ throat white, with narrow longitudinal 
 stripes of brown; other under parts pale yellowish- white, with 
 longitudinal lines and spots of reddish-brown, tinged with 
 rufous most numerous on the breast, and forming an irregular 
 band across the abdomen; under tail coverts and tibiaB gen- 
 erally clear yellowish-white, unspotted, but the latter, fre- 
 quently spotted and transversely barred with rufous; under 
 surface of tail silvery-white. 
 
 Length (of female), 28; wing, 15 to 16; tail, 8.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 BUTEO BOREALIS KRIDERII Hoopes. (337a.) 
 KRIDER'S HAWK. 
 
 My attention had for some time been called to a white hawk 
 by observing sportsmen, when one day Mr. G. W. Tinsley, a 
 leading one of them of Minneapolis, brought me one that he had 
 taken. Shortly another one was brought to me, which, after 
 careful examination I decided was something new. About the 
 same time I learned that Mr. Krider, of Philadelphia, while 
 spending the summer in this section, had obtained several 
 of .these Hawks, and submitted them to Mr. Hoopes, of that 
 city. Hoopes named the variety as above. During some years 
 they are met with quite frequently, while in others I hear of 
 none. The plumage varies exceedingly in the individuals that 
 I have seen, but the presence of more or less white is its dis- 
 tinguishing characteristic for varietal recognition. 
 
 Having seen no nests, or seen no one who has, I can add no 
 further facts in the history of this variety of the Red-tailed 
 Hawk, except that they are less a prairie species than has 
 been represented by some writers. On the contrary, I find 
 them predisposed to neither prairies nor dense forests, but 
 sparsely timbered openings. 
 
 Note. Since writing the above, I have ascertained that this 
 variety of the Red- tails has been observed in the vicinity of 
 Lake Superior, at Red lake, Mille Lacs and Lake Traverse. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 187 
 
 It is undeniably difficult for me to regard Krider's Hawk as 
 a variety of the common Eed-tailed Hawk. 
 
 I was much disappointed that Mr. Washburn did not meet 
 with it either in Crow Wing or Otter Tail counties, as his two 
 explorations extended over sufficient time for a careful ob- 
 servation of its habits had he found them in sufficient numbers. 
 
 All the specimens that I have had in my hands up to the 
 present time, have been males, where I have had an opportun- 
 ity to be certain as to the sex, and have averaged less in their 
 measure than B. borealis 
 
 The difference in the measure of white in the colors consti- 
 tutes the recognized distinguishing character of this variety of 
 the Red- tailed Hawks. 
 
 BUTEO BOREALIS CALURUS (Cassin). (337&.) 
 WESTERN RED-TAIL. 
 
 A single specimen of this variety of the Red-tail is all I have 
 to justify its record within the boundaries of my investigations. 
 That it has been killed repeatedly along the Red river by 
 sportsmen I have no doubt from descriptions from them, but 
 while engaged in the exciting events of "good wing shooting" 
 amongst the ducks, all thoughts of the solicitations of im- 
 portunate science are forgotten, to be only recalled by meeting 
 some one of her humble servants. 
 
 Between the facts and the fancies of the narrator, one of the 
 former here and another there, will build up considerable cir- 
 cumstantial proof in such a matter. While "one swallow 
 doesn't make it summer," it makes one think about it. The re- 
 cords of the presence of the Western Red -tail in, Illinois are 
 fully accepted. 
 
 The single specimen I refer to above was in unmistakable 
 plumage and from the vicinity of the Red river. 
 
 I am familiar with the species in its recognized habits where 
 its habits do not differ from the Red-tails of the eastern states. 
 My experience with one of them that I had winged in Santa 
 Clara county, California, in the spring of 1872, gave me a last- 
 ing respect for his indomitable courage which has been freshly 
 recalled by reading the Rev. J. H. Langille's account of carry- 
 ing one of the Eastern Red- tails home on the muzzle of his gun 
 which it had seized after being disabled for flight by winging. 
 I can conceive of nothing but the bird's recognition of his pro 
 fession that spared him from a like proof of his valor. 
 
 My bird as readily accepted the proffered muzzle of the gun, 
 but in less time than it takes to wink he had ascended, "hand 
 over hand" and dealt nothing less than a baker's dozen of blows 
 
188 NOTES ON THE 
 
 from the talons of his spare foot squarely on the first hand he 
 reached, every time piercing the flesh to the bone. Indeed one 
 barb of his cruel talons had reached through the tendons of 
 the hand and the skin of its palmer surface. It has required 
 several similar experiences to enable me to learn the value of 
 securing a specimen of a "living hawk." (A hint to the wise). 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Only distinguishable from B. borealis by its larger size, 
 greater extent of the dark color of the throat, and the preval- 
 ence of the rufous on the abdomen and tibise. 
 
 Length (female), 23 to 25; wing, 16.50 to 17; tail, 9 to 10. 
 
 Habitat, western North America. 
 
 BTJTEO LINEATUS (Gmelin). (339.) 
 EED-SHOULDBEED HAWK. 
 
 > While always met with in migration, its local habits confine 
 it much more exclusively to the timber, and the- unfrequented 
 forests especially, which leads superficial observers to believe 
 it a more northern species than the Red-tail. This is a mis- 
 take for they are nearly as numerous as that species, and 
 almost indistinguishable except by the last circumstance, if 
 not in hand, or very well under observation. I have had but 
 one coUecbor to assist me w;hose observations of the nest were 
 of sufflcient value to be quoted, but his have corroborated my 
 previous impressions that this species builds a little more 
 artistic and notably a deeper nest. This hawk has now been 
 seen as frequently as the Red-tail during every winter month. 
 They arrive in their migratory movements about as early as 
 the others in spring, and remain as late in autumn. As already 
 intimated, their habits associate them with the forest mostly, 
 where they destroy Ruffed-grouse, rabbits and squirrels for 
 their food, only very rarely disturbing domestic poultry. 
 
 Whole sections of the State where pariries, or only quite 
 small, scattering trees and brushlands predominate, are almost 
 unvisited by this hawk. A trait of the species which has 
 been noticed b,efore, has attracted my attention in two in- 
 stances of my own opportunities for observation, namely; the 
 equal share borne by the male in all the duties of incubation, 
 and rearing the young. He shares the collecting, and arrang- 
 ing of all materials in the structure of the nest, and instantly 
 occupies it in the absence of the female. A succession of ob- 
 servations have gone far towards establishing the conclusion 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 189 
 
 that the same bird occupies the nest continuously for twenty- 
 , four hours, and after the young are developed enough to make 
 short flights, one parent at a time takes the special care of the 
 brood while the other pursues its chase. 
 
 At these times the smaller birds contribute no little to the 
 daily supply. Snipe, sandpipers, plover, blackbirds, larks, 
 sandwiched with frogs, snakes, etc., to crayfish and beetles. 
 They must be driven by extreme hunger if ever they attack 
 domestic fowls. The observing farmers soon learn to dis- 
 tinguish them from the Red-tails by their consideration for 
 their poultry, as well as their stronger predilection for the 
 woods. 
 
 , SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wing coverts from the flezure to the body fine bright rufous; 
 breast and other lower parts of body paler orange-rufous, 
 many feathers with transverse bars and spots of white which 
 predominate on the abdomen and under tail coverts; entire 
 upper parts brown, on the head mixed with rufous, and with 
 white spots on the wing coverts, shorter quills and rump; quills 
 brownish-black with white spots on the outer webs, with bars 
 of a lighter shade of brown, and white on their inner webs; 
 tail brownish-black with about five transverse bands of white, 
 and tipped with white. 
 
 Length (female), 21 to 23; wing, 14; tail, b. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 BUTEO SWAINS ONI Bonaparte. (342.) 
 SWAINSON'S HAWK. 
 
 Unlike either the Red-tailed or the Red- shouldered, this 
 hawk is essentially a prairie bird. It is never met with in 
 either of its migrations ; or if so too infrequently to have 
 attracted the attention of reliable observers who have noted 
 it m the southern counties of the States, notwithstanding they 
 extend their excursions occasionally into almost every open 
 district I have visited. 
 
 I have never obtained it earlier than the first of May. but I 
 have not visited the sections where it is ordinarily easiest 
 found, so early as that, which leads me to suppose that it may 
 arrive some earlier than that date. I confess that it is at best 
 but a conjecture, but I am strongly inclined to believe that the 
 larger portion of Swainson's Hawfes come in from the west or 
 southwest, as they are invariably found in the northwestern 
 parts of the State before an occasional individual is seen in the 
 latitude of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They choose trees in 
 
190 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the borders of the forest for constructing their nests in, if con- 
 tiguous to open, dry prairie, but will employ scattering ones, 
 or the ground along the course of streams running.through 
 sections favoring the supply of their food, which consists 
 chiefly of small quadrupeds and grasshoppers. 
 
 The nest, like those of most of its genus, is constructed of 
 coarse sticks, on which rather smaller ones are placed, mixed 
 with twigs, over which are laid grass and some leaves. The 
 eggs bear similar colors to those of the Red-tails. 
 
 They are the most abundant Hawk in northern Dakota, and 
 scarcely less so in the sections of Minnesota immediately con- 
 tiguous. They retire somewhat earlier than do the Red-shoul- 
 dered and Red-tailed in autumn, the latest record I have being 
 October 17th. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill wid^ at base, compressed towards the tip, lobed, cere 
 large; wing long, third quill longest; tail moderate, rather 
 wide, even at the tip; tarsus feathered in front nearly half its 
 length, naked behind, the bare portion in front having about 
 twelve transverse scales; toes rather short, the claws strong; 
 entire upper parts dark brown, nearly black in the middle of 
 many feathers, paler on the edges; quills brownish black, with 
 wide transverse bands of cinereous on their inner webs, becom- 
 ing paler and nearly pure white towards the base of the quill; 
 tail brown tinged with ashy, and having about ten to twelve 
 transverse bands of a darker shade of brown, the subterminal of 
 which is widest; tip edged with white; throat whit^, with lon- 
 gitudinal lines of dark brown; neck before and breast ashy-brown, 
 nearly the same color as the tail, some of the feathers edged 
 with reddish; other under parts white, nearly pure on the 
 under tail coverts, and with transverse irregular bars of rufous 
 on the tibiae and the flanks, and darker brownish-rufous on the 
 abdomen; under wing coverts white, with a few spots of trans- 
 verse stripes of brown; bill dark slate; tarsi, toes, and cere 
 yellow. 
 
 Length (of female), 21.50; wing, 16; tail, 8.50. 
 
 Habitat' western North America. 
 
 BUTEO LATISSmUS (Wilson). (343.) 
 BROAD-WINGED HAWK. 
 
 A little above the Falls of Minnehaha there is a limited 
 forest of dense timber, consisting of nearly all of the ordinary 
 varieties of deciduous trees. Through it run in several direc- 
 tions, obsolete wagon ways over which thrifty undergrowths 
 of different kinds have formed arches high enough for a horse 
 and carriage to pass under. Along side of one of these through 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 191 
 
 which I was solitarily driving, I discovered a hawk sitting on a 
 limb of a sapling, about eight feet from the ground, and not 
 more than thirty feet distant from me. With a charge of No. 
 12 shot, I secured him instantly without having drawn blood 
 through the feathers. Dropping my bird into a large, stiff 
 paper cornucopia with which I always provide myself, I was in 
 the act of laying my capture into my basket, when I descried 
 an immense Pish-hawk threading its devious way through the 
 tops of the lofty trees of the forest, with a living pickerel 
 trailing and writhing from one extended foot. Remaining mo- 
 tionless, and the hawk not seeing either me or my horse and 
 carriage, it spreacj its immense wings upwards in the act of 
 lighting on a I'&vge limb, sixty feet perpendicularly over me, 
 when I pulled trigger on a No. 8 charge and brought directly 
 to my feet both .hawk and fish, the former of which was en- 
 tirely lifeless, but the fish was as lively as if just brought in 
 with a hook. I have mentioned these circumstances before in 
 connection with the Fish Hawk, and now again because the 
 first hawk was a Broad- wing, and the first I had ever had in 
 my hands. Both birds were duly and truly mounted, and are 
 in the museum of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences, 
 after the lapse of twenty years, in good order, to the credit of 
 that faithful taxidermist, Mr. Wm. Howling of this city, ( Min- 
 neapolis). The event and the whole beautiful scene m the 
 solitude of that charming forest, on a bright May day of. 1867, 
 constitute the pinnacle of my delightful experiences in the 
 field of ornithology. 
 
 The Broad-wing Hawks arrive about the first of April, and 
 about the 20tli begin to build their nests, some of which, how- 
 ever, are not occupied before the tenth of June. No other 
 species manifest less uniformity in tim^ of commencement. 
 The average time is not far from the 5th of May I find. 
 
 The structure consists of medium- sized sticks externally, 
 over which are imposed finer ones, grass, leaves and feathers, 
 until it becomes as bulky as a Crow's nest, and is placed ii; the 
 main forks of a tree in the borders of the forest, about thirty 
 feet from the ground. They lay from two to five dirty white 
 eggs, over which are scattered blotches of reddish-brown. 
 
 It is not an aggressive species ordinarily, but if wounded 
 and at bay, or in the defence of its young, it has no superior, 
 and few peers for Courage and persistence. It is fairly com- 
 mon from the borders of Iowa to Lake Superior. Rare in the 
 northwestern sections of the State. 
 
192 NOTES ON THE 
 
 I should have said that I find it breeding frequently near the 
 city and about Lake Minnetonka and otherwheres in the Big 
 Woods. 
 
 Nests and eggs are not infrequently brought to me which 
 have been obtained but a short distance from the city. Mr. 
 Washburn found the species rather common in Otter Tail 
 county. That is a fairly representative county of a large 
 section in which I have had but little opportunity for personal 
 observation. The Broad- wing Hawk leaves us about the 20th 
 of October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Entire upper parts umber-brown, feathers on the occiput and 
 back of the neck white at their bases; throat white with longi- 
 tudinal lines of brown and with a patch of brown on each side 
 running from the base of the lower mandible; breast with a 
 wide band composed of large cordate and sagittate spots and 
 transverse bands of reddish ferruginous tinged with ashy; 
 other under parts white with numerous sagittate spots of red- 
 dish on the flanks, abdomen and tibiae; quills brownish-black, 
 widely bordered with white on their inner webs; tail dark 
 brown, narrowly tipped with white and with one wide band of 
 white and several narrower bands near the base. 
 
 Length (female), 17 to 18; wing, 11; tail, 6.50 to 7. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 ARCHIBUTEO LAGOPUS SANCTI-JOHANNIS (Gmelin). 
 
 (347a. ) 
 
 AMERICAN ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK. 
 This is not a very common hawk but is at the same time 
 not extremely rare. In its northern migration particularly, it 
 is occasionally seen about the edges of marshes and ditches 
 where it seizes frogs, snakes and wounded ducks. The first 
 one I ever saw was drawn into visible proximity to where I was 
 skulking for a shot at ducks on the wing. It inust have discov- 
 ered one that had been previously wounded but which I did 
 not see until afterwards. They are in migration during the 
 last days of March and the first of April, none to my knowl- 
 edge having been seen later than the first of May. They 
 evidently go further to breed. An occasional individual has 
 been shot late in the autumn or early winter and been mounted 
 by the taxidermist. Mr. William Howling, of Minneapolis, 
 has had several in his collection at different times, but gener- 
 ally in immature plumage. My knowledge of this species is 
 mostly confined to my personal observations in the vicinity of 
 where I reside. None of my assistants have reported more 
 than a single identification. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 193 
 
 The dark, cloudy days of early spring and late autumn are 
 those in which to keep a good lookout for the Rough-legged 
 Hawk. He then flies low and always slowly, especially during 
 the day, and more commonly over swampy meadows in search 
 of his inglorious prey of frogs, mice, lizzards, snakes and 
 large insects, with an eye out for some unfortunate bird but 
 half killed by the hunter. They frequently extend their 
 search for food late into the twilight, which in our high lati- 
 tude is late indeed, manifesting an owl-like nature which is 
 further intimated by the full, soft plumage embracing the 
 legs, feathered to the toes in front. A favorite place for them 
 is located half a mile fromi my summer cottage at Lake Minne- 
 netonka, a spot I have habitually visited at both the seasons 
 when this species is still here and which consists of a morass 
 that was at no ancient period an arm or bay of the lake, when 
 it sustained a somewhat higher surface than now and in which 
 are denizened representatives of nearly all kinds of supplies 
 for them. They come to the marsh so quietly that except the 
 eye is kept on the field, they may have drifted slowly its 
 whole length and be vanishing through an opening in the 
 woods which leads to another swale or slough, when first 
 discovered, but if a little patience is exercised, they will 
 return to traverse the marsh again, when possibly a better 
 opportunity is enjoyed for observing them. Perchance, in- 
 deed probably, he will alight on a muskrat house in the middle 
 or on a dry limb overhanging the water, where he Will remain 
 almost motionless for an hour at a time if unmolested: When 
 surprised suddenly they have a habit of, screaming in a most 
 unmusical fashion as they sail heavily away into the forest for 
 safety. I hear from an amateur ornithologist residing at a 
 little distance from Red Lake Falls, Mr. L. Bothman, that a 
 nest of this species had been foand near there, but with 
 neither bird nor eggs to settle the identification. I do not feel 
 justified in fully accepting the statement. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above yellowish-white, with longitudinal stripes of 
 brown tinged with reddish, especially on the occiput; back, 
 scapulars and shorter quills pale-cinereous, with partially con- 
 cealed transverse bands of white and dark- brown, the latter 
 frequently predominating and giving the color on the back; 
 rump dark umber-brown; longer quills and wing coverts dark 
 umber-brown; primaries edged externally with ashy, and with 
 a large space on their inner webs at the base, white with a 
 silky lustre; under parts white; throat with longitudinal 
 
194 NOTES ON THE 
 
 stripes of dark- brown ; breast with large spots and concealed 
 stripes of reddish-brown; abdomen with numerous transverse 
 narrow bands of brownish-black, most conspicuous on the 
 flanks, and tinged with ashy; tibi« and tarsi barred trans- 
 versely with white and dark-brown, and tinged with reddish; 
 under tail coverts white; upper tail coverts white at base and 
 tipped with brownish black; tail white at base with a wide 
 sub-terminal band of black, and about two other bands of 
 black alternating with others of light cinereous; cere and toes 
 yellow; iris hazel; under wing coverts white with spots of 
 brownish-black, and on the longer coverts with a large space 
 of ashy-brown. 
 
 Length (female), 21 to 23; wing, 16 to 17; tail, 9. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 ARCHIBUTEO FERRUGINEUS (Lichtenstbin). (348.) 
 
 FERRUGINOUS ROUGH-LEG. 
 
 I am very familiar with this hawk in his characteristic 
 home, California, and was the more surprised to find that indi- 
 viduals of the species have several times straggled into Min- 
 nesota. 
 
 It is thoroughly a dry- prairie raptor, and lives upon small 
 rodents, reptiles and insects: It is rather a common hawk in 
 Dakota, especially in the western part where I found it perched 
 on prairie-dog's hills, or skimming leisurely along the ground 
 during the month of May of the present year (1887), but I 
 had no opportunity to look into their nests. On the other 
 coast they were very abundant, and voracious eaters, living 
 upon ground squirrels chiefly. 
 
 SPECIFIC characters. 
 
 Largest of the genus, with the bill wide at base; wings 
 long; tarsi feathered in front to the toes; naked and scaled 
 behind; tibi« and tarsi bright ferruginous, with transverse nar- 
 row stripes of black; entire upper parts dark-brown and light- 
 rufous, the latter predominating on the rump and wing coverts; 
 quills ashy-brown, with the greater part of their inner webs 
 white; tail above reddish- white, mottled with ashy-brown; 
 beneath pale yellowish- white; under parts white, with narrow 
 longitudinal lines and lanceolate spots on the breast reddish- 
 brown, and narrow irregular transverse lines of the same 
 color, and of black on the abdomen; flanks and axillary feath- 
 ers fine bright ferruginous. 
 
 Length (female), 23 to 25; wing, 17 to 17.50; tail, 9. 
 
 Habitat, western North America. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 195 
 
 AQUILA. CHRrSAETOS (L.). (349.) 
 GOLDEN EAGLE. 
 
 That this Eagle has ever reared its brood within our borders 
 I cannot say, but it is a well known fact that it visits different 
 parts of the State at intervals. The young of both sexes have 
 been obtained from time to time, and mounted for parties here, 
 and others to carry to the East. 
 
 I have seen no mature specimens amongst those which have 
 come under my observation, yet from the descriptions of spe- 
 cific characters which I have consulted, I am compelled to think 
 that some have been more advanced than the young of the year. 
 It has been repeatedly affirmed by some of the older fur traders 
 who were here before the Indians left, that instances of their 
 breeding on high cliffs of rocks on the north shore of Lake 
 Superior, were known, at the least, forty years ago. If this is 
 true, there are no conceivable reasons why they should not do 
 so still, for on the sea coast they have done so ever since the 
 original settlement of the country. The general inaccessibility 
 of their nesting places renders any special encroachment upon 
 them impracticable. When speaking of this bird in his de- 
 lightful work. Rev. J. Hibbert Langille says: 
 
 "Gra,nd as our common or White-headed Eagle is conceded 
 to be, he is but a commonplace and vulgar bird compared with 
 the present species. Indeed, the Golden Eagle is the noblest 
 bird of our continent. Disdaining carrion, except in extreme 
 hunger, and all ordinary pilfering and predatory habits, he 
 subsists, it would seem, on the noblest game, such as hares, 
 grouse, young fawns, and wild turkeys. Nor does he conde- 
 scend to chase his prey and capture it only after a hot pursuit, 
 after the manner of hawks and falcons, but detecting it afar 
 with his keen eye, swoops down upon it from some obscure 
 height, and takes it by surprise. Then, bearing it away to an 
 elevated point in a tree, or on a high rock, he plucks it clean, 
 .and eats at his leisure. The loftiest mountains are his home, 
 and on the shelvings of their most rugged precipices he locates 
 his eyrie. 
 
 ' 'Occasionally he may make a detour into the settled parts of 
 the country, soaring high, and in slow, wide and most majestic 
 circles; or if he pass from one mountain height to some other 
 in the distance, it is by the highest possible pathway in the 
 sky. If he be in certain stages of plumage, with good eyes, 
 and the light favorable, one may distinguish him as a great 
 
196 NOTES ON THE 
 
 rarity, by the dark band on his white tail. But generally if 
 one would study him, he must go to the uninhabited and almost 
 uninhabitable parts of the earth, far above the ordinary planes 
 of animated nature, and there contemplate him in the sublimest 
 solitude. As he climbs to the very clouds, and penetrates be- 
 hind the veil of the storm, even the mountains are low down 
 in respect to him, and he seems to know and care but little 
 about the world." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Large; tarsi densely feathered to toes; head and neck be- 
 hind, light brownish- fulvous, varying in shade in different spec- 
 imens, frequently light orange- fulvous, generally darker; tail at 
 base white, which color frequently occupies the greatet part of 
 the tail; other terminal portion glossy black; all other parts rich 
 purplish-brown, frequently very dark, and nearly clear blaclc 
 on the under parts of the body; primaries shining black; 
 secondaries purplish-brown; tibiae and tarsi brownish-fulvous, 
 generally mixed with dark-ashy; cere and toes yellow. 
 
 Length (female), 33 to 40; wing, 25; tail, 15. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 HALl^ETUS LEUCOCEPHALUS (L.). (352.) 
 BALD EAGLE. 
 
 This least understood, most honored, and most abused of 
 the entire class to which it belongs, has honored or dishonored 
 the North Star State, by making it emphatically the place of 
 his abode. No forest with a right to the name, but claims the 
 enviable or unenviable distinction of harboring the whole 
 family of this species. Its harsh screams are familiar to the 
 woodman during the nidifying season, and many a cabin in the 
 solitudes of the deep, dark forests, has its young eagle chained 
 to its gable, or the convenient out-house. Its habit of breed- 
 ing year after year on the samfe filthy old nest; even after 
 having been repeatedly robbed of its eggs or young, gives 
 unusual opportunities for noting its habits. 
 
 Some of these birds seem to go a little further south, as is 
 indicated by their return in spring, but not all for they are 
 often observed through the entire winter. About the last 
 week in Feb. some of them commence preparations for nest- 
 ing by repairing the old structure, or building another en- 
 tirely new. Fragments of dry limbs a yard in length, and 
 from one to two inches in thickness are laid into the forks of a 
 large tree, at least forty feet from the ground, and more fre- 
 quently sixty feet. These are criss-crossed in a rude, but 
 really very ingenious manner, and secured in their position by 
 
DBIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 197 
 
 the abundant use of smaller ones interlocked, and further 
 secured by coarse fresh twigs, over which almost any availa- 
 ble material like hay, moss, leaves, and what-not, are deposited, 
 and more and more from year to year as its reoccupation is con- 
 tinued. They lay two dirty yellowish-white eggs, and when the 
 young are hatched, no sprigs in the bird kingdom are more 
 royally cared for until fairly able to take care of themselves. 
 In selecting their location for their nests in the ordinary 
 forest they almost uniformly choose a tree on a kind of obso- 
 lete island, so surrounded with morass that approach to it on 
 the ground is difficult or impossible, but where large islands 
 covered with large trees are found in considerable lakes, they 
 will prefer these, t have never found more than one brood 
 raised in one nest in a season. Their feeding habits are too 
 well known to call for any special mention. 
 
 Almost from the earliest observations of white men, and 
 from long before according to Indian tradition, they have 
 reared their young on the islands in Lake Minnetonka until 
 very recently. Fifteen years of personal observation in the 
 forest west of that lake have afforded me opportunity to locate 
 several nests, from which I have had the young eaglets 
 brought to me to "raise for pets" again and again. A well 
 earned and enduring respect for raptorial birds in general has 
 enabled me to decline all such proffers, but others have ac- 
 cepted them, so that for many years after I became a citizen of 
 Minneapolis it was no unusual thing to see individuals of the 
 species chained, like a monkey, to a box or outhouse in different 
 places in the city. 
 
 Mille Lacs, Otter Tail, Big lake, and many others, have had 
 the credit of being alike favorite breeding places of the Bald- 
 headed Eagle. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Large; bill large, strong, straight at base, rather abruptly 
 hooked; wings long; tarsi short; head, tail and upper coverts 
 white; entire other plumage brownish-black, generally with 
 the edges of the feathers paler; bill, feet and iris yellow. 
 
 Length (female), 35 to 40; wing, 23 to 25; tail 14 to 15 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
198 NOTES ON THE 
 
 FALOO RUSTIC0LU8 GTRFALCO (L). (354a.) 
 GYRFALCON. 
 
 In the winter of 1874, I secured a straggler from its habitat 
 in its best winter plumage, and after satisfying myself of its 
 identity, notified the ornithologist of the Smithsonian of my 
 find, and at his request loaned him my specimen, which how- 
 ever, I had had mounted for the museum of the Minnesota 
 Accademy of Natural Sciences, of which I had the honor to be 
 president at the time. My diagnosis was endorsed, and its 
 variety given as Labradora, with the promise of having the 
 proof-sheet sent me of its notice in the large work on the 
 birds of North America, then nearly ready to publish. I 
 received the proof in due time, giving it as above, with the 
 additional statement that it was the first instance of its collec- 
 tion within the United States, but I was not a little surprised 
 on reading the work afterwards, to find the proof-sheet wanting 
 in the text, and the species referred to as occasionally being 
 found within the United States. A notice of the reasons for 
 the change in the advanced sheets would have been the least 
 that the common amenities of life would have called for. I 
 mention the circumstance that others may not be foolish enough 
 to allow their beautifully mounted birds to be dismounted, 
 gutted, and have their plumage clawed over for several months, 
 after which xe-stuffed, and sent back looking as if it was the 
 remains of an individual that had been through a picking- 
 machine and left in a dirty garret for preservation. If the 
 pinch lay in not having the first and only specimen of "Falco 
 Gyrf alco, variety Labradora, " as given in the advanced sheet, 
 presented to the Institution, I can only say that having been 
 given to the Academy, I no longer had the right to so dispose 
 of it. 
 
 The winter of 1874 will be remembered as one of the severest 
 in the history of the great Northwest, and the specimen was 
 doubtless driven south for food. During the same winter the 
 Goshawks in mature plumage were often met with in the pine 
 forests of northeast Minnesota. One of the finest specimens 
 of the mature male of this fine hawk was found starved and 
 frozen in a woodpile, and another was brought to me alive that 
 had followed a hen into a farmer's kitchen in the timberland, 
 where it was captured in magnificent plumage, and many more 
 of the young of the year were obtained by grouse hunters in the 
 deciduous forests. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 199 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS. 
 
 Eutirely white; upper parts with regular transverse, and very- 
 distinct bands of brown, becoming somewhat crescent shaped 
 on the scapulars and rump, and slightly acuminate on the 
 shafts of the feathers; quills white and brownish black at their 
 tips; tail white, with about twelve transverse narrow bands of 
 brown; under parts with a few longitudinal lines of dark brown. 
 
 Length, 24; wing, 16.50; tail, 10. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America, 
 
 FALCO PEREGRINUS ANATUM (Bonaparte). (356.) 
 DUCK HAWK. , ' 
 
 The typical species of all the true falcons, the Duck Hawk 
 is the last of its family to escape the recognition of the genuine 
 sportsman. Minnesota being the El Dorado of this species, 
 dotted all over with its innumerable lakes, ponds and streams, 
 whither the duck kingdom repairs in the seasons of migration, 
 and to breed in many cases extensively, it may be asked why 
 should this hawk go further. He reaches us simultaneously with 
 the arrival of the ducks and geese, which varies somewhat with 
 the different seasons. It is more frequently in the last day& of 
 March, or first in April, but I have known them to be here in 
 force by the 17th of the former month. The Duck Hawk never 
 goes long hungry, for while the birds of the water are in mi- 
 gration, his l3,rder is at hand. Like others of its family which 
 build on inaccessible clifEs on the seashore, it takes to the trees 
 here, and constructs its nest of sticks, twigs, grass and leaves, 
 in which are dropped four reddish- brown eggs, which are 
 ' minutely spotted and blotched with a darker shade of the same. 
 The young of this species have been found on the wing by the 
 25th of May, although some pairs are only building or incu- 
 bating at that date. As compared with some others the Duck 
 Hawks are not a numerous species, but are fairly so for their 
 own. Their chief breeding section seems to be in the great 
 forest and lake region in the northern counties of the State.* 
 Their agility on the wing is simply marvelous, and their dart- 
 ing not a whit less so. When in proximity to their prey, they 
 seem almost insensible to danger, but when once they have 
 secured it, their discretion returns to dominate all their move- 
 ments, and they seek places of entire safety in which to devour 
 
 *Mr. Lewis found them breeding on the shores oi several lakes in Becker and Cass 
 ooanties. At Leech Lake were two nests. In every Instance they were constructed 
 on trees at considerable elevation, but no more difficult to reach than those of the 
 other species of large hawks, 
 
 -14 z 
 
200 NOTES ON THE ~ , 
 
 it. I was for several years a member of a gun club in the city 
 where I reside, and I well remember an incident in illustration 
 of the characteristics of this hawk which took place while we 
 were shooting at-pigeons thrown from a trap. The firing was 
 rapid at the time, when a pigeon got away and circled around 
 over a cornfield directly behind the shooting stand. A little 
 out of good range, it nevertheless -received the attention of a 
 dozen guns, during which time a Duck Hawk appeared in pur 
 suit of the escaping pigeon, and undismayed by the roar of the 
 guns, drove the bird directly over our heads, where of course 
 both birds were sacrificed. It proved to be a female in full 
 plumage. The event occurred on the 13th of August, 1875. 
 
 Sportsmen early learn that this hawk is exceptionally ob- 
 noxious to their amusement, be the game whatever it may, pro- 
 vided it is not larger than the bird in question. It is a remorse- 
 less marauder and murderer, killing for amusement after satis- 
 fying its hunger completely. It will attack small birds, and 
 as fast as it crushes the life of one out with its talons will drop 
 it and attack another. No man should be accounted a genuine 
 sportsman with the gun who does not instantly slaughter the 
 Duck Hawk at sight. These brigands of the wing understand 
 what their own standing is with this class of the genus homo, 
 and will give him a wide birth except when running down their 
 victims, when they are oblivious to all else. 
 
 They have usually left the State by the 25th of October, ex- 
 cept an occasional individual found in the southern counties, 
 where they remain far into November. 
 
 FALCO COLTTIftBAKIUS L. (357.) 
 PIGEON HAWK. 
 
 Being exceptionally familiar with this hawk in other sec- 
 tions, I am not a little disappointed to find them so extremely 
 rare here, although I have long known them to be accounted 
 only subcommon in the Mississippi valley. In 1862 I found a 
 specimen of this species in the mounted collection of a gentle- 
 man who was an expert in the identification of game birds, and 
 was making a study of their predatory enemies on wings. He 
 obtained it in the fall of the previous year while it was in the 
 act of seizing another bird, and was impressed with its unfamiliar 
 appearance enough to have it mounted without having known 
 its specific'identity until I named it for him. In 1867 1 found a 
 representative of each sex in Mr. Rowling's collection, since 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 201 
 
 which I have seen but two individuals of the species, and those 
 had been already mounted. I pronounce it a rare species in 
 Minnesota. I have never yet seen a specimen of them alive, 
 much as I have been on the alert for them. Of course occa- 
 sional individuals pass through the country in migration or 
 those mentioned could not have been obtained, for they were 
 all killed within our borders. And all the conditions requisite 
 for their food are here, so that for aught apparent they might 
 breed here as highly favored as anywhere else, yet for some 
 reason they do not to any great extent at least so far as is yet 
 known. Their food is mostly comprised of small birds. • 
 
 They reach this latitude early in April, sometimes not until 
 the middle, when they remain but a very short time. From the 
 statement of persons familiar with birds in general, one indi- 
 vidual has been met with in November, but the next latest date 
 that I have learned of was the twenty-fifth of October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Entire upper parts bluish-slate color, each feather with a 
 black longitudinal line; forehead and throat white, other under 
 parts pale-yellowish, or reddish-white, every feather with a 
 longitudinal line of ' brownish-black; tibiae light ferruginous 
 with lines of black; quills black tipped with ashy- white; tail 
 light bluish- ashy, tipped with white and with a wide sub ter- 
 minal band of black, and with several other transverse narrow 
 bands of black; inner webs nearly white; cere and legs yellow; 
 bill blue. 
 
 Length (of female), 12 to 14; wing, 8 to 9; tail, 5 to 5.50. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 Note. — The Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter velox) has been 
 confounded with this species, on account of its having also 
 been popularly called the' Pigeon Hawk, but it is very unlike it 
 in nearly all respects, and finds its systematic place in another 
 genus. 
 
 FALCO RICHARDSONII Ridgway. (358.) 
 
 RICHARDSON'S MERLIN. 
 
 This species so long regarded a variety of Columbarius, has 
 only, like the other, come under my notice in two skins ob- 
 tained in a collecting exploration near the head of Lake Super- 
 ior in 1875. They were listed as belonging to the other 
 species, but afterwards came under my examination when I 
 decided they were Richardson's Hawk. I am not at all certain 
 that one or two of those given under Columbarius were not of 
 this species, but not all. I subjoin Mr. Ridgways' description 
 of his newly named species. 
 
202 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper plumage, dull earth-brown, each feather grayish- 
 umber centrally, and with a conspicuous black shaft- line. Head 
 above, approaching ashy-white anteriorly, the black shaft- 
 streaks being very conspicuous. Secondaries, primary cov- 
 erts, and primaries margined terminally with dull white; the 
 primary coverts "with two transverse series of pale-ochrous 
 spots; primaries with spots of the same, corresponding with 
 those of the inner webs. Upper tail coverts tipped and spot- 
 ted beneath the surface with white. Tail clear drab, much 
 lighter than the primaries, but growing darker terminally, 
 having basally a slightly ashy-cast, crossed with six sharply 
 defined, perfectly continuous bands (the last terminal) of ashy- 
 white. Head f rontally, laterally and beneath — a collar routed the 
 nape (interrupting the brown above) — and entire lower parts, 
 white, somewhat ochraceous, this most perceptible on the 
 tibiae; cheeks and ear coverts with sparse, fine, hair-like 
 streaks of black; nuchal collar, jugulum, breast, abdomen, 
 sides, and flanks, with a median linear stripe of clear ochre- 
 brown on each feather; these stripes broadest on the flanks; 
 each stripe with a conspicuous black shaft-streak; tibiae and 
 lower tail-coverts with fine shaft-streaks of brown, like the 
 broader stripes of the other portions. Chin and throat only, 
 immaculate. Lining of the wings spotted with ochraeous- 
 white and brown in about equal amounts, the former in spots 
 approaching the shaft. Inner webs of the primaries with 
 transverse broad bars of pale-ochraceous— eight on the longest. 
 
 Wing, 7.70; tail, 5; culmen, 0.50; tarsus, 1.30; middle toe, 1.25; 
 outer, 0.85; inner, 0.70; posterior, 0.50. 
 
 Habitat, interior and western plains of North America. 
 
 FALCO SPARVERIUS L. (360.) 
 AMEKICAN SPARROW HAWK. 
 
 Arriving not far from the first day of April the Sparrow 
 Hawk is seen for a short time very frequently. 
 
 They feed much on mice, grasshoppers and crickets, but 
 relish a sparrow when secured. No intelligent farmer wants 
 these hawks destroyed, so valuable are their habits in the 
 destruction of field mice especially. The pairing season is 
 usually about the middle of May. For the construction of 
 their nests holes of all sorts are employed, but more frequent- 
 ly that of a woodpecker, notably the Golden-winged, but 
 hollow trees with a large knot hole for entrance are the first 
 choice. Here there is a call for some substructure of sticks 
 and twigs, on which are imposed the grass, leaves, moss or 
 feathers, as the surroundings best afforded. As a rule they 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 203 
 
 seek locations considerably removed from dwellings, but do 
 not reject the outhouses when they are considerably separated 
 from the others. Indeed, one pair occupied a box used for a 
 dove roost. But who would find them in their n^ost frequented 
 localities during the breeding season must go to groves of 
 timber bordering extensive meadows. They lay about four or 
 five eggs that are brownish-white, speckled all over with red- 
 dish-brown and frequently considerably blotched with a light 
 reddish. 
 
 As an indication of their value to the agriculturist, I will 
 introduce an excerpt from the pen of M. de Lautrie, who says: 
 "In 1863 I took five little Sparrow Hawks and put them in a 
 cage. The parent birds immediately brought them food, and I 
 was not surprised to see that it consisted of twelve mice, four 
 large lizards and six mole crickets. A meal of like size was 
 brought every day for a month. At one time there were 
 fifteen field mice, two little birds and a young rabbit. Last 
 year I made the same experiment with the same result, one 
 meal consisting of twelve small birds, one lark, three moles, and 
 one hedgehog. In one month ihe five baby hawks rid the 
 world, by actual count, of 420 rats and mice, 200 mole-crickets, 
 and 158 lizards." 
 
 Need a word be added to satisfy the most incredulous that 
 the Sparrow -Hawk is a friend of man, and should be protected 
 by law? 
 
 Late in July and August, the young being grown, they be- 
 come widely distributed and remain exceedingly common till 
 about the first to the tenth of October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Frontal band and space including the eyes and throat, white ; 
 spot on the neck behind, two others on each side of the neck, 
 and a line running, downwards from before the eye, black. Spot 
 on the top of the head, necu behind, back, rump and tail, light 
 rufous or cinnamon color. Under parts, generally, a paler 
 shade of the same rufous as the back, frequently nearly white, 
 but sometimes dark as the upper parts, and always with more 
 or less numerous circular or oblong spots of black. Quills 
 brownish-black with white bars on their inner webs. Tail 
 tipped with white, frequently tinged with rufous, and with a 
 broad subterminal band of black, outer feathers frequently 
 white, tinged with ashy and barred with black. Bill light blue; 
 legs yellow. Back generally with transverse stripes of black, 
 but frequently with very few, or entirely without; rufous spot 
 on the head, variable in size, and sometimes wanting. 
 
 Length, 11. to 12.; -wing, 7. to 7.50; tail, 5. to 5.50. 
 
 Habitat, whole of North America. 
 
204 NOTES ON THE 
 
 PANDION HALIAETUS CAROLINENSIS (Gmelin). (364.) 
 AMERICAN OSPREY. 
 
 About the middle of April this remarkable hawk-eagle is seen 
 perching on the projecting limb of a dry tree on the shore of 
 some lake or creek, and more frequently the latter, as the fish 
 are making their way to the marshes to spawn. Perhaps his 
 doubtful distinguishment from the eagle has scarcely been set- 
 tled, when down he drops, splash, into the water, out of which 
 he instantly rises with a large fish hanging by its head from 
 his talons, as he sails away to the forest at hand. He never 
 stays near the place where he gets his prey, but from a long 
 cherished memory of the persecutions of the bald eagle, at once 
 buries himself in the coverts of the thick, dark woods while 
 devouring it. I was once in such a forest in search of some 
 small birds, when my attention was arrested by what I sup- 
 posed to be an eagle with a large snake dangling by its head 
 from the talons of one foot. I instantly exchanged a shell 
 loaded with No. 12 shot for one charged with No. 8, and awaited 
 his approach. 
 
 As I stood in a little open space, I expected nothing else than 
 that he would see me and turn his course, but remaining per- 
 fectly still, he continued to come directly towards me, and as- 
 sayed to light on the lower limb of a lofty tree directly over my 
 head, about sixty feet above me, when, just as his unengaged 
 foot grasped the limb, with both wings extended, I pulled 
 trigger, and speedily got myself out of the line of his gravita- 
 tion, when a monstrous Fish Hawk and a bduncing pickerel 
 simultaneously struck the ground at my feet. The hawk was 
 too dead to wag a toe or shrug a wing, but the flsh flopped and 
 bounded like any other flsh just out of water. One, I helped 
 my friends eat for dinner, and the other was a f ews days after 
 on the shelves of my private collection of birds, since pre- 
 sented to the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences. 
 
 About the flrst of May they begin to build their nests, which 
 are placed more commonly in a large tree on' the bank of either 
 a large stream or a lake of considerable size. Occasionally 
 they go quite a little distance into the forest, where the trees 
 are very numerous and tall. Except in the hugeness of its 
 prbportions the nest does not differ materially from the other 
 large hawks or from the eagles except in being a little less 
 bulky. It consists of large sticks, smaller sticks, grass with 
 bits of turf clinging to it, coarse weeds and flne weeds mixed 
 with somewhat flner grass. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 205 
 
 They usually have three eggs. Their color is exceedingly 
 variable, part of those I have in my possession being much 
 darker and more extensively blotched than others. But I 
 ■ should call the average reddish-brown with a creamy shade. 
 
 Almost universally distributed throughout the State this 
 hawk is nowhere abundant, Mr. Washburn found them only 
 "sub-common" at Mille Lacs, although I am inclined to think 
 he would have found more of them a little later in the season, 
 as the young would then have been full grown, and on the 
 wing or "fishing" along the shores of the lake. 
 
 They linger in autumn as late as the fishing remains good 
 which is nearly November, but as the waters in the streams 
 and lakes become colder, the fish seek the deeper places, and 
 thus are out of the way of this their great enemy. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wings long; legs, toes and claws very robust and strong. 
 Head, and entire under parts white; stripe through the eye, 
 top of head and upper parts of body, wings and tail, deep 
 umber brown, the tail having about eight bands of blackish- 
 brown; breast with numerous cordate, and circular spots of 
 pale yellowish-brown; bill and claws bluish-black; tarsi and 
 toes greenish yellow. 
 
 Length (female), 25; wing, 21; tail, 10.50. 
 
 Habitat, 'North America. 
 
 Family STRiaiD^. 
 
 STRIX PRATINCOLA Bonaparte. (365.) 
 AMERICAN BARN OWL. 
 
 In 1858 I was informed that the Barn Owls were never seen 
 in Minnesota, and after many years observation of the birds I 
 came to the conclusion that those who had been here before me 
 were right, when I obtained one specimen of the female, and 
 then another long period passed before I saw another that had 
 been shot by a man in the maple woods in the vicinity of Park- 
 er's Lake. Again several years passed, and I heard of some 
 having been obtained, but had some doubts as to the identity, not 
 having seen the birds; but before very long I began to get one sent 
 me occasionally, and I had the pleasure of obtaining some my- 
 self, and getting statements from one or two persons who were 
 competent and reliable, who described them correctly, when I 
 received a carefully detailed description of the young which I 
 
206 NOTES ON THE 
 
 followed up to the birds themselves, which had been obtained 
 from the nest in the Big Woods. They were able to fly a little 
 only, and were therefore easily caught, and soon became tame. 
 
 I have had no late additions to my specimens secured, but I ' 
 have settled it that although not largely represented, they are a 
 regular summer resident, lingering until quite late in November 
 in some sections heavily timbered, but I cannot find that any 
 remain through the winters. Their plumage is not of sufficient 
 density to protect them in high latitudes. The breeding places 
 here are, as far as I have been able to ascertain, more fre- 
 quently in the coarse reeds of dry marshes where the- musk- 
 rats have formerly built their houses, on the remains of which 
 the eggs are dropped with little if any attempt at building a 
 nest. But in one case the brooding place was in a rather 
 superficial hole in the side of a bank of earth a few feet in 
 height. The eggs are four in number, purely white and nearly 
 of the same measurements in either direction. Incubation 
 begins variously from April 20 to May 10, according to the 
 locality and the season. 
 
 In September, 1891, through the kindness of Mr. J. Fletcher 
 "Williams, of St. Paul, I received a letter from Dr. Chas. A. 
 Gray, of Waterville, describing three birds of some new species 
 that had been found in a hollow tree in the vicinity, which from 
 a photograph accompanying proved them to be the Barn Owl. 
 but so strikingly like the European that I asked for further 
 descriptions in the way of measurements, &c., which settled it 
 specifically as the American Barn Owl. A more comical group 
 of birds I never saw, and I am under much obligation to Dr. 
 Gray for it. 
 
 My observations of this species in California for 17 years, 
 have confirmed me in the conviction that it is not particular 
 where it has its nest; for they occupy the holes of the ground 
 squirrels, a hole in the rocks, where such are easily found, but 
 preferably a hollow tree, no matter how deep the cavity, if of suf- 
 ficient diameter to readily turn about in. That it is a much more 
 common bird in Minnesota than I have felt at liberty to record 
 it I strongly suspect, but its nocturnal habits must leave a doubt 
 about that till more extensive observations have been made. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Entire upper parts pale fawn color or tawny brownish-yel- 
 low, frequently very pale, nearly every feather with a small 
 sub terminal black spot, succeeded by another of white; under 
 parts generally pale fawn color, but frequently a pure white 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. '207 
 
 with small lanceolate and circular spots of brownish -black; 
 under coverts of wings and tail white; quills fawn color; 
 primaries with about five irregular transverse bars of brown- 
 ish-black; tail with about four or iive bands of dark brown; face 
 white; spots of dark chestnut brown around the eyes; irides 
 brownish-black; bill, toes and claws, light yellowish. 
 
 Length (of female), 16; wing, 13; tail 5.50. 
 
 Habitat. North America, from New York and Minnesota, 
 southward through Mexico. 
 
 Family BUBONID^ 
 
 ASIO WILSONIANUS (Lesson). (366.) 
 AMEKICAN LONG- EARED OWL. 
 
 Although falling far short of being as common a species in 
 this State as the Great Horned Owl, {Bubo virginianus), it is 
 by no means rare. Its extremely reticent, and entirely noctur- 
 nal habits, have led many, conversant with the general habits 
 of the birds to suppose it to be a very unusual migrant here, 
 instead of a permanent resident. For the reasons already 
 suggested, little is yet known of its breeding habits. A few 
 nests have come within my observatibn, some of which were 
 found within What has since become a portion of our city limits. 
 Between Lakes Calhoun and Harriet, there is a Tamarack 
 swamp, very densely wooded, or was until thinned out , by the 
 Lakewood Cemetery Company. In the forks of some of the 
 tallest members of the group, were some nests of the Long 
 eared Owl. The nests consist of green larch twigs, leaves and 
 grass. In the heart of the Big Woods are many small dried 
 swamps untouched by the woodman's axe. Not many of these 
 will need to be searched by one practiced in hunting birds' 
 nests in their season, before the labor will be rewarded by the 
 discovery of not only the nest of this species, but that also of 
 the Saw- whet Owl. But of that, more in its own place. The 
 eggs are four in number, and pure white. 
 
 The first brood is on the wing before April is gone, and the 
 last, by the first of August. Their food consists of mice, and 
 small birds. No other species of owl is so exclusively noctur- 
 nal in all of its habits. They are quite generally distributed 
 where there is heavy timber. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them common at Thief River in Otter 
 Tail county, from which circumstance we may with abundant 
 reason, suppose them equally so in the northern sections of 
 the State generally. 
 
208 ■ NOTES ON THE 
 
 Very many of this species find their way into the hands of 
 the taxidermists for mounting. Mr. Howling who has done 
 nearly all of the mounting of birds for me which I have had 
 done, has many times called my attention to the variations of 
 plumage of the Long-eared Owls, in connectipn with sex and 
 degrees of maturity. He has always preserved notes of the 
 different birds sent to him as far as possible, that I might have 
 the benefit of them. 
 
 In this way I have secured many invaluable opportunities 
 for information. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Ear tufts long and conspicuous; eyes rather small; wings 
 long; tarsi and toes densely feathered. Upper parts mottled 
 with brownish-black fulvous, and ashy- white, the former pre • 
 dominating. Breast pale fulvous with longitudinal stripes of 
 brownish-black; abdomen white; every feather with a wide lon- 
 gitudinal stripe, and with transverse stripes of brownish-black; 
 legs and toes pale fulvous, usually unspotted, but frequently 
 with irregular, narrow, transverse stripes of dark brown; eye 
 nearly encircled with black; other feathers of the face ashy- 
 white, with minute lines of black; ear tufts brownish-black, 
 edged with fulvous and ashy- white; quills pale fulvous at their 
 bases, with irregular transverse bands of brown; interior coverts 
 of the wing pale fulvous, frequently nearly white, the larger 
 widely tipped with black; tail brown, with several irregular 
 transverse bands of ashy-fulvous, which are mottled as on the 
 quills; bill and claws dark horn color; irides yellow. 
 
 Length (female), 15; wing, 11 to 11.50; tail, 6. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
 ASIO ACCIPITRINUS (Pallas). (367.) 
 SHORT-EARED OWL. 
 
 In my earlier observations of the birds of Minnesota, I 
 accepted the conclusion that the Short-eared Owl was decidedly 
 a rare species. Further observations have changed that con- 
 clusion. Their proclivity to marshy districts and building 
 their nests on and in the ground, misled me somewhat, but 
 since I have become more familiar with their feeding and 
 breeding habits, I believe them to be, at least, fairly common. 
 It has been truly said that what the Marsh Hawk is to the 
 marsh by day, this owl is by night. Essentially nocturnal in 
 its feeding, it is not absolutely blind in the daytime, but if 
 flushed from the ground where its colors largely conceal it, it 
 flies away in a confusecf manner, and then sails along quite 
 near to the ground till at a safe distance, and then drops sud- 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 209 
 
 denly down into its grassy covert again. Occasionally a 
 favored locality will harbor several of them in the tangled 
 grass during the day, to gather a harvest of small water-birds 
 during the night, as indicated by the feathers in the morning. 
 They tear open the breast and eat only that portion, leaving 
 the remainder to tell the tale of their distinctive habits. They 
 commence flying soon after sunset, and put in their best work 
 in hunting before the twilight has disappeared, but if not 
 eminently successful during that time, will work still far into 
 the night, as is shown by the shallaboo amongst the terns and 
 snipe. 
 
 Sticks, reeds, grass and feathers comprise the materials of 
 their nests, which are placed on the ground generally, but are 
 sometimes found in forsaken burroughs. Four white eggs are 
 laid in May. Whether they rear more than a single brood I 
 cannot tell, but the young arq|seen occasionally late enough to 
 make it highly probable that they do. 
 
 It is only occasionally taken, and then usually by hunters 
 who have little interest in ornithology . However it gets into 
 the hands of the taxidermist often enough to prove it fairly 
 common in most parts of the State. Mr. Laurie found it at 
 Duluth and Mr. Lewis at Red lake. Mr. Washburn does not 
 mention^this species in either of his reports from Mille Lacs 
 and the Red river valley. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Ear tufts very short; entire plumage buff or pale fulvous; 
 every feather on the upper parts with a wide longitudinal 
 stripe of dark brown, which color predominates on the back; 
 under parts paler, frequently nearly white on the abdomen, 
 with longitudinal stripes of brownish-black most numerous 
 on the breast, very narrow and less numerous on the abdomen 
 and flanks; legs and toes usually of a deeper shade of the 
 same color as the abdomen; quills pale reddish fulvous, at 
 their bases, brown at their ends with wide, irregular bands and 
 large spots of reddish fulvous; tail pale reddish fulvous, 
 with about five irregular transverse bands of dark-brown, 
 which color predominates on the two central feathers; under 
 tail coverts usually nearly white; throat white; eyes enclosed 
 by large spots of brownish-black; eartufts brown, edged with 
 fulvous; bill and claws dark; irides yellow. 
 
 Length (female), 15; wing, 12; tail, 6. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
210 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SYRNIUM NEBULOSDW (Forster.) (368.) 
 BAREED OWL. 
 
 Next to the Great Horned Owl, the Barred Owl is the most 
 numerous of any species of its family in Minnesota. Yet they 
 are less so here than in Illinois, or than formerly so there. They 
 are slightly (I think considerably) migratory in the southern 
 portions of the State, moving southward somewhat in severe 
 winters, but in the pine regions they are not so, for I have 
 obtained specimens from time to time from lumber camps 
 during the hardest winters we have ever experienced. During 
 the summer season many of them get distributed over the 
 entire prairie regions, when they are even more easily obtained 
 there than in the densest timber regions. I have found tixem 
 in the vicinity of Duluth with little difficulty and hunters 
 report them frequently met with to duck hunting, particularly 
 in spring shooting. Several nests have been discovered 
 within the vicinity of Princeton and Wo of three near the 
 north arm of Lake Minnetonka. They breed as early as any 
 other species, if Bubo virginianus is excepted, the eggs having 
 been once brought to me fresh on March tenth. They are 
 pure white, subspherical in form and from four to five in 
 nuniber. The structure of the nest is quite bulky and is gen- 
 erally located in a fork of a tree fifty or sixty feet from the 
 ground. It consists of sticks and leaves principally. 
 
 The food of the Barred Owls consists chiefly of field mice, 
 reptiles and small birds. At the dawn of morning and again 
 at evening, "twilights mystic, hour," it may often be seen 
 floating silently along the border of the woods or over the 
 meadows in quest of its humble game, so near the grass or 
 grain that the wings seem to rest upon it. It cannot be re- 
 garded as especially a woodland bird, for they are quite as 
 frequently met with far out on the prairies where not even a 
 bush can be seen for many weary miles. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head large, without ear tufts; tail rather long; upper parts 
 light ashy-brown, frequently tinged with dull yellow with 
 transverse narrow bands of white most numerous on the head 
 and neck behind, broader on the back; breast with transverse 
 bands of brown and white; abdomen ashy -white, with longi- 
 tudinal stripes of brown; tarsi and toes ashy-white, tinged 
 with fulvous, generally without spots but frequently mottled 
 with dark browii; quills brown with six or seven transverse 
 
BIBDS OF MINNESOTA. 211 
 
 bars nearly pure white, on the outer webs and ashy fulvous on 
 the inner webs; tail light brown with about five bands of white 
 generally tinged with reddish-yellow; discal feathers tipped 
 with white; face ashy- white, with lines of brown and a spot of 
 black in front of the eye; throat dark brown; claws horn 
 color; bill pale yellow; irides bluish -black. Sexes alike. 
 
 Length, 18 to 20; wing, 13 to 14; tail, 9. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to Minnesota and Texas. 
 
 8C0TIAPTEX CINEREA (Gmelin). (370.) 
 GREAT GRAY OWL. 
 
 All. statements to the contrary, and by whomsoever made, 
 this species is not so '^far from common" in Minnesota as it 
 might be. A slip of the pen in the hustily prepared list of 
 birds, published by the Minnesota Academy of Natural 
 Sciences in 1874 made me say very common when speaking of 
 this species, and in my absence some one else read and cor- 
 rected the proof, who of course did not know that the word not 
 had been accidentally omitted, which was the case. 
 
 The Great Gray Owl is justly called an Arctic species, and is 
 really a more northern bird than the Snowy Owl {Nyctea 
 nyctea), yet it has a recognized record as a winter migrant in 
 Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey. 
 When I first visited Minnesota Territory between thirty and 
 forty years ago, I found several specimens of this huge owl in 
 a collection belonging to a gunsmith whose name I have lost, 
 which I was informed had been obtained in the immediate vi- 
 cinity. When in 1858 I removed to Minneapolis, I remembered 
 this amongst the earlier species of birds in which I conceived a 
 special interest. Before the close of the winter of 1859, I had 
 seen five, of which I obtained one myself, Mr. House two and 
 Mr. Henry two. 
 
 In 1874, when the Bulletin of the Academy of Natural 
 Sciences was published, Mr. Shroeder of St. Paul had two, 
 Mr. Howling of this city three and I had seen three in private 
 collections Since the date of that publication, I have only 
 seen a few specimens in the hands of sportsmen and the taxi- 
 dermist for mounting. 
 
 All observers admit that they are not seen as often of late as 
 formerly, in the lower portions of the State at least. Their 
 food is principally the same as that of the other owls so far as 
 I have been able to ascertain, and they retire northward in the 
 latter part of April. I have but one record so late as that date. 
 
212 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 The largest owl of North America. Head very large, eyes 
 small, tail rather long; upper parts smoky or ashy- brown, 
 mottled and transversely barred with ashy- white; under parts 
 ashy -white, with numerous longitudinal stripes of dark ashy- 
 brown predominating on the breast and with transverse stripes 
 of the same on the abdomen, legs and under tail coverts; 
 quills brown with about five wide, irregular . bands of ashy- 
 white; tail brown with five or six wide, irregular bands of 
 ashy -white, mottled with dark brown; feathers of the disc on 
 the neck tipped with white; eye nearly encircled by a black 
 spot; radiating feather^ around the eye, with regular trans- 
 verse narrow bands of dark brown and ashy white; bill pale 
 yellow; claws pale yellowish-white, darker at their tips; iris 
 bright yellow. 
 
 Length, 25 to 30; wmg, 18; tail, 12 to 15. 
 
 Habitat, Arctic America. 
 
 jVYCTALA TENGMALMI RICHAKDSONI (Bonap.). (371.) 
 RICHARDSON'S OWL. 
 
 I believe this owl to be a more northern species, which vis 
 its the State considerably in winter. I find it is more common 
 about the head of Lake Superior than in the middle and south- 
 ern counties. I have an individual seiit me, sometimes 
 several, from different sections of my field every winter and I 
 have seen a number in Mr. Howlings' collection at different 
 times, but by far the larger portion have been from Diduth and 
 vicinity. It was taken in the dense woods west of Lake Min- 
 netonka as early as 1869, and persons residing in that region 
 who claim to be perfectly familiar with the Saw-whet or 
 Acadian Owl, (N. Acadica) assure me that this form is not 
 unfrequently seen in the colder weather of winter. 
 
 Its food principally is small birds, mice and insects. It is 
 enough larger than the Saw-whet to make its popular observa- 
 tion presumably correct. 
 
 I shall not be greatly surprised if the nest is found here ul- 
 timately, notwithstanding it has been considered so exclusively 
 arctic. It is strictly nocturnal in its habits, living upon small 
 birds, insects and mice. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 (From Stearns. ) 
 
 "Above olivaceous chocolate brown, spotted with white; be- 
 neath, white, spotted and streaked with a brown similar to the 
 back, but a little darker; disk white; a white spot between the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 213 / 
 
 bill and the eye; wings and tail with white spots on both webs, 
 the latter with from eight to ten pairs; bill light yellow; iris 
 yellow; tarsus feathered. 
 
 Length, 10; wing, 7.25; tail, 4.50. 
 
 Habitat, Arctic America. 
 
 NTCTALA ACADICA (Gmelin). (372.) 
 SAW- WHET OWL. 
 
 This species is quite common in restricted sections, and just 
 how restricted it is quite impossible to say until its distribution 
 can be further investigated. As far back as 1868, I frequently 
 visited a family residing 24 miles from the city and in the heart 
 of the Big Woods, who were familiar with this species under 
 its popular name. They assured me that it was a permanent 
 resident, breeding in woodpeckers' holes sometime in April. 
 Succeeding opportunities enabled me to confirm their state- 
 ments, and I found the bird quite common during that portion '■ 
 of the autumn when lufEed grouse shooting was the order of 
 the day. The nest is furnished with some grass, and feathers 
 occasionally. The eggs are very clear, almost translucent 
 white, and four to five in number. It is emphatically a noc- 
 turnal species, living upon small quadrupeds, birds and insects. 
 It has been reported to me by the lumbermen at several of the 
 logging camps in winter. 
 
 The larger portion of the earlier choppers were former resi- 
 dents of Maine, where they said that the Saw- whet was a com- 
 mon species, and that they knew that this was the same, not 
 only by its general appearance but by the saw-filing note it 
 kept up in March specially. This last is a striking character- 
 istic of the species, and very familiar to observing residents of 
 the sections where they breed. They are extremely cautious 
 and sly about their breeding, but at other times they seem quite 
 confiding. The nests are more commonly placed in the forks 
 of a sapling, but occasionally in the nest of another bird or in 
 a knot-hole in a larger tree, and consists of sticks, dry leaves 
 and feathers. The eggs are layed in early April, and are three 
 in number, nearly round in outline, and pure white. The food 
 of the Saw-whets is principally insects in summer, but they eat 
 almost anything when driven to it by hunger. 
 
 specific characters. 
 
 Small; wings long; tail short; upper parts reddish-brown, 
 tinged with olive; head in front with fine lines of white, and 
 on the neck behind, rump and scapulars with large, partially 
 
214 NOTES ON THE 
 
 concealed spots of white; face ashy- white; throat white; under 
 parts ashy-white, with longitudinal stripes of pale reddish- 
 hrown; under coverts of wings and tail white; quills brown 
 with small spots of white on their outer edges, ana large spots 
 of the same on their inner webs; tail brown; every feather 
 with about three pairs of spots of white; bill and claws dark; 
 irides yellow. 
 
 Length, 7.50 to 8; wing, 5.50. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 MEGASCOPS ASIO (L.). (373.) 
 SCREECH OWL. 
 
 This owl's presence in different portions of the timbered sec- 
 tions has been verified beyond a question, by its distinctive 
 notes for a great many years, yet it has only occasionally been 
 seen. When riding through the dark primeval forest which 
 formerly encompassed Lake Minnetonka, it was no unusual 
 experience in early spring, to hear one or more of these birds 
 screech in the distance, particularly if a few rays of a pretty full 
 moon found their way through the leafless branches. That 
 they breed here there can be no doubt, for they are here in 
 summer. But one nest has been found that I have had the 
 privilege of examining. It was in a hollow stump and con- 
 sisted of grass, leaves, plenty of moss, and some feathers. 
 
 It contained four, nearly round, polished, white eggs, having 
 been discovered about the 10th of May, but was not invaded 
 till the 16th. 
 
 The lumbermen claim that they hear their screechings at 
 times all winter in the pine forests about Mille Lacs, and other 
 logging sections. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef reports them "occasional" at Lanesboro, but 
 does not state at what season of the year. 
 
 Mr. Washburn makes the same report from Devil's Lake in 
 August. 
 
 The nest is generally in a hole in a tree at varying elevations 
 from the ground, but has occasionally been found in other situ- 
 ations, notably about isolated old outhouses and barns. They 
 build about the first week in May. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts pale ashy -brown, with longitudinal lines of 
 brownish-black, mottled irregularly with the same and with 
 cinereous; under parts ashy- white, with longitudinal stripes of 
 brownish-black, and with transverse lines of the same color; 
 face, throat and tarsi ashy white, irregularly lined and mottled 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 215 
 
 with pale brownish; quills brown with transverse bands, nearly- 
 white on the outer webs; tail, pale ashy-brown, with about ten 
 transverse narrow bands of pale cinereous; under wing coverts 
 white, the larger tipped with black; bill and claws light horn 
 color; irides yellow. 
 
 Length, 9.50 to 10; wing, 7; tail, 8.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 BUBO YIR6INIANUS (Gbmelin). (375.) 
 
 GREAT HORNED OWL. 
 
 A lad about ten years of age recently visited the Twin Cities, 
 who had never seen a good many things, among which this 
 famous Night King of the forest. He had read of the species, 
 but having never seen a forest, or even a forest tree in his 
 life, until on his way here it was not strange that he had 
 never looked upon, or heard the notes of this wonderful bird. 
 Let us imagine his surprise when he was halfway across a 
 narrow arm of a larch swamp spanned by turnpike, walking 
 deliberately beside a friend, and heard in the darkness the 
 dismal, weiyd, Tioo-o, hoo-o, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, of the Great 
 Horned Owl. The half -breathed half -uttered, "Gosh!" be- 
 comes eloquent in our imaginations, without the touch of any- 
 thing bordering on the profane. When I was a lad of the same 
 age, and accustomed to hearing those notes, I was spending 
 the night with a family of friends, in a densely wooded portion 
 of the country, at a time when the moon was ' full.' Stepping 
 out of the door into the flood of the moonlight just before 
 retiring, I heard a characteristic hoot, a long distance away, 
 and boylike, hooted back to it. In an instant a response to me 
 came from a much nearer point, but in another direction, to 
 which I replied as promptly, and again received an answer; 
 and this reciprocal hooting for less than a quarter of an hour, 
 brought seven different owls of the kind simultaneously 
 within visible distance of where I stood, in the shadow of a 
 projecting limb of a lofty elm. While quietly contemplating 
 my success in deceiving and alluring such an unprecedented 
 number of owls, a boom from one of them that had, unheard, 
 perched immediately over my head, burst upon me so suddenly 
 that my courage forsook me, and I sprang incontinently from 
 my hiding place into the clear moonlight, where a glance up- 
 ward embraced the monstrous bird with every feather erect, 
 and eyes expanded, glaring down upon me, instantly following 
 
 which he spread his broad wings and sailed away into depths 
 16z 
 
216 NOTES ON THE 
 
 of the dark forest out of my sight. He looked to me vaster in 
 all his proportions than all of my conceptions of Milton's 
 winged Apolyon, as he floated silently into the shadows of the 
 night. 
 
 These are the most numerous of the eleven or twelve species 
 met with within our borders, and the largest of the assured 
 permanent residents. They more commonly build their nests 
 in the forks of the loftiest trees of the woodlands, far from 
 habitations. It is constructed of sticks first, over which are 
 laid twigs. These are sometimes massed in considerable quan- 
 tities, and give the general dishing form to the structure. 
 Whithin it is lined with leaves, moss, and grasses, with occa- 
 sionally a few feathers from the owl's own body; but these may ^ 
 be the mere accidental sheddings which have occurred while 
 occupying the nest. The eggs are white with a tinge of yel- 
 low, nearly spherical in form, and from three to four in number. 
 
 The period in which they enter upon their nesting varies 
 greatly with different pairs. I do not find much difference 
 from one year to another so far as the average time in which 
 they build is concerned, as they take no consideration of cold; 
 but I find the first nests begun earlier than in any other locality 
 in which I have ever observed them. My earliest personal 
 record is February 7th, and the latest April 7th, which I do not 
 think is as late as they sometimes build, judging from the young 
 owls occasionally offered by country boys in the market for 
 pets. Their value to the farmer is slowly gaining acknowledg- 
 ment amongst farmers in all sections of our wheat growing 
 commonwealth from their great destruction of field mice espec- 
 ially. 
 
 The habits of the Great Horned Owls of working dire de- 
 struction amongst the domestic fowls that perch in exposed 
 places, has produced a most unreasonable prejudice against 
 the species by farmers, and hence he finds no mercy amongst 
 them, but it exposes a very reprehensible practice of leaving 
 their poultry to shift for themselves instead of providing 
 secure quarters for them in a house devoted to their welfare. 
 Even featherless bipeds have found that hens and chickens are 
 good eating, and it is not strange if the facilities of this species 
 for seizing and bearing them away so safely and securely 
 should have suggested the trial for themselves, and succeeding 
 so admirably, had perpetuated the practice. But the debit 
 column against this bird should not stand alone, for there is 
 another of credit, embracing rabbits, so destructive to young 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 217 
 
 fruit trees, skunks, more destructive to the poultry than the owls 
 are, mink, weasels, etc., which will more than balance the 
 account. Let the owls all live, and securely protect the poultry 
 from not only the owls, but the animals, too. The habits of 
 the species are too familiar to repeat them here, as the young 
 have been so frequently captured for pets and reared in cap- 
 tivity that little of interest can be readily added. But woe to 
 the unprotected poultry when one of these civilized marauders 
 assumes his liberty in a favorable hour. Neither Mr. Wash- 
 burn, nor any other observers have added anything to the 
 local history of this species. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Large and strongly organized; ear tufts large, erectile; bill 
 strong, fully curved; wing rather long, third quill usually 
 longest; tail short; legs and toes robust and densely covered 
 with short downy feathers; claws very strong, sharp, curved; 
 variable in plumage from nearly white to dark brown, 
 usually with the upper parts dark brown, every feather mot- 
 tled, and with regular transverse. lines of pale ashy and red- 
 dish-fulvous, the latter being the color of all the plumage at 
 the base of the feathers; ear tufts dark brown, nearly black, 
 edged on their inner webs with dark lulvous; a black spot 
 above the eye; radiating feathers behind the eye varying in 
 color from nearly white to dark reddish-fulvous, usually the 
 latter; feathers of the facial disc tipped with black; throat and 
 neck before, white; breast with wide longitudinal stripes of 
 black; other under parts variegated with white and fulvous, 
 and every feather having , transverse narrow lines of dark 
 brown; middle of the abdomen frequently, but not always, 
 white; legs and toes varying from white to dark fulvous, usually 
 pale fulvous, in most specimens unspotted, but frequently and 
 probably always in mature specimens, with transverse narrow 
 bars of dark brown; quills brown, with wide transverse bands 
 of cinereous, and usually tinged on the inner webs with pale 
 fulvous; tail the same, with the fulvous predominating on the 
 outer feathers; iris yellow; bill and claws bluish -black. 
 
 Length (female), 21 to 25; wing, 14.50 to 16; tail, 10. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 NYCTEA NTCTEA (L.). (376.) 
 
 SNOWY OWL. 
 
 Although never an abundant, or even a common species, the 
 Snowy Owl was formally seen in the middle and southern sec- 
 tions of the State much more frequently than in late years. 
 Two different causes have doubtless contributed to this de- 
 crease. In the early settlement of the country they were left 
 
218 NOTES ON THE 
 
 quite undisturbed, but with the distribution of subsequent set- 
 tlements, an occasional bird fell before the farmer's gun. The 
 old, mature bird, always wary, grew cautious, and gave the 
 vicinity of dwellings a wide berth. After a time Minnesota 
 became a famous resort for deer and Ruffed Grouse shooting, 
 late enough for sportsmen to catch a shot at a Snowy Owl. 
 Taxidermists all over the land offered high prices for them to 
 mount, which brought every boy with a shotgun in his posses- 
 sion into the field for them in particular. The consequence 
 has been to send the wary old, mature individuals of the spe- 
 cies around some other way, or make them exceedingly 
 arboreal in their habits in winter. For many years now, not 
 less than nine in every ten of them seen or collected, have 
 been the young of the year. Indeed, it is only occasionally met 
 with in the sections alluded to, even in the first plumage now, 
 but in the northern, swampier, and more heavily timbered 
 sections, it is as well represented as ever, so far as I can learn 
 from others and from personal observation. 
 
 Sometimes earlier, but generally the first of these birds 
 arrive from the north about the 15th of November. They 
 remain until about the first of May, after which they are 
 seldom seen. 
 
 It is emphatically a Grouse Owl, as any one who examines 
 the ingesta will readily see. It hunts its prey mostly in the 
 twilight of evening and morning, but has equally good day 
 vision, though manifestly preferring cloudy days when mach 
 exposed. The nearly complete white plumage is only attained 
 in the third or fourth year. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found them "rather common for the species" in 
 Becker county, and at Leech lake the 19th to 23d of Octo- 
 ber. Mr. Washburn met them "occasionally" in Otter Tail 
 between October ninth and November tenth. Specimens of the 
 young were obtained during March and April, and in Novem- 
 ber of the present year (1887), within a few miles of Min- 
 neapolis and St. Paul. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill nearly concealed by projecting plumes; eyes large; 
 entire plumage white, frequently with a few spots or imperfect 
 bands, only on the upper parts dark brown, and on the under 
 parts with a few irregular and . imperfect bars of the same; 
 quills and tail with a few spots, or traces of bands of the same 
 dark brown; the prevalence of the dark brown color varies 
 much in different specimens; frequently both upper and under 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 219 
 
 parts are very distinctly banded transversely, and sometimes 
 this color predominates on the back; plumage of the legs and 
 toes pure snowy white; bill and claws horn color; irides 
 yellow. 
 
 Length (female), 26; wing, 17 to 19; tail, 10. 
 
 Habitat, Northern portions of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 SURNIA ULUliA CAPAROCH (Muller). (377a.) 
 AMEEICAN HAWK OWL. 
 
 I have never seen the Hawk Owl in the flesh more than once, 
 but I have found it mounted in the collections of local taxider- 
 mists many times since my residence in the State. It really 
 looks "more a hawk than an owl," but its habits of hunting in 
 the day-time — notably cloudy, gloomy days — makes it seem so 
 more than do its looks. Its southern migration from its reputed 
 arctic home must be considerably into the winter, for all the 
 specimens I have known of having been taken have been well 
 on towards spring, and in March I believe, — possibly one in 
 early April, which is occasionally as much winter as is March. 
 
 As it breeds in New England, it may do so here. Its food is 
 birds and mice principally. None have been reported to me 
 as having been seen later than early April, as already inti- 
 mated. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wings rather long; first three quills incised on their inner 
 webs; tail long, with its central feathers about two inches 
 longer than the outer tarsi, and toes densely feathered; upper 
 parts fuliginous-brown, with numerous partially concealed cir- 
 cular spots of white on the neck behind, scapulars and wing 
 coverts; face grayish white; throat white with longitudinal 
 stripes of dark brown; a large brown spot on each side of the 
 breast; other under parts with 'transverse lines or stripes of 
 pale ashy-brown; quills and tail brown, with transverse bands 
 ot white; bill pale -yellowish; irides yellow; color of upper 
 parts darker on the head, and the white markings more or less 
 numerous in different specimens. 
 
 Length (female), 16 to 17; wing, 9; tail, 7. 
 
 Habitat, Arctic America. 
 
 Note. — The Hawk Owl has come under my eye so often since 
 writing the foregoing, that I cannot regard it as really rare 
 any longer. I have met with them in November three times in 
 eight years, within seven miles of Minneapolis, and found sev- 
 eral in the taxidermists' collections during the same period. ■ 
 
 L. P. H. 
 
Order COCCYGES. 
 
 Family CUCULID^. 
 
 COCCYZUS AMERICANUS (L.). (387.) 
 
 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO. 
 
 » 
 
 This widely distributed species had escaped my observation 
 long after the Black-billed Cuckoo had become exceedingly 
 familiar to me here, but in the spring of 1867 I met with a 
 pair on the 30th of April, in some brushland bordering the 
 heavy timber within a mile of the Mississippi river at Min- 
 neapolis. Having secured them both, I made exceptional 
 efforts to find others, which however proved unavailing, and I 
 was thus left to the presumption that they were probably 
 stragglers until the next year, when to my great joy, I found 
 them again on the 14th of May, in the timber but a short dis- 
 tance from one of our small, beautiful lakes, not two miles 
 from where I first saw the others a year earlier. This time 
 they were breeding. The nest, constructed of dry sticks, 
 loosely interwoven and covered with some moss and catkins 
 from the blossoming trees, was placed on a horizontal limb of 
 an oak about seven feet from the ground. It contained four 
 greenish-blue eggs. 
 
 From that time until the present, I have see them at irregu- 
 lar intervals, but it is not a common species in any section I 
 have personally explored. 
 
 A friend of mine, much interested in the habits of familiar 
 species, had the fortune to secure a nest at Lake Minnetonka, 
 Tinder very simular circumstances, a year later. Mr. Lewis 
 says of this species, "Common at Pelican lake, Becker 
 county." He was familiar with the Black-billed Cuckoo, and 
 could scarcely have been mistaken between the two birds. Mr. 
 Howling as well as several others of our taxidermists have had 
 specimehs in their collections from time to time. They are 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 221 
 
 not a very wild, or over-cautious bird and yet are more arbor- 
 eal in their habits than the Black- billed Cuckoos. They leave 
 the country soon after the first sharp frosts of autumn. 
 
 Their food consists largely of catterpillers, larvae, and 
 smaller forms of insects. ' 
 
 Whenever I have seen this bird it has invariably been in the 
 timber, where thickets prevail, and I have almost uniformly 
 found it on the ground apparently feeding upon insects and 
 larvae. It would slip into the thicket instantly, through open- 
 ings so small as to seem impossible to a bird of so great exten- 
 sion of its wings. As soon as well concealed, perhaps not 
 twenty yards away, it would remain perfectlj^ motionless until, 
 with my field glass I could find and note it at my leisure, so' 
 long as I made no advance. 
 
 I have been disappointeJ in not getting more reports of this 
 species from other sections of the State, and must think the 
 reason is its extreme shyness, and not its total absence. I 
 know of no other bird of its marked proportions which is so 
 diflcult to observe, for the reasons mentioned. 
 
 It will be driven a mile without appearing in sight above the 
 brushy thickets it frequents, slipping alike through the peril- 
 ous meshes of a thorn-bush and a prickly ash. I have pursued 
 them in this manner until an opening compelled them to 
 expose themselves for a moment, when they would fly as near 
 the ground as possible to the next thicket, in which passage 
 lay my only opportunity in securing them. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper mandible and tip of lower, black; rest of lower man- 
 dible and cutting edges of upper, yellow; upper parts metallic 
 greenish-olive, slightly tinged with ashy toward the bill; be- 
 neath white; tail feathers (except the median, which are like 
 the back), black, tipped with white about an inch on the outer 
 feathers, the external one with the outer edge almost entirely 
 white; quills orange- cinamon; the terminal portion and a gloss 
 on the outer webs, olive; iris brown. 
 
 Length, 12; wing, 5.95; tail, 6.35. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
 COTCCZUS EEYTHROPHTHALMUS (Wilson). (388.) 
 
 BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. 
 
 This species is, and has ever been a more regular summer 
 resident than the Yellow- billed Cuckoo, reaching us about the 
 25th of April, often a little earlier or a little later. In common 
 with the other species of cuckoo, the male precedes the female 
 
222 NOTES ON THE 
 
 about a week or ten days, and they mate very soon after her 
 arrival. Its habits differ from the other mostly in its prefer- 
 ence for open places, and cultivated fields, while that is more 
 reclusive, occupying the forests mainly. 
 
 The nest of this species is quite uniformly located in a bush 
 or small tree, and is constructed of roots, twigs, leaves, cat- 
 kins and moss.* They lay four eggs, also greenish-blue, but 
 of considerable darker shade than those of the Yellow-billed 
 Cuckoo. 
 
 The notes sent me by correspondents nearly all testify to 
 the presence of this bird during the season of incubation. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found it still in the Red river valley about 
 the first of September. It generally remains until from the 
 15th to the 20th of that month, and disappears as silently as it 
 came. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef reports it at Lanesboro on the 25th of May, when 
 of course it was presumptively breeding. Professor Herrick 
 made a note of this species in his collections for the museum 
 of the State University in 1875. Indeed it is a common species 
 of its genus. 
 
 It prefers the vicinity of damp, shaded places, in the borders 
 of wooded tracts, more commonly, but is often found in the 
 fields and gardens, or on grass patches, surrounded by 
 thickets. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill entirely black; upper parts generally of a metallic green- 
 ish-olive, ashy towards the base of the bill; beneath pure white, 
 with a brownish- yellow tinge on the throat; inner webs of the 
 quills tinged with cinnamon; under surface of all the tail 
 feathers hoary ash-gray; all beneath the central on either side, 
 suffused with darker, to the short, bluish- white, and not well 
 defined tip; a naked red skin around the eye; iris hazel. 
 
 Length, 12; wing, 5; tail, 6.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 *3everal instauces have now been reported to me, and I have observed one person- 
 ally, where the nest was placed on the trunk ol a decaying log, and the one I found 
 consisted only of dry sticks and catkins of the maple, while those reported embraced 
 roots, twigs and grass In their structure. In another instance I saw a Black-billed 
 Cuckoo sitting in the middle of an pbsolete cow path in the woods, and as It did not 
 fly at sight of me, I approached it cautiously, thinking perhaps it was wounded, and I 
 could not ha^e been more than ten feet from it when it threw out one wing and the 
 corresponding leg, and fluttered along just out of my reach until thirty feet away 
 before it disappeared in the thicket, but I had not been deceived, for two character- 
 istic eggs had been left completely exposed on the spot she left. All indications of a 
 nest were absent, and the eggs were fresh, as their blowing afterwards proved. 
 
 I looked carefully for the remains of a nest possibly destroyed by an enemy, but I 
 could find none, nor was I successful in finding a mate near. 
 
 This was on the Uth of May, 1877. It was remarkable, and quite Inexplicable to me. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 223 
 
 Family ALCEDINID^. 
 
 CERYLE ALCYON (L.). (390.) 
 BELTED KINGFISHER. 
 
 This quaint fisherman is an early migrant, reaching Minne- 
 sota about tlie first of April. In some springs it has come on 
 the 5th of March, (1883), then the 26th, once on the 29th, then 
 on the 15th of April, &c. Its autumnal disappearance is quite 
 as irregular; in one season going as late as Nov. 3d, in another, 
 Dec. 5th, and so on, but usually going about the last of October. 
 
 They mate soon after their arrival, and are soon engaged in 
 excavating a hole in the bank of a stream or lake, to the depth 
 of about six feet, where they often make a square angle, and 
 carry it a foot or two farther. There they enlarge it somewhat, 
 and build in the extremity a nest composed of grasses, leaves 
 and feathers. 
 
 This hole and nest is also used as a resting place at night, 
 after the young are matured. It is a little remarkable that a 
 fajmily reared so associated together, can become completely 
 disorganized as soon as the young are fully developed, yet it is 
 a patent fact that by the first of September, all relations are 
 dissolved, and each individual henceforth fishes alone. 
 
 Nowhere that my investigations have been extended, has 
 this curious crank of the bird kingdom, been found absent from 
 his chosen haunts at the season of his summer visitations. 
 
 In the proper place I should have said that they lay six pure 
 white, nearly spherical eggs, which require sixteen days for 
 incubation. 
 
 Their clamatorial rattle, is too familiar to everybody to re- 
 quire notice. Like many another good fisherman, "poor 
 Alcie" is often compelled to retire on a light supply of fish 
 diet, but it does not take him as long to dry out and get warm 
 as it does the others. If the small fry are running lively, his 
 stone-like drop from an overhanging limb, is a pretty certain 
 antecedent to a rise with a minnow, crosswise in his bill; but 
 when he is compelled to wait fifteen, twenty and thirty minutes 
 for a single one to put in an appearance, he is not very certain 
 of his game. I have seen them strike half a dozen times before 
 securing one. His history would need a volume to half tell it. 
 
224 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head with a long crest; above blue, without metallic lustre: 
 beneath with a concealed band across the occiput, and a spot 
 anterior to the eye, pure white; a band across the breast, and 
 the sides of the body under the wings, like the back; primaries 
 white on the basal half, the terminal unspotted; tail with trans- 
 verse bands and spots of white. 
 
 Young with the sides of the body, and a transverse band across 
 the belly below the pectoral one. light chestnut; the pectoral 
 band more or less tinged with the same. 
 
 Length, 12.75; wing, 6; tail short. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
Older PICI. 
 
 Family PICID^. 
 
 DRYOBATES TILLOSIS (L). (393.) 
 HAIRY WOODPECKER. 
 
 The Hairy Woodpecker must be accepted as a permanent 
 resident with the qualification that he numerously visits more 
 northern sections in summer. Enough remain to retain per- 
 manent proprietorship for the family, however. Nesting 
 holes are excavated in old, partially decayed trees, at difEerent 
 elevations as availability may determine, and some half a yard 
 in depth, in the bottom of which are deposited four or five 
 clear white, smooth, thin- shelled eggs, with somewhat of a 
 roseate tint. No soft materials underly them except fine chips 
 of rotten wood perhaps. 
 
 The nidification of this species is said to be more observable 
 in the northern counties, but certainly it is by no means com- 
 mon through the southern, or middle counties. Its winter dis- 
 tribution is restricted to the dense forests, notably the pine 
 districts. 
 
 In the latter days of February usually, individuals of this 
 species, often accompanied by a pair of the Downy Woodpeck- 
 ers make their appearance about our outhouses and shrubbery, 
 but they pay only brief visits until somewhat later, when they 
 are seen more frequently, and remain longer when they come. 
 When the genial suns of May have made the world once more 
 all beautiful, they disappear for nidification. Then they must 
 be sought for in the forest principally, although occasionally a 
 pair by some means, ignores specific conventionalities, and 
 builds in the end of a fence rail not a hundred yards from a 
 dwelling, or in a hole in a fruit tree not half that distance 
 away. They have been known to breed on the campus of the 
 State University as early as the 3d of May, but that is nearly 
 two weeks earlier than some enter upon nest building. 
 
226 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Reports of their presence, come from every portion of the 
 wooded sections of the State heard from, which I have not per- 
 sonally visited. Dr. Hvoslef at Lanesboro, Prof. Herrick at 
 Lake Shetak, Rev. Mr. Laurie at Duluth, Mr, Washburn at 
 Mille Lacs, and in Otter Tail County, where he says; "Exceed- 
 ingly common, and permanent residents. '" He further states 
 that he "found it at Georgetowr, Ada, and at St. Vincent." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wilsons' specific description of this common species is the 
 only one I have ever seen, and I but follow an almost uniform 
 example in giving it as follows: — "The Hairy Woodpecker is 
 nine inches long, and fifteen in extent; crown black; line over 
 and under the eye white; the eye is placed in a black line that 
 widens as it descends to the back; hind head scarlet, some- 
 times intermixed with black; nostrils hid under remarkably 
 thick, bushy, recumbent hairs, or bristles; under the bill are 
 certain long hairs thrown forward and upward; bill bluish 
 horn color, grooved, wedged at the end, straight and about 
 an inch and a quarter long; touches of black proceeding from 
 the lower mandible, end in a broad black, stripe that joins the 
 black on the shoulder; back black, divided by a broad, lateral 
 stripe of white, the feathers composing which, are loose and 
 unwebbed, resembling hairs, whence its. name; rump and 
 shoulders black; wings black tipped and spotted with white, 
 three rows of spots being visible on the secondaries, and five 
 on the primaries; greater wing coverts also spotted with white; 
 tail as in the others, cuneiform, consisting of ten strong shaf- 
 ted and pointed feathers, the four middle ones black, the next 
 partially white, the two exterior ones white, tinged at the tip 
 with a brownish, burnt color; tail coverts black; whole lower 
 side pure white; legs, feet and claws, light blue, the latter 
 remarkably large and strong; inside of mouth, flesh colored; 
 tongue pointed, beset with barbs and capable of being pro- 
 truded more than an inch and a half; the oshyodes in this 
 species, passes on each side of the neck, ascends the skull, 
 passes down toward the nostril, and is wound round the bone 
 of the right eye, which projects considerably more than the 
 left, for its accomodation. The great mass of hairs that cover 
 the nostril, appears to be designed as a pi-ojection to the front 
 of the head, when the bird is engaged in digging holes into 
 the wood." 
 
 This species, in common with two or three others of the fam- 
 ily, is popularly credited with sucking the sap of fruit and 
 ornamental trees, which, however, has been abundantly dis- 
 proved, but not until the name sapsucker became a common 
 appellation. If there had been any just ground for the ungra- 
 cious charge, it should not fall upon this Species, on account of 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 227 
 
 its unsocial habits, which mostly isolate it from the habitations 
 of man, but upon its near relative, the Downy Woodpecker, 
 which clings to the vicinity of our dwellings when they are 
 surrounded with shrubbery and trees. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head, back of neck, sides of back, wings, and central tail- 
 feathers black; stripe above and below the eye, the lower ex- 
 tending up the side of the neck; stripe down the middle of back, 
 side-feathers of tail, under parts and round spots in rows across 
 the wings, white; the male having two bright red spots in the 
 white stripes on the back of the head. 
 
 Length, 9; wings, 5; tail, 3.50; bill, 1.12; foot, 1.65. 
 
 Habitat. Middle portion of eastern portion of United States, 
 from the Atlantic to the Great Plains. 
 
 DRTOBATES PUBESCENS (L.). (394.) 
 DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
 
 This seems to be but a small edition of the other Dryobates 
 until we study his habits and characteristics somewhat atten- 
 tively, when we find he is a better carpenter, cutting his hole 
 into harder wood, leaving the entrance much more artistically 
 finished, and in giving the first few inches of its descent into 
 the tree, an inclination before it takes a perpendicular course 
 for the remaining foot. The excavation is made abundantly 
 capacious for the nest, and left as smoothly surfaced as if a 
 carpenter of a higher genus had performed the work. And 
 instead of dumping the chips at the entrance, he distributes 
 them at sufiicient distance from the tree to prevent any signs 
 of house building for enemies to avail themselves of. In addi- 
 tion to these distinguishing traits, these birds are content to 
 remain about the districts of their habitual dwelling places for 
 nidification, and rearing their young. It is almost unparalleled 
 amongst its own family for its strength, energy, diligence, per- 
 severance, and absence of fear. The earliest I have succeeded 
 in securing eggs has been about the 25th of May, but I believe 
 it occasionally deposits them earlier. Late in fall, in winter, 
 and in early spring, this species is much associated with the 
 Titmice and Nuthatches in their rambles for food, both of 
 which it usually leads in the hunt. In severe winter weather 
 the whole group keep to the evergreen swamps very closely 
 until it relaxes, when they make up time in the deciduous for- 
 ests. On the whole, it is not quite as numerous as its near rela- 
 tive, but far more social. 
 
228 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Mr. Washburn found that species "exceedingly common, 
 both in Otter Tail and Mille Lacs," while this "was not very- 
 common." Lumbermen in the uninhabited pineries become 
 greatly attached to this woodpecker on account of its habit of 
 following them in their work. Considerable numbers of them, 
 associated with Nuthatches and Titmice, visit their camps al- 
 most daily. They are occasionally seen in the most central 
 part of the city in March on sunny days. They were reported 
 fairly common at Lanesboro in the severest part of the winter. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above black, with a white band down the back; two white 
 stripes on the side of the head; the lower of opposite sides 
 always separated, the upper sometimes confluent on the nape; 
 two stripes of black on the side of the head, the lower one not 
 running into the forehead; beneath white; wing much spotted 
 with white; the larger coverts with two series each; tertiaries 
 or inner secondaries, all banded with white; two outer tail 
 feathers white, with two bands of black at the end, third, 
 white at the tip and externally. Male with red terminating 
 the white-feathers on the nape; legs and feet bluish- green; 
 claws light-blue, tipped with black; iris dark hazel. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wings, 3.75. 
 
 Habitat, northern and eastern North America. 
 
 PICOIDES ARCTIOUS (Swainson). (400.) 
 AKCTie THEEE-TOED WOODPECKER. 
 
 This is not a common Woodpecker in any part of the State, 
 but more nearly so in the Lake Superior, and northern pinery 
 regions than the middle and southern districts. An occasional 
 individual migrating somewhat southerly in winter, gets into 
 the hands of collectors as far south as Minneapolis, as they 
 are to be seen in the collections of the taxidermists in both St. 
 Paul and Minneapolis, and have been ever since I have resided 
 here. The only specimens which I have obtained have been 
 one sent from Duluth*, and another from the pineries, some- 
 what east of Mille Lacs. They were both adult males. It has 
 been said that this species exhibits a preference for swamps, 
 
 * Prof. W. W. Oook wrote me that lie shot a female of this species May 23, 1881, near 
 Detroit, in Beclcer county, which contained large, well developed ova. It was in a 
 clump of dead pines that were full of holes. 
 
 Mr. Washburn secured a specimen at Mille Lacs. I hear that the eggs of this bird 
 have been obtained recently in Mille Lacs, but have not seen them. Parties living in 
 the vicinity of Princeton seem to think it not a very rare bird In the sandy, pine 
 region, near that place, and that Its habits in no way distinguish it from any other 
 Woodpeckers. The markings however do, so that there is little reason to doubt Its 
 identy upon their description, 1 think. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 229 
 
 but upon what authority I am unable to say. It is a well 
 known characteristic of all the Woodpeckers remaining over 
 winter, to resort to the thickets in the denser forests during the 
 rigorous periods of winter, where they secure the most complete 
 protection. But this does not constitute a specific character- 
 istic habit. Many species in several different orders of birds 
 do so, showing that it is not even a generic trait. So far as I 
 have been able to learn, this bird affects dry and preferably 
 elevated portions of coniferous forests. When collecting birds 
 at Lake Tahoe, in the Sierra Nevada mountains, in April and 
 May, 1870, at an elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, this woodpecker 
 was rather a common species. Again, in the Cascade moun- 
 tains, east of Portland, I met with it no less frequently last 
 May. I have never heard its note, and know nothing of its 
 special breeding habits. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above entirely uniform glossy bluish-black; a square patch 
 on the middle of the crown, saffron yellow and a few spots on 
 the outer edges of both webs of the primary and secondary 
 quills; beneath white on the sides of the breast, longitudinally 
 striped, [and on the sides of the belly and on the flanks and 
 tibial region, banded transversely with black; a narrow con- 
 cealed white line from the eye a short distance backward, and 
 a white stripe from the extreme forehead (meeting anteriorly) 
 under the eye, and down the sides of the neck; bristly feathers 
 of the base of the bill brown; exposed portion of the two outer 
 tail feathers (first and second) white; bill bluish black, and 
 the lower mandible grayish-blue; iris bluish-black. 
 
 Length, 9.50; wing, 5; tail 3.85. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America from the Arctic regions 
 south to the northern border of the United States; much fur- 
 ther south in the western parts, embracing Nevada and 
 California, along the mountain ranges. 
 
 PICOIDES AMERICANUS Brehm. (401.) 
 AMEEICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 
 
 I enter this species upon rumor, having never had the bird 
 in my own hands for indentification. I am credibly informed 
 that several specimens have been obtained on what is called 
 "the north shore," that is of Lake Superior, a portion of the 
 western extremity of which extends into Minnesota. 
 
 I presume that they have been reported, and have received 
 a place in the proceedings of some eastern scientific journal 
 which I have not seen, as they were obtained, I understand, 
 for the museum of some institution of learning there. But the 
 
230 NOTES ON THE 
 
 fact that they have been obtained at a lower latitude in Wis- 
 consin, adjoining us, and in Massachusetts, and that Richard- 
 son found them on that "north shore," I feel justified in this 
 instance to record the species upon rumor. I have not the 
 slightest doubt but what it belongs to our fauna, and that 
 future observers will find it not very rare. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Black above; the back with transverse bands of white to the 
 rump; a white line from behind the eye, widening on the nape, 
 and a broader one under the eye from the loral region, but 
 not extending on the forehead; occiput and sides of the head 
 uniform black; quills spotted on both webs with white; under 
 parts white; the sides banded transversely with black; top of 
 the head spotted with white; the crown of the male with a 
 yellow patch; bill bluish black; iris dark hazel. 
 
 Length, 8 to 9; wing, 4.45 to 4.50; tail, 3.35 to 3.50. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America, from the arctic regions 
 southward, in winter to the northern United States. 
 
 SPHTRAPICUS YABIUS (L.). (402.) 
 YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. 
 
 This woodpecker is fairly common throughout the wooded 
 districts, arriving from the first to the fifteenth of April. 
 Those familiar with the species recognize its presence at once 
 by its hammering or drumming of its strong bills on the larger 
 limbs and trunks of partially dead trees. It is said to be a 
 diversion of which they are peculiarly fond, and not as for- 
 merly supposed, the zealous effort of a hungry woodpecker to 
 get a morsel to eat. Their note is exceptionally loud, spirited 
 and distinct, but less voluble than some of the other species. 
 Their food consists of larvae buried underneath the outer bark 
 of trees and insects of the smaller species, to which some add 
 the sap of trees of various kinds. This latter habit may pos- 
 sibly be the case when they are more thirsty than hungry. A 
 number of other species have been charged with destroying 
 valuable trees by tapping them too extensively for food. The 
 question has not yet been definitely settled and possibly may 
 not be for a good while. My own observations have inclined 
 me away from the sap-food theory. 
 
 They mate about the first of May and by the twentieth the 
 nest has been excavated in the trunk of a large tree, perfectly 
 sound or partially decayed, and from forty to sixty feet from 
 the ground in many cases, but occasionally much lower. As a 
 
I BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 231 
 
 general thing it is located qn the southerly side and directly 
 underneath a large limb, but not invariably so. Still I have 
 never yet met with an instance of its being on the north side 
 of the tree. 
 
 They seem to manifest no choice between the borders, or the 
 interior of the forests, only that the tree chosen more com- 
 monly is one of considerable size. Both sexes participate in 
 the excavation of the nest, which in a green or a very dry tree, 
 is sometimes a tedious and prolonged undertaking. The work- 
 manship in such cases is highly artistic, looking more as if a 
 carpenter of a higher order and genus, with modern tools, had 
 performed it. They lay four pure-white eggs. When the young 
 come out, and have become considerably grown, they creep 
 out onto the outside of the tree and larger branches daily until 
 strong enough to fly, after which the whole family hunt to- 
 gether until about the 10th of October, when they move off 
 southward to winter. That they sometimes rear a second 
 brood in the same season seems almost certain, as I have found 
 young birds as late as the fifth of October, and Mr. M. W. Van- 
 denburg, of Fort Edward, N. Y. , who was visiting this city in 
 1870, reported a young bird of this species on the 17th of that 
 month. But this is certainly very exceptional. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found them one of the most common woodpeckers 
 of Becker and Cass counties, breeding in June. Mr. Washburn 
 reported them as common at Georgetown, about the first of 
 August. Dr. Hvoslef mentions them as at Lanesboro, but does 
 not speak of their relative frequency. Prof. Herrick found 
 them at Lake Shetak, and Mr. Treganowan at Big Stone. But 
 I was a little surprised that Mr. U. S. Grant, assistant of Prof. 
 Winchell on the geological survey, did not find them in either 
 St. Louis, Lake or Cook counties, in the northeastern portion 
 of the state. His observations embraced the month of August, 
 when if the species is represented there at all, they certainly 
 must have fallen under his notice, as they were then moving 
 about supposably in family groups of five or six, embracing 
 parents and young. 
 
 Becker and Cass counties are nearly as far north as those 
 where Mr. Grant made his valuable observations, so that the 
 question of mere latitude gives no explanation for their absence. 
 Besides, it is well known that "Sir John Richardson found it 
 common in the fur countries," (N. A. Birds, p. 540,) very much 
 further to the north, Kennicott makes no mention of them at 
 the Lake of the Woods, although it was as late, when he was 
 there, as the bird has been reported in the Saskatchewan. 
 
 16z 
 
232 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Fourth quill longest; third a little shorter; first considera- 
 bly shorter; general color above black, much variegated with 
 white; feathers of the back and rump brownish-white, spotted 
 with black; crown scarlet, bordered by black on the sides of the 
 head and nape; a streak from above the eye, and another from 
 the bristles of the bill, passing below the eye and into the yel 
 lowish of the belly, and a stripe along the edges of the wing 
 coverts, white; a triangular broad spot of scarlet on the chin, 
 bordered on each side by black stripes from the lower mandi- 
 ble, which meet behind and extend into a large quadrate spot 
 on the breast; rest of under parts yellowish-white, streaked on 
 the sides with black; inner web of inner tail-feather, white 
 spotted with black; outer feathers black, edged and spotted 
 with white. Female with the red of the throat replaced by 
 white. Iris dark hazel. 
 
 Length. 8.25; wing, 4.75; tail, 3.30. 
 
 Habitat, North America, north and east of the Great Plains. 
 
 CEOPHLOEUS PILEATDS (L.). (405.) 
 
 PILEATED WOODPECKER. 
 
 This is a magnificent bird as seen in his own haunts in the 
 forest. I shall not soon forget the occasion, nor the scene 
 which embraced the species as the central figure. It was a 
 stirring, crisp, October morning in the heavy forest belt lying 
 west of Minneapolis about twenty miles, where I was putting 
 in a day amongst the Ruffed Grouse which then literally 
 abounded there. My attention was at first arrested by a ham- 
 mering that resembled that of the Woodpeckers except in its 
 being so much louder. It was, however, so continuous that I 
 determined to ascertain its source. I had a dog with me that 
 was coursing unrestrained through the woods. He evidently 
 had preceded me in an endeavor to investigate the source of the 
 hammering, and at the moment of my decision, had flushed the 
 bird, which came directly to a tree not more than twenty yards 
 distant from where I was standing as still as a statue. It did 
 not discover me, but in an attitude of suspense, and listening 
 to the footfalls of the dog, which had now no idea of where it 
 was, it gave me an exhibition of itself which Audubon would 
 have gone to Halifax to see, in which it remained motionless, 
 long enough to have been ' 'taken with a slow plate, " and in 
 which I can never more forget him, notwithstanding having 
 seen him many times since then in almost every other attitude 
 possible to even a woodpecker. Presently the dog drew nearer, 
 and then he began to prance around the trunk of the majestic 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 233 
 
 maple on which he had perched, in such a manner as to keep 
 the tree between himself and the dog, which brought him suc- 
 cessively into, and out of view, as the dog circled about us on 
 the scent of grouse with his eyes and nose downward, in total 
 forgetfulness of the woodpecker, which the latter did not fail 
 to perceive. A finer study in natural history I never enjoyed, 
 nor hope to, and it cost me a momentary severe struggle to 
 draw trigger upon such a central figure in such a scene. 
 
 In those days of sporting and collecting combined, I enjoyed 
 repeated opportunities for hearing their hammerings, and their 
 sonorous notes, that were distinct a mile away, when there was 
 no undue disturbance by the wind. 
 
 I never climbed to the hole in which the eggs are deposited, 
 but I have utilized the climbing son of a farmer residing in the 
 forest west of Minnetonka, who explored several for me from 
 time to time. The hole is excavated out of the trunk of a dead, 
 and partially decayed tree, and is usually about half a yard in 
 depth, much larger at the bottom than at the entrance, and 
 contains no materials except the chips of the excavation to a 
 limited amount. Onto these are deposited the five to six, clear, 
 large white eggs, which are brought out by the alternate incu- 
 bation of the two birds. This nest is first entered about the 
 first to the tenth of April. 
 
 The food of the PUeated Woodpeckers does not materially 
 differ from that of other woodpeeckers. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Fourth and fifth quills equal and longest, third intermediate 
 between the sixth and seventh; bill blue black; general color of 
 body, wings and tail, dull greenish-black; a narrow white 
 streak from just above the eye to the occiput, a wider one from 
 the nostril feathers (inclusive) under the eye and along the side 
 of the head and neck; side of the breast, (concealed by the 
 wing), axillaries under wing coverts, and concealed bases of all 
 the quills, with chin, and beneath the head, white, tinged with 
 sulphur yellow; entire crown, from the base of the bill to a well 
 developed occipital crest, as also a patch on the ramus of the 
 lower jaw, scarlet-red; a few white crescents on the sides of 
 the body, and on the abdomen; iris very dark hazel. Female 
 without the red on the cheek, and the anterior half of that on 
 the top of the head, replaced by black. 
 
 Length, 18; wing, 9.50; tail, 7. 
 
 Habitat, formerly the whole wooded region of North America; 
 now rare in all and extirpated in many. 
 
234 NOTES ON THE 
 
 MELANERPES ERTTHROCEPaALUS (L.). (406.) 
 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 
 
 In the spring of 1869, I found these birds on the campus of 
 the State University as early as March 14th, and from that 
 time, an occasional one also in a, cluster of burr oaks, 
 {Q. illicifolia), on an elevated suburb of the city, until about 
 the first of May, after which they came in greater numbers, 
 and from the tenth to the fifteenth, constructed their nests. 
 They cannot be called a numerous species here, although fairly 
 represented in a good many sections. The date of their first 
 arrival varies exceedingly in different years. From 1858 to the 
 year before mentioned, no local records show them to have come 
 earlier than the twentieth of April, and there was one year 
 when none were seen until the twelfth of May, when they were 
 simultaneously observed at every point with Which I had cor- 
 respondence. This unusual delay was not produced by the 
 infelicity of the season, for it was not an exceptionally cold, or 
 a specially late one. The cause remains a mystery to me. 
 
 About the twelfth of May they commence to excavate a hole 
 in a tree, either in the neighborhood of dwellings or in the 
 woods, as the case may require, in which labor the sexes en- 
 gage with great industry and perseverance until the work is 
 done. The hole is about half a yard in depth, and is larger at 
 its extremity, from which to the entrance it is gradually tapered 
 to the smallest capacity practicable for the entrance of the birds. 
 It is without lining of any kind, except a few chips left by the 
 carpenter, and in due time receives five or six very beautiful, 
 clear white eggs. The surface of the eggs is remarkably 
 polished — a characteristic common to the family, I think. 
 The observation of young birds as late as the first of July gives 
 a reasonable presumption that they rear two broods, but this 
 may be from having been robbed of the first nest, or the ex- 
 treme delay of the vernal migration. 
 
 Their habits are so well known that it seems useless to 
 record them here. Like nearly all other members of the 
 family they are under the charge of destroying trees by suck- 
 ing their sap — the most imbecile slander which ever lived half 
 so long. Their mouth parts have not a single adaptation to 
 such a use as that of sucking, yet they may possibly eat the 
 inner bark, or alburnum, in botanical parlance. Still, I do not 
 believe they do even that, for the testimony of abundant ob- 
 servers worthy of our highest confidence is that the boring is 
 
BIRDS OP 'MINNESOTA. 235 
 
 only incidental, and unavoidable to their destruction of insects 
 which are the real destroyers of the trees, and whose work is 
 usually charged to the woodpeckers. They cannot equally be 
 defended against the charge of destroying fruit somejbimes, but 
 we can afford them a reasonable apology when we credit them 
 with the destruction of so many of its worst enemies. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck all around crimson red, margined by a narrow 
 crescent of black on the upper part of the breast; back, pri- 
 mary quills and tail bluish-black; under parts generally, a 
 broad band across the middle of the wing, and the rump, 
 white; iris hazel; bill and feet bluish-black. 
 
 Sexes alike. 
 
 Length, 9.75; wing, 5.50; (tail not given). 
 
 Habitat, United States, west to the Rocky mountains, strag- 
 glers reaching Salt Lake valley; rare, or local east of the 
 Hudson river. 
 
 COLAPTES AURATUS (L.). (412.) 
 FLICKER. 
 
 At once the most abundant, and extensively distributed of 
 all of the woodpeckers which visit Minnesota. It reaches us 
 early in April, and remains until late in October, individuals 
 lingering not altogether infrequently into November. The 
 dates through- a series of annual records give March 28th 
 April 1st, 5th, 8th, 10th, &c. 
 
 I have heard rumors of individuals of this species having 
 been seen at different times in the winter, but not sufficiently 
 authenticated for unqualified acceptance. As I have known to 
 be the case with several other even less hardy species, it is 
 possible that a wound might have disabled the bird temporarily 
 for its migratorial flight, and when able to endure it, find the 
 winter upon it so fully as to intimidate it for the effort. It 
 certainly is no place for such after the holidays. The places 
 chosen for the nest may be on the whole a little more elevated, 
 but otherwise their habits in no way differ from the others of 
 its family. 
 
 The nests are constructed, and the full five to six pure white 
 translucent eggs deposited by the 1st to the 10th of May. 
 
 None other bird of its entire order is so welcome, coming 
 back among the earliest after the severe, prolonged, irksome 
 winter has finally gone, with its cheery hurrah, the nearest 
 expression to which I can formulate being in hurric-ah, hur- 
 
236 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ric-ah, hurric ah, repeated all the way from two or three, to 
 seven or eight times in rather deliberate succession. But their 
 common habits are too well known to require, or justify an 
 attempt to describe them in a report which aims principally to 
 establish identity, and characteristic local habits, more especi- 
 ally of less familiar species. 
 
 Sometimes they levy a modest toll upon the shocks and 
 stacks of the farmer, and thus come under the shadow of his 
 anathemas, but their destruction of insects and worms is too 
 invaluable to bring them absolutely under his proscription. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Shafts, under surfaces of wings, and tail feathers, gamboge- 
 yellow; a black patch on each cheek; a red crescent on the 
 nape; throat, and stripe beneath the eye, pale lilac brown; 
 back glossed with olivaceous green; a crescentic patch on the 
 breast, and rounded spots on the belly, black; back and wing 
 coverts with interrupted transverse bands of black; neck above 
 and sides ashy; bill slender, depressed at base, compressed; 
 culmen much curved; pointed, but not truncate; nostrils basal, 
 medium, oval, exposed; feet large; tail long, exceeding the 
 secondaries, feathers acuminate. ' 
 
 Length, 12.50; wing, 6. 
 
 Habitat, northern and eastern North America, west to the 
 eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Occasional 
 on the Pacific slope from California northward. 
 
Order MACROCHIRES. 
 
 Family CAPEIMULaiD^. 
 ANTKOSTOMUS YOCIFEBUS (Wilson). (417.) 
 
 WHIP-POOR-WILL. 
 
 This weird night-bird, so familiar and so dear to all who 
 have listened to its song in childhood, reaches southern Minne- 
 sota generally about the first of May, and the latitude of Min- 
 neapolis about five days later. It seems to be rather local in 
 its distribution, >choosing high, dry land forests, bordering 
 lakes, streams, low lands and swamps, where its peculiar 
 forms of insect food presumably most abounds, which consists 
 largely of nocturnal moths and mosquitoes. Characteristic as 
 is its song, giving the bird its vernacular name as it does, 
 when an attempt is made to formulate it in words ears hear it 
 differently, so that instead of the time honored whip-poor-will, 
 whip-poor-will, Langville hears chick-Jcoo-rhee. If quite near 
 the bird at the time of its vociferations we often hear a 
 preceding "chuck" that is not included in either form of word- 
 ing. About the tenth of May the two characteristic eggs are 
 layed on the ground without any signs of a nest except a 
 slight hollowing of the earth, usually near an old decaying log. 
 The ground color varies greatly in the depth of its shade, but is 
 rather of a creamy-white in most cases and marbled or mottled 
 with scratches and blotches of light brown and lavender. The 
 eggs are nearly elliptical, giving either end nearly the same 
 form. The Whip-poor-will leaves us as a general thing about 
 the 10th of September, sometimes (1873) as late as the 20th, or 
 even later. It was still present in the vicinity of Lanesboro, 
 Fillmore county, on the 8th of October, 1884, as reported by 
 Dr. Hvoslef. When a small boy I lived two years near a piece 
 of heavily timbered woodland through which ran a stream of 
 water. This bird, with many of other species, occupied those 
 
238 NOTES ON THE 
 
 woods during the entire summer. Almost uniformly, as soon 
 as it became dark, the Whip-poor-will came onto a log not 
 more than twenty yards from the rear of the house and poured 
 forth his song for an hour or two when he would disappear, or 
 rather hi^ notes would be discontinued until after midnight, 
 then they would again ring out clear and sonorously until the 
 day dawned. I frequently caught sight of him in the bright 
 moonlight nights and a few times in the twilight before he 
 began his half-sad, half -cheery melody. They are rarely seen 
 in the day time and then only by accident. At such times I 
 have uniformly found them sitting either upon the ground or 
 on an old log but slightly elevated above it. They are then 
 apparently very stupid andjwill allow one to approach quite 
 near them before flying, and when they do it is but a short 
 distance to where they will alight again. They are universally 
 distributed in timber and brush land over the State. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill remarkably small with tubular nostrils and the gape 
 with long, stiff bristles; wings long, somewhat rounded, 
 second quill longest, the primaries emarginated; tail rounded 
 plumage loose and soft. Bristles without lateral filaments 
 top of head ashy-brown, longitudinally streaked with black 
 terminal half of the tail feathers (except the four central) 
 dirty -white on both outer and inner webs; iris dark hazel. No 
 white on the tail of the female. 
 
 Length, 10; wing, 6.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the plains. 
 
 CH0RDEILE8 VIRGINIANUS (Gmelin). (420.) 
 NIGHTHAWK. 
 
 A very remarkable circumstance connected with this species 
 was its appearance in Fillmore county on April 5th, 1884, (Dr. 
 Hvoslef) and its disappearance again until May 12th. The 
 time of its arrival has varied considerably through all the years 
 of my personal observation of its habits here, but in no instance 
 have I retained a record of it before the 30th of April. As a 
 general thing, I have found them here first about the 10th of 
 May, and not unfrequently as late as the 20th. In the early 
 history of the city where I reside, great numbers of the night- 
 hawks could be seen at evening, or rather, beginning a little 
 before sunset, and extending quite into the twilight, evidently 
 feeding upon the abounding mosquitoes, which have become 
 almost extinct in the city of late years. On warm, cloudy days. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 239 
 
 a few of these peculiar birds may now be seen over the metrop- 
 olis, between the first of June and the 20th of August, when 
 they gather their young, now full plumaged, into flocks, and 
 move off so openly that the final flight is not difficult to recog- 
 nize. 
 
 Like its wonderful cousin, the Whip-poor-will, it builds no 
 nest, and seems to care little where the spot may be chosen to 
 deposit its two eggs, from an opening in the dense woods to 
 the corner of the cornfield or the back-pasture. The eggs are 
 dirty-white in color, and dotted all over with obsolete slate- 
 color and spots of lavender. The male divides the sacrifices of 
 incubation with the female. 
 In their search for food, which like the Swifts, is always on the 
 wing, they may be seen rising to immense altitudes, where they 
 course through the air in every direction, or descend to just 
 above the tops of the lof i3iest forest trees, where they skim 
 about, the very emblems of the grace of motion. During the 
 mating and incubating season, the male has a habit of zigzaging 
 his way upward to a considerable elevation, uttering a note 
 which sounds like the syllable scape, slightly drawn out, and 
 repeated about every three seconds, till he has attained his 
 elevation, when he suddenly closes his wings, opens his capa- 
 cious mouth, encircled with strong bristles, and head pointed 
 directly downward, he descends with the velocity of a falling 
 stone, to near the earth, producing a bellowing sound which 
 culminates with a short, bold turn upward, from which, and 
 his bat-like crepuscular habits, he obtains the inelegant cogno- 
 men, "Bull-bat," in the middle and southern states. Of gen- 
 eral distribution throughout the state, they are quite restricted 
 to localities, presumably determined by the kinds and quantities 
 of their food. 
 
 Reports from local observers establish their fairly common 
 numbers in the Red river valley and the Mille Lacs regions, 
 according to F. L. Washburn's Report. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.. 
 
 Above, greenish black, with but little mottling on the head 
 and back; wing coverts varied with grayish; scapulars with 
 yellowish -rufous; a nuchal band of fine gray mottling, behind 
 which is another coarser one of rufous spots; a white V-shaped 
 mark on the throat; behind this a collar of pale rufous blotches, 
 and another on the breast of grayish mottling; under parts 
 banded transversely with dull yellowish, or reddish-white and 
 brown; wing quills quite uniformly brown; the five outer pri- 
 
240 NOTES ON THE 
 
 maries with a white blotch midway between the tip and carpal 
 joint, not extending on the outer web of thfe outer quill; a ter- 
 minal white patch. Female without the caudal white patch, 
 and the throat mixed with reddish. 
 
 Length, 9.50; Wing, 8.20. 
 
 Habitat, northern and eastern North America. 
 
 Family MICROPOJ^ID^. 
 
 CHJITLRA PELAOICA (L.). (423). 
 CHIMNEY SWIFT. 
 
 The Chimney Swallow has long been as well represented by 
 numbers as any other species relatively. They arrive from 
 the 15th to the 20th of April, at first in rather limited numbers, 
 as they are only the males, and at once select their gregarious 
 quarters for perching and building their nests. The rapidity 
 of their flight is such that there seems to be but a few hours 
 difference in their appearance in all the localities systematic- 
 ally reported. They pair at once after the arrival of the 
 females, and immediately commence building their very remark- 
 able nests. 
 
 For several years in succession, a moderately large chimney 
 in my own house was chosen by them for one district of the 
 city, where they congregated in such numbers as only the 
 appropriation of the whole length of a 55 foot chimney could 
 have served. Becoming too numerous for their quarters the 
 following year they selected a much larger one, devoted to 
 ventilation, in a house heated by hot air, and never used for 
 smoke, that was only a block distant. The second season it 
 was occupied, the attention of great numbers of persons was 
 called to their place of nightly rendezvous, and I undertook to 
 register the number of arrivals at the mouth of the chimney 
 from sunset until darkness made it no longer possible. To 
 approximate the actual number which spent the night there, 
 I had to keep a tally of all individuals which left the chimney, 
 and deduct the number from those that entered. According to 
 that computation, not less than 450 swallows, and unquestionably 
 over 500, spent their nights there. It being late in August, 
 it is supposable that the entire brood of the season might have 
 been matured enough to have been included. But they are 
 not sufficient for all of their hordes to be dependant upon 
 chimnies, as near my summer residence on Lake Minnetonka* 
 I found a like number quartered in a large hollow tree, in the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 241 
 
 deep, dark forest which borders that beautiful lake. I appre- 
 hend that esthetics have much less to do with the question 
 where the chimney swallows stay, than does the quality and 
 quantity of their insect supply for consumption. The nest is 
 a prodigy of strength and construction against the elements. 
 It consists of bits of roots and dry twigs, efEectually cemented 
 together with an animal secretion of the salivary glands of the 
 bird, and is glued with the same onto the side of the bricks. 
 The eggs, four to five in number, are the purest of white. The 
 departure of the species varies from September 1st to the 25th; 
 the last record in 1886 was October 5th, which was unpre- 
 cedented in their local history. They are reported from every 
 part of the State as abundantly represented. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail short, slightly rounded, the shafts stiffened and extended 
 some distance beyond the feathers in a rigid spine; first pri- 
 mary longest; legs covered by a naked skin, without any 
 scutellae or feathers; tarsus longer than middle toe; lateral 
 toes equal, nearly as long as middle; hind toe scarcely versa- 
 tile, or quite posterior, with the claw, less than the middle 
 anterior without it; toes slender, claws moderate; feathers of 
 the bill not extending beyond the beginning of the nostrils. 
 Of a sooty brown all over except on the throat, which becomes 
 considerably lighter from the breast to the bill; above with a 
 greenish tinge; the rump a little paler. 
 
 Length, 5.25; wing, 5.10; tail, 2.15. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern North America. 
 
 Family TROCHILID^. 
 
 TROCHILUS COLIJBRIS (L.). (428). 
 RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. 
 
 This is the only representative of the hummingbirds which 
 even straggles into the State so far as I am aware. It arrives 
 about the 20th of May, — somewhat earlier in an occasional 
 season, and semi-occasionally even five days later, and begins 
 at once to build its pigmy but beautiful nest, which, however, 
 is not made completely ready for occupation until the first 
 week in June. It is a marvel of bird architecture, consisting of 
 vegetable down of different shades of color, mixed with fine 
 scales of buds to make it firm, and elegantly overlaid with 
 lichens, thus making it assimilate irregular growths of wood. 
 It is usually saddled into a projecting limb of a bush, or shrub, 
 
242 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the last one I met being on a rosebush at the border of the 
 main walk from the street into a neighbor's house. For the 
 exposed situation, it was a little exceptional, but it contained 
 two very tiny, translucent, pure-white eggs, the patent number 
 for the species. Its habits are too well known, and character- 
 istic, to require consideration, except to say that the species 
 has evidently greatly increased in numbers since I first came 
 to the country. 
 
 I have found it almost universally distributed, but much more 
 numerous about the fields, gardens and dwellings, than in the 
 wilder sections of the State. Individuals of the species linger 
 occasionally far into October, as in one or two instances, they 
 have made their appearance in April, and then disappeared 
 again until the usual time for their arrival. The latest depar- 
 ture recorded by any correspondent was Sept. 22, 1884, by Dr. 
 Hvoslef at Lanesboro. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail deeply forked, the feathers all narrow lanceolate acute; 
 uniform metallic green above; a ruby-red gorget with no con- 
 spicuous ruff; a white collar on the throat; sides of body green- 
 ish. 
 
 Length, 3.25; wing, 1.60; tail, 1.25; bill, 0.65. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the plains. 
 
Order PASSERES. 
 
 Family TYBANKID^. 
 
 TTRANNUS TTRANNUS (L.). (444.) 
 KINGBIRD. 
 
 Everywhere one may go in this State he is sure of seeing the 
 kingbird, as he is abundantly represented in all sections from 
 about the first of May until the tenth of September. A few 
 occasionally linger a little later. The males arrive in spring 
 some ten days before the females, in parties of five or six. The 
 females come more numerously but more slyly. No time is to 
 be lost after they arrive in this latitude, so that unions for the 
 summer are hastily made, and the selection of a place where 
 to build the nest at once commenced upon. This decided, 
 which takes considerable time occasionally, the nest is soon 
 made, both working at it constantly until completed. It is var- 
 iously placed upon the wild plum trees, the corner of the log 
 stable, in an alder, on a stump. It consists of twigs, roots, 
 coarse grasses, mosses and weeds, and is lined with fine roots, 
 grasses and horse hair. About the 28th of May the eggs are 
 laid, and when the young birds open their five little mouths 
 the parents have lively work to keep them supplied until able 
 to secure food for themselves. The ground color of the eggs 
 is a delicate creamy white, with irregular spots of various 
 shades of brown and lavender. 
 
 The kingbird is a typical fly-catcher, seizing his food when 
 on the wing, which of course consists mostly of insects in 
 flight. 
 
 It has been remarked of this species, as of all the true fly- 
 catchers, that it seems to have been their special mission to 
 sieze only those insects which are in passage from one tree or 
 shrub to another, while the task of taking those which are con- 
 cealed in hidden places like the bark and foliage, is assigned 
 
244 NOTES ON THE 
 
 to the woodpeckers, warblers, &c. In capturing an insect, the 
 kingbird dashes from his perch directly toward his game, till 
 near it, when he hovers a moment before he takes it as if to 
 decide whether it is the one he is looking for, but he generally 
 decides very promptly that it is, and returns directly to his 
 former perch, unless, as is often the case, his winged morsel 
 has led him in a brief chase some distance from the former, 
 when he will occupy another perch. His courage in attacking 
 other birds, from a robin or a jay, to a crow, hawk or eagle, is 
 without a peer among the birds of the country. The enemy 
 seen, he "stays not on his going," but bends every muscle to 
 the flight. When near his foe, he rises above him, and pounces 
 down upon his devoted head, as if expecting to annihilate him. 
 How much suffering he may be able to inflict, is a question, but 
 certain it is his enemy acts as if he shared his brave aggressor's 
 expectations, and turns and dives and dodges in all directions, 
 until perhaps a mile away, the pugnacious little fellow leaves 
 him with this practical hint that he need not come that way 
 again, at least while the breeding season lasts that year. 
 
 He is the best of friends to the farmer and gardener, destroy- 
 ing countless numbers of insects especially prejudicial to those 
 industries. His habit of taking the honey bees that come in 
 his way, which has made him enemies among the bee-culturists, 
 will need no special apology in Minnesota until honey has be- 
 come a larger interest, and then the thinking will have con- 
 ceded his value too well to make it necessary. 
 
 The kingbirds, already in their restricted families, gather 
 into loose communities in the latter part of the summer, and 
 mostly leave immediately after the frost appears, which 
 diminishes their food supply to such an extent as to justify 
 their departure to warmer climes in Mexico and Central 
 America. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Two, sometimes three outer primaries abruptly attenuated 
 at the end; second quill longest; third little shorter; first 
 rather longer than fourth, or nearly equal. Tail slightly 
 rounded; above dark bluish-ash; the top and sides of the head 
 to beneath the eyes bluish -black; a concealed crest on the 
 crown, Vermillion in the centre, white behind and before, par- 
 tially mixed with orange; lower parts pure white, tinged with 
 pale bluish-ash on the sides of the throat and across the 
 breast; sides of the breast and under the wings similar to but 
 rather lighter than the back; axillaries pale grayish brown 
 tipped with lighter; the wings dark brown, darkest towards 
 
, BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 245 
 
 the ends of the quills; the greater coverts and quills edged 
 with white, most so on the tertials; the lesser coverts edged 
 with paler; upper tail coverts and upper surface of the tail 
 glossy black, the latter very dark brown beneath; all the 
 feathers tipped and the exterior margined externally with 
 white, forming a conspicuous terminable band about twenty- 
 five hundredths of an inch broad. 
 
 Length. 8.50; wing, 4.65; tail, 3.70; tarsus, 0.75. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America from the British provinces 
 south to Central and South America; rare west of the Rocky 
 mountains. 
 
 MYI4RCHUS CRINITUS (L.). (452). 
 
 CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 
 
 The Great Crested Flycatcher is a regular summer resident, 
 arriving about the 10th of May. Although less abundant than 
 the Kingbird it is very widely distributed where there is tim- 
 ber. I hear of their presence in nearly every section of the 
 timbered regions which I have not been able to personally 
 visit, and I have visited none where I could spend a day or 
 two that I did not find him, and always under much the same 
 circumstances. 
 
 The perching places, which have uniformly been in the near 
 proximity to the nest, have been along the borders of rather 
 tall timber adjoining a clearing more or less removed from 
 thoroughfares and in the vicinity of lakes or streams. 
 
 The nests are almost uniformly in a hollow trunk or limb of 
 a tall tree, about sixty feet from the ground. For some reason 
 they seem to prefer the elm, but occasionally another species 
 is selected. During the period of incubation, indeed I may say 
 during the remainder of their local history, their habits have 
 little to make them differ from the Kingbird. Their food is 
 essentially the same and they retire in small parties about the 
 first to the tenth of September. They show the same charac- 
 teristic fighting qualities of the smaller cousin, but they do 
 not seem to work quite as hard to get a set-to as he does. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found them as far north as Red lake and Mr. 
 Washburn secured specimens at Thief river near Otter Tail 
 lake. But they are perhaps a little more fully represented in 
 the timbered sections bordering the streams and lakes of the 
 southern counties of the State. 
 
246 NOTBS ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head with a depressed crest; third quill longest, second and 
 fourth little shorter; first a little longer than seventh, much 
 ' shorter than sixth; tail decidedly rounded, or even graduated, 
 the lateral feather about one-fourth of an inch shorter; upper 
 parts dull greenish-olive, with the feathers of the crown, and 
 to some extent of the bapk, showing their brown centres; upper 
 tail coverts turning to pale, rusty- brown; small feathers at the 
 base of the bill, ceres, sid,es of the head as high as the upper 
 eyelid, sides of the neck, throat, and forepart of the breast', 
 bluish ashy; the rest of the lower parts, including axillaries 
 and lower wing coverts, bright sulphur-yellow; a pale ring 
 around the eye; sides of the breast and body tinged with oliva- 
 ceous; the wings brown, the first and second rows of coverts, 
 with the secondary and tertial quills margined externally with 
 dull-white, or on the latter slightly tinged with olivaceous yel- 
 low; primaries margined externally for more than half their 
 length from the base with ferruginous, great portion of the 
 inner webs of all the quills very pale ferruginous; the two mid- 
 dle tail feathers light brown, shafts paler; the rest have the 
 outer web and -a narrow line on the inner sides of the shaft 
 brown, pale -olivaceous on the outer edge, the remainder ferru- 
 ginous to the very tip; outer web of exterior feather dull 
 brownish-yellow; feet black; bill dark brown above and at the 
 tip below, paler towards the base. The female appears to have 
 no brown on the inner webs of the quills along the shaft, or 
 else it is confined chiefly to the outer feathers. 
 
 Length, 8.75; wing, 4.25; tail, 4.10; tarsus, 0.85 of an inch. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and Canada, west to the 
 Plains, south through eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. 
 
 Note. — Since writing the foregoing I have had opportunity 
 to observe this species more extensively, and I find them more 
 uniformly distributed than I then anticipated. I have obtained 
 the uniquely marked eggs within a mile of my residence. Their 
 ground color is buff, of a rather exceptionally rich tone, over 
 which is finely spattered light- brown very uniformly, embracing 
 both extremities. Over this again are scattered more sparsely 
 coarser dottings of a darker shade of brown, quite thickly 
 near the larger end, and at the smaller; after which over all, 
 are longitudinal scratches, the finer of which are i^egularly 
 parallel, and heaviest from the bulge of the egg backward, but 
 not quite to the end. The scratching varies in intensity and in 
 the degree of regularity in different specimens. The nest is 
 composed of coarse grass, weeds, twigs, roots, and is lined with 
 finer grasses and a few horse hairs. The eggs are laid the 
 first week in June, generally, and occasionally a little earlier. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 247 
 
 SAYORNIS PHCEBE (Latham). (456.) 
 
 PHCEBE. 
 
 This plain but very much esteemed bird reaches us about the 
 first to the tenth of April. Dr. Hvoslef reports its arrival at 
 Lanesboro on the 24th of March, and at different points in 
 southern Minnesota it is recognized about the same date. It is 
 as widely a distributed species as we have, and remains as long 
 as its food supply holds out, which is generally about the 15th 
 of October. Few birds are more thoroughly welcomed not- 
 withstanding its lack of attractive feathers. Its disposition to 
 cling to the approximate vicinities of our habitations, together 
 with its plaintive notes, "phebe-phebee," in a subdued tone, some- 
 what drawn out at times, and again shortened into "peweet, 
 peweet," rapidly repeated in a more joyous manner. 
 
 The females are some ten days or more behind the males in 
 arriving, and the courtship is quite delayed, and undemonstra- 
 tive. But they arrange family matters in some way so as to 
 have the nest built about the first of May or a little before, 
 when the season favors. Bridges are not as numerous in Min- 
 nesota as in Massachusetts, neither does our population in the 
 rural districts disturb the bird by the numbers as much as 
 there, yet true to its record in that country, it finds the bridge 
 if there is one, but in its absence it accepts a great variety of 
 places in which to build, notably the window caps under the 
 porches of our summer cottages at the lakes, or in the open 
 stables, or in a nook in the boat-house. Five eggs is usually 
 the complement in a nest constructed of grasses, roots, moss 
 and hairs, cemented together and onto the substance it is built 
 upon, with bits of mud, It is lined with fine grasses, wool and 
 feathers. The eggs are white with a creamy tint, Some eggs 
 are thinly spotted over the larger end with reddish-brown. 
 
 Cottagers at Lake Minnetonka, or any other of our suburban 
 lakes, become greatly attached to this humble representative 
 of th« birds that spend the summer in the groves and forest 
 bordering them. The first of its kind to seek those lovely 
 retirements', anticipating their arrival by several weeks, they 
 seem to welcome their coming, and at once begin their prepara- 
 tion of their own comfortable tenements under the shelter of 
 the projecting roof of the porches. Apparently the same 
 pairs return, and repair the old nest from year to year. Many 
 a time have I sat within a few yards of a nest built on the 
 plate, under the roof of my Cosy Nook Cottage, overlook- 
 
 17z 
 
248 • NOTES ON THE 
 
 ing the most beautiful lake in the whole world, and listened 
 to the unostentatious pe-wee, pe-wee of the Phoebe Bird for an 
 hour at a time endeavoring to comprehend the lessons of its 
 sweet contentment with its lot however so humble it be 
 wherein consists all true human happiness. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Sides of breast and upper parts dull olive-brown, fading 
 slightly towards the tail; top and sides of head dark brown; 
 a few dull white feathers on the eyelids; lower parts dull yel- 
 lowish-white, mixed with brown on the chin, and in some indi- 
 viduals across the breast; quills brown, the outer primary, 
 secondaries, and tertials edged with dull white; in some 
 individuals the greater faintly edged with dull white; tail brown, 
 outer edge of lateral feather dull white, outer edges of rest like 
 the back; tibiae brown; bill and feet blacky bill slender, edges 
 nearly straight; tail rather broad and slightly forked, third 
 quill longest, second and fourth nearly equal, the first shorter 
 than the sixth. 
 
 Length, 7; wing, 3.42; tail, 3.30. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, from the British Provinces, 
 south to eastern Mexico and Cuba, wintering from the South 
 Atlantic and Gulf states southward. 
 
 CONTOPUS BOREALIS (Swainson). (459.) - 
 OLIVE- SIDED FLYCATCHER. 
 
 In the spring of 1874, my son, Dr. R. W. Hatch, obtained the 
 first specimen of this species in a grove of forest trees within 
 two or three miles of the city. I have since found them quite 
 numerous during the time of migration, but by no means so 
 afterwards. They reach here about the first of May generally. 
 I have once found them as early as April 26th, but in several 
 years it has been from one week to ten days later when I 
 caught my first glimpse of them, although in any case they 
 might have been here some time before I saw them, for their 
 habits make it nececsary that they should be carefully sought 
 in restricted localities. In the year following my son's discovery 
 of the species, I obtained the nest and egg in a dry larch swamp 
 near to where the bird had first been found, a spot since embraced 
 in the beautiful Lakewood cemetery, on the shores and over- 
 looking one of our peerless suburban lakes. The nest, very 
 characteristic of the fiycatchers, was constructed of much the 
 same materials as is employed in the structure of the king- 
 birds', and was placed on a horizontal limb of a medium sized 
 larch, at least a yard from the trunk and about fifteen feet 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 249 
 
 above the ground. It contained five creamy-white eggs, spotted 
 with two shades of reddish-brown, more pronounced about the 
 larger end, and averaging in measurements, .85 by .65 of an 
 inch. I omitted to say that the nest had but a very superficial ex- 
 cavation, leaving the form of the occupant very much as if 
 squatted on, and not in it. Owing to the breeding habits tak- 
 ing them to such deep shade, these denizens of the forest are 
 rarely seen by any but systematic observers who know some- 
 thing about them. I see no reason to doubt their uniform dis- 
 tribution over the timbered sections of the entire State, but it 
 is not a little remarkable that they have never been reported 
 to me from but one locality, and then by a little boy in the Big 
 Woods, who sent me the bird and insisted that he could get the 
 eggs for me, but he never did. 
 
 Their food in most respects, is like that of the other Fly- 
 catchers, consisting largely of larvae during the rearing of 
 the young birds. 
 
 They leave the country in the autumn from the first to the 
 tenth of September.' , 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wings long, much pointed; the second quill longest; the 
 first longer than the third; tail deeply forked; tarsi short; 
 the upper parts ashy-brown, showing darker brown centres of 
 the feathers; this is eminently the case on the top of the head; 
 the sides of the head and neck, of the breast and body, res- 
 embling the back, but with the edges of the feathers tinged 
 with gray, leaving a darker central streak; the chin, throat, 
 narrow line down the middle of the breast and body, abdomen, 
 and lower tail coverts, white, or sometimes with a faint tinge 
 of yellow; the lower tail coverts somewhat streaked with 
 brown in the center; on each side of the rump, generally con- 
 cealed by the wings is an elongated bunch of white silky 
 feathers; the wings and tail a very dark brown, the former 
 with the edges of the secondaries and tertials edged with dull 
 white; the lower wing coverts and axillaries grayish-brown; 
 the tips of the primaries and tail feathers rather paler; feet 
 and upper mandibles black, lower mandible brown; the young 
 of the year similar, but the color duller; the feet light-brown. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 4.33; tail, 8.30; tarsus, 0.6. 
 
 Habitat, North America, breeding from the northern and the 
 higher mountainous parts of the United States northward. In 
 winter, south to Central America and Columbia. 
 
250 NOTES ON THE 
 
 CONTOPUS VIRENS (L. ). (461. ) 
 WOOD PEWEE. 
 
 The Wood Pewee is a very common summer resident of all 
 the wooded districts of the State, reaching the southern por- 
 tions about the 10th of May, and a latitude of Minneapolis not 
 far from the twentieth. Mating and nest building have gener- 
 ally taken place by the fifth of June in this immediate locality, 
 
 In a series of nests which I have taken, extending through 
 many years, over nine-tenths have been found saddled upon an 
 old, moss grown and decayed limb as originally described by 
 Nuttall, the exception being in the forked twigs as mentioned 
 by Gentry in his correspondence with Coues and found in his 
 Birds of the Northwest, page 246. Of some 10 or 12 in my 
 possession there is not a single one that is not well described 
 by the former in the following words which I quote: "In a 
 nest which I have before me, which can be taken as a type, 
 the bulk of it is made up entirely of small stripes of liber 
 plucked from the trees and fence rails, tow and wool, arranged 
 in a circular manner, and pressed compactly together by the 
 body of the bird. One of the most prominent features of the 
 nest is its external coating of bluish-gray crustaceous lichens, 
 of the kind that are found upon the trunks of the trees, which 
 give it a very close resemblance to that of the humming bird, 
 which it nearly rivals in symmetry and beauty. " 
 
 It is almost uniformly placed on poplars in this locality, and 
 elevated about twenty feet from the ground. ' 
 
 It is lined with finer samples of the same material as enters 
 into the main structure. They usually have four eggs, of a 
 beautiful cream color, with blotches and spots of lilac and 
 brown around the larger end. I have never seen more than 
 one brood in a season. Its resemblance in all respects to the 
 Phoebe is a little remarkable. Notably it prefers the deep, 
 dark woods, but I have often found it quite near dwellings, in 
 clusters of poplars, as in a dooryard of a farmhouse near Min- 
 nehaha Falls, where I have observed it for upwards of twenty 
 years. The note differs from that of the Phoebe considerably, 
 being much more sad or plaintive. 
 
 Mr. Washburn, in his notes sent me from the Eed river 
 valley, says: "Extremely common in the woodland every- 
 where. One cannot walk a dozen rods in the timber without 
 seeing several pairs. An interesting chapter might be written 
 on the habits of this bird. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 251 
 
 "Its note is the most characteristic sound in the woodland, 
 and is best represented by the words pee,wee, the two syllables 
 about equally accented, the first perhaps a little higher, the 
 last sometimes rising, sometimes falling, but always prolonged, 
 always plaintive, as though the bird wished you to know that 
 its particular lot was harder than that of any of its feathered 
 friends, but it meant to make the best of it, and would try to 
 be cheerful. I found young, almost full-grown, August 15th. 
 The old birds at this season, perched on the dead limb of some 
 lofty elm or oalc, utter from time to time their plaintive note, 
 making between times a hasty dash into the air to secure some 
 flying insect, then fly back to the perch. On beautiful Autumn 
 mornings, in woods of stately oaks, elms and poplars, where 
 dim shades are penetrated by occasional patches of checkered 
 sunlight, and whose silence was broken by the note of this 
 species, I found young birds waiting on perches for their par- 
 ent's return with some food, and filling the interim while she 
 is foraging, with a plaintive squeak uttered at intervals, and 
 sounding like the squeak of a mouse which has just felt the 
 wire of the trap squeezing his throat, though louder; occasionally 
 lowering their heads threateningly, and snapping their beaks 
 when some butterfly or dragonfly flew near them. Or, impa- 
 tient, they chase the mother bird, and one on either side strive 
 to force the morsel she has obtained from her mouth. 
 
 "At Georgetown they were abundant; very common indeed at 
 Ada, and I noticed them at Crookston, St. Vincent and along 
 the Thief river." 
 
 Many writers attempt to express the notes of this bird, but I 
 confess to a great inability to get what seems to me to be any 
 material resemblance. Still, if they but partially succeed it 
 may help to identify the bird, and I would not therefore dis- 
 courage their attempts. Suffice it, who has heard Phoebe will 
 recognize a member of the family. After the period of incu- 
 bation and rearing the youn^ is over, the old birds apparantly 
 are very seldom found together, a circumstance accounted for 
 on the inference of conjugal indifference, which is entirely 
 gratuitous, for the well known characteristic habit of feeding 
 of the whole family explains the circumstances more satisfac- 
 torily and leaves the "good name" unstained. Whoever will 
 take sufficient pains will always find the partner of the sum- 
 mer's sacrifices not very far away. 
 
252 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 The second quill longest, the third a little shorter, the first 
 shorter than the fourth, the latter nearly forty hundredths 
 longer than the fifth; the primaries more than an inch longer 
 than the secondaries; the upper parts, sides of the head, neck 
 and breast, dark olivaceous- brown, the latter rather paler, the 
 head darker; a narrow white ring around the eye; the lower 
 parts pale yellowish, deepest on the abdomen; across the breast 
 tinged with ash; this pale ash sometimes occupies the whole of 
 the breast, and even occasionally extends up to the chin; it is 
 also sometimes glossed with olivaceous; the wings and tail dark 
 brown, generally deeper than in S. fuscus; two narrow bands 
 across the wing, the outer edge of first primary, and the sec- 
 ondaries, and tertials dull white; the edges of the tail feathers 
 like the back, the outer one scarcely lighter; upper mandible 
 black, the lower yellow, but brown at the tip. 
 
 Length, 6.15; wing, 3.50; tail, 3.05. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the plains, and from 
 southern Canada southward. 
 
 EMPIDONAX FLATIVEXTRIS Baird. (463.) 
 YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER. 
 
 This pretty -flycatcher, about which ornithological literature 
 seems to be by no means prolific, has long been a regularly ob- 
 served summer resident of the State, especially in this locality. 
 It reaches the borders of the State in its spring migration as 
 late as the 20th of May, and this locality on the 25th. The 
 foliage of the forest has become so dense, and the other .birds 
 bearing a general resemblance to it so numerous, that only an 
 expert may hope to identify it, and he only by considerable 
 labor. Its efEorts at song are very humble, not essaying more 
 than a weak and quite infrequently repeated pee-a, and tillic. 
 Others have found the nest occasionally, but I have been less for- 
 tunate even after much careful search. In his recent work on the ^ 
 birds in their favorite haunts. Rev., J. Hibbert Langille quotes 
 from the observations of Messrs. Dean and Pardie as to the 
 nest, in which those gentlemen say: "It was placed in the up- 
 turned roots of a tree; and a large dwelling it was for so small 
 and trim a bird. Built in and on the black mud clinging to the 
 roots, but two feet from the ground, the bulk of the nest was 
 composed of dry moss, while the outside was faced with beau- 
 tiful, fresh green mosses, thickest around the rim, or parapet. 
 The eggs are usually four in number and are white." 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 253 
 
 My personal observations of the feeding habits of this bird 
 differ a little from those generally given, in that I have found 
 them in the very tops of the trees at such times, giving little 
 heed to my presence so far below them. When on, or near the 
 ground, they are extremely reticent and equally shy. The nest 
 as repeatedly described to me by those who have discovered it, 
 is from five to seven feet above the ground, on a branch at the 
 first division from the trunk of a sapling, or in the forks of a 
 considerable bush. At the time of their first arrival, I have 
 found them almost common since knowing their habits, but 
 they become very shy indeed when once the incubation has 
 begun. They leave us simultaneously with the arrival of the 
 frosts in autumn. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second, third and fourth quill nearly equal; first inter- 
 mediate between fifth and sixth; tail nearly even, slightly 
 rounded; tarsi long, above bright olive-green; crown rather 
 darker ; a broad yellow ring around the eye ; the sides of the head, 
 neck, breast and body, and a band across the breast like the back, 
 but lighter; the rest of the lower parts bright sulphur-yellow — 
 no white or ashy anywhere on the body — quills dark brown; two 
 bands on the wing formed by the tips of the primary and 
 secondary coverts, the outer edge of the first primary and of 
 the secondaries and tertials pale yellow or greenish-yellow; 
 the tail feathers brown, with the exterior edges like the 
 back. Bill dark brown above, yellow beneath; feet black. In 
 the autumn the colors are purer, the yellow is deeper, and 
 the markings on the wings of an ochry tint. 
 
 Length, 5.15; wing, 2.83; tail, 2.45. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the plains, and from 
 Southern Labrador south through Eastern Mexico to Panama, 
 breeding from the Northern States northward. 
 
 EMPIDONAX ACABICUS (Gmelin). (465.) 
 ACADIAN FLYCATCHER. 
 
 I have been agreeably surprised to find that this species is 
 fairly common in Minnesota. The average time of arrival has 
 been May 20th, and they have habitually left in their southern 
 migration about the 10th of September. The confounding of 
 this species with E. traillii by so many experts early put me on 
 my guard, and I believe I have always been spared a final 
 doubt as to its identity. Prof. Baird's discrimination between 
 these two species has been completely verified by my local 
 observations. The nesting has been begun about the second 
 week in June, although I have had the nest, mother, and 
 
254 NOTES ON THE 
 
 eggs as early as the fifth of that month on one occasion. As 
 to the location of the nest, I have found it somewhat varied, as 
 I have also the materials out of which it was constructed. The 
 first I ever obtained was near a creek in a thicket just in the 
 woods adjoining a plowed field, and but a short distance from 
 a dwelling. It was on ground elevated at least 20 feet above 
 the creek, and not more than 20 yards from a frequented high- 
 way. Another was obtained in a very open place in the deep, 
 dark woods, two miles distant from the first. The first named 
 nest met the description of what one writer describes as "loose 
 and rustic, even raggedly woven, etc.," while the second 
 was more compact and more firmly secured to the forked 
 limb on which it was built. The materials have all been 
 essentially the same, namely: Fine strips of bark, with grasses 
 woven together, without much display of ambition in bird 
 architecture. Careful measurements made the elevation of it 
 average seven feet. The eggs have invariably been three, 
 with a deep cream color, and mostly, but not always, spotted 
 near the greater end with brown. I find no proclivity to any one 
 kind of tree or bush, but they indiscriminately choose a sumach 
 an oak or a basswood. It has a very humble combination of 
 notes, hardly worthy to be called a song. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef found it in the valley of the Root river on the 
 28th of May, and Mr. Washburn reports it common in the Red 
 river valley at nearly all points he visited late in August. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second and third quills longest, and about equal; the fourth 
 a little shorter; the first about equal to the fifth, and about 
 0. 35 of an inch less than the longest. Tail even. The upper 
 parts with the sides of the head and ^eck, olive-green, the 
 crown, very little if any darker. A yellowish- white ring around 
 the eye. The sides of the body under the wings like the back, 
 but fainter olive; a tinge of the same across the breast; the 
 chin, throat and middle of the belly, white; the abdomen, lower 
 tail and wing coverts, and sides of body not covered by the 
 wings, pale greenish-yellow. Edges of -the first primary, sec- 
 ondaries, and tertials, margined with dull yellowish-white, 
 most broadly on the latter. Two transverse bands of pale yel- 
 lowish across the wings formed by the tips of the secondary 
 and primary coverts, succeeded -by a brown one. Tail light 
 brown, margined externally like the back. Upper mandible 
 light brown above; pale yellow beneath. In autumn the lower 
 parts are more yellow. 
 
 Length, 5.65 to 6; wing, 3.00; tail, 2.75; (tarsus, f ; bill, f ). 
 
 Habitat, Eastern United States, chiefly southward, west to 
 the plains, south to Cuba and Costa Rica. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 255 
 
 EMPIDONAX PUSILLUS TRAILLII (Audubon). (466a). 
 TRAILL'S FLYCATCHER. 
 
 Traill's Flycatcher usually arrives in the latitude of Minne- 
 apolis not far from the 20th of May, and is abundantly repre- 
 sented for its species for ten oi' fifteen days, when the princi- 
 pal part move on further north to breed. Individuals are 
 occasionally met with so much later that if no nests had been 
 obtained I should feel assured of their breeding in this section 
 to some extent, but a few nests have been obtained by col 
 lectors, which upon examination I have pronounced those of 
 this interesting bird. Mr. Lewis who is familiar with the 
 habits of this species reports them common along the • St. 
 Louis and Rainy Lake rivers in the northern sections of the 
 State during the months of June and July, from which 
 although he collected no nests he naturally inferred they bred 
 there. The nests I have seen were obtained under conditions 
 corresponding to those described as characteristic of this bird, 
 viz: — About swamps and lowlands and along streams, and were 
 without exception found in the forks of bushes and saplings, 
 and about seven to ten feet from the ground. They were com 
 posed externally of various .fibrous materials mixed with 
 grasses, giving them a bleached gray appearance, the inside of 
 fine grass neatly adjusted, while there is a downy substance 
 distributed throughout the entire structure. The eggs were 
 creamy- white , with the larger end somewhat spotted with 
 reddish-brown. The autumnal migration takes place from the 
 first to the tenth of September. 
 
 I am not a little surprised that Mr. Washburn did not meet 
 this species in his earlier explorations of a portion of the Red 
 river valley, as he made a careful observation of others of the 
 same genus. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third quill longest, second scarcely shorter than fourth, first 
 shorter than fifth, about thirty-five hundredths of an inch 
 shorter than the longest; primaries about seventy-five hun- 
 dredths of an inch longer than secondaries; tail even; upper 
 parts dark olive green, lighter under the wings, and duller and 
 more tinged with ash on nape and sides of neck; center of the 
 crown feathers brown; a pale yellowish- white ring (in some 
 specimens altogether white) around the eye; loral feathers mixed 
 with white; chin and throat white; the breast and sides of 
 throat light ash tinged with olive, its intensity varying with 
 individuals, the former sometimes faintly tinged with olive; 
 sides of the breast much like the back; middle of the belly 
 
256 NOTES ON THE 
 
 nearly white; sides of the belly, abdomen and the lower tail cov- 
 erts sulphur yellow; the quills and tail feathers dark brown — as 
 dark, if not more so, as these parts in Contopus virens; two 
 olivaceous yellow white bands on the wing, formed by the 
 tips of the first and second coverts, succeeded by a brown one; 
 the edge of the first primary, and of secondaries iand tertials a 
 little lighter shade of the same; the outer edge of the tail 
 feathers like the back, that of the lateral rather lighter; 
 bill above dark brown, dull brownish beneath. 
 
 Length, 6 inches; wing, 2.90; tail, 2.60. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, breeding from the middle 
 states northward; in winter south to Central America. 
 
 EMPIDONAX MINIMUS Baird. (467.) 
 LEAST FLYCATCHER. 
 
 The Least Flycatcher is the bravest of his genus, arriving in 
 spring, in one year, as early as the fifth of May, but as a gen- 
 eral thing it has been later by about five to ten days. It soon 
 becomes common along the Mississippi, and the borders of 
 swamps and low lands generally. During June, July and 
 part of August it may be seen at almost any time of the day 
 perching on the lower limb of a tall tree, peeping its charac- 
 teristic note, variously expressed by different observers as 
 "chebec," "sewick," "shebick," etc., etc. It must be heard to be 
 understood. It is uttered rather sharper and more quickly 
 than any notes of the other Flycatchers. From its perch it 
 makes frequent dashes into the air, where it seizes an insect' 
 and returns to the same place, repeating at brief intervals its 
 short, sharp, unmelodious "chebeck." There is a general distri- 
 bution of this species over the entire State, from Duluth, where 
 I found it exceedingly common, to the Red river, and south to 
 the borders where it is no less common. Dr. Hvoslef records 
 it in Root river valley, and Mr. Lewis found it common along 
 the Rainy Lake river to the Lake of the Woods, where it was 
 "abundant on the islands." 
 
 Mr. Washburn found it still represented on the Red river as 
 late as about the first of September, but rare. Dr. Coues 
 gives it as more numerous along that stream during the breed- 
 ing season than he had found it any where else. (Birds of the 
 northwest pp. 254-5). I have known them to begin to build 
 their nests as early as the 18th of May, but that is about a 
 week sooner than the average. It is almost uniformly placed 
 in the forks of a sapling, — rarely in a bush, except when 
 found along the shores of streams running through marshy dis- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 257 
 
 tricts, where only brush and shrubs are found, — and from ten 
 to fifteen feet from the ground where there are trees, and 
 rarely below seven where there are only bushes. It is very 
 compact, neat, and externally constructed of wood and weed 
 bark fibers, mixed with vegetable down in an artistic manner, 
 and lined with delicate fibers of the same in which the down is 
 prominent, and rarely a few hairs from the tails of horses and 
 cattle. In a few instances it has been placed on the upper 
 side of a leaning sapling, and in such cases it has never been 
 saddled over, or across it, but has been embraced in forks of 
 twigs or limbs rising from it and deeply imbedded in the sides 
 of it. The eggs are from three to four, in number, and are 
 pure white. 
 
 It lingers later into the autumn than the other members of 
 its genus, individuals not infrequently being met late in Octo- 
 ber, but the great southern hegira occurs from the 20th to the 
 30th of September. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second quill longest, third and fourth but little shorter, 
 fifth a little less, first intermediate between fifth and sixth; 
 tail even; above olive-brown, darker on the head, becoming 
 paler on the rump, and upper tail coverts; the middle of the 
 backmost strongly olivaceous; the nape (in some individuals) 
 and sides of head tinged with ash; a ring around the eye, 
 and some of the loral feathers, white; the sides of the throat, 
 and across the breast, dull ash; the color on the latter some- 
 times nearly obsolete; sides of the breast similiar to the back, 
 but of a lighter tint; middle of the belly very pale yellowish- 
 white, turning to pale sulphur on the sides of the belly, 
 abdomen, and lower tail coverts; wings brown; two narrow 
 white bands on the wing formed by the tips of the first 
 and second coverts, succeeded by one of brown; the edge 
 of the first primary, and of the secondaries and tertials white; 
 tail rather lighter brown, edged externally like the back; 
 feathers narrow, not acuminate, with the ends rather blunt. 
 In autumn the white parts are strongly tinged with yellow. 
 
 Length, 5 to 5.50 inches; wing, 2.65 or less; tail, 2.25 to 2^50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, south in winter to Central 
 America, breeds from the northern states northward. 
 
258 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Family ALAUDID^. 
 
 OTOCORIS ALPESTRIS PRATICOLA Henshaw. (4746 ) 
 PRAIRIE HORNED LARK. 
 
 This bird is variously called the Prairie Lark, Shore Lark, 
 Sky Lark, and Horned Lark. Its characteristic locality would 
 scarcely justify the name of Shore Lark, as it is decidedly a 
 dry land bird. Either of the others would not be inappro- 
 priate. But the two pencils of erectile feathers so located on 
 the head as to completely simulate horns, are so distinguishing 
 as to justly entitle it to the name Horned Lark. This species 
 is extensively distributed over the entire open sections of the 
 Northwest, from Hudson's Bay to and below the southern line 
 of Missouri, and from New York to California. 
 
 Variations in size and the intensity of coloration have led 
 some ornithologists to the institution of several varieties. 1 
 have met with individual representations of the whole series 
 within my province so many times that I have no use for these 
 varieties, even cum salis. 
 
 It nests very early, in the latitude of Minneapolis and St. 
 Paul. In favorable seasons I have met with nests as early as 
 the 9th of March, as I once flushed it from its nest at that date, 
 although it contained no eggs; but a week later I have met with 
 several with, on an average, two eggs. They sit so close at 
 such times that I have had my carriage wheel pass within ten 
 inches of the nest and not flush the bird. On one occasion, on 
 the open, rolling prairie, while walking cautiously in search 
 of possible nests, I had placed my foot directly over one, in 
 the act of putting it down, when the lark flitted out from under 
 it just in time to save itself, and the nest too, as the surprise 
 lengthened the falling step far enough to save the latter. In 
 all instances I have found that the ground had been hollowed 
 out for the nest to a depth sufficient to allow of a liberal lining 
 of grass and still leave the back of the brooding bird level with 
 the surrounding surface. Its colors, with this circumstance, 
 combine to protect the bird with its precious trust from the 
 rapacious hawks as well as the more rapacious oOligist. That 
 this species breeds occasionally three times I am confident. 
 The period of incubation reaches far into July occasionally. 
 
 Some individuals are to be seen at almost any time in the 
 winter, during an open "spell of weather," which is not a com- 
 mon meteorological event, by the way, and the great winter 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 259 
 
 retreat for the rest cannot be exceedingly remote, for, if the 
 furrows in the plowed fields become exposed by the direct- 
 ness of the winter's sun, it will not be long before the cheery 
 notes of the males are heard here. The eggs, four to five in 
 number, are grayish and sprinkled with pale blue or brownish 
 spots. I think the young abandon the nest before quite able 
 to fly, and are left to shift for themselves when about three 
 weeks out of their nests. Little time is lost by the parents 
 in getting another brood under way, that the last may be suffi- 
 ciently matured for the winter's exigencies. 
 
 I never heard the European skylark sing with my own ears, 
 but have listened to descriptions of the song in prose and in 
 poetry, until I almost believed I had heard it, but I must hear 
 the veritable singer himself to be convinced that in anything 
 except perhaps volume he can a whit excel our own American 
 skylark. 
 
 My first enchantment occurred within the corporate limits of 
 this city — Minneapolis^when those limits were quite restricted 
 compared with them now, in June, 1868. I was riding along 
 with my field glass in my hand, as has been my uniform custom 
 in the bird season for thirty years or more, when a male flitted 
 up from the ground about ten to fifteen feet into the air and 
 about thirty yards directly in front of me, simultaneously burst- 
 ing forth into song. While pouring forth such a volume that 
 it seemed as if he would have instantly burst if he should close 
 his extended mouth, he turned abruptly to the right and half 
 sailing away about fifty yards, again wheeled with a rapid flut- 
 ter of his wings that lifted h^m some thirty feet more, he gyrated 
 back at least a hundred yards, and thus flitting, sailing, singing, 
 he zigzagged right and left, mounting constantly higher and 
 higher, never pausing a moment for breath until he entirely 
 disappeared from unaided vision in as clear a sky as ever can- 
 opied the green fields in June. Still, the music, fainter and 
 fainter, but if possible sweeter and sweeter, was distinctly 
 audible, and my breath had been unconsciously suspended 
 while all consciousness was in the tips of my ears and points 
 of my eyes, now peering through the glass, when, after several 
 minutes of unmeasured time, his song suddenly ceased and he 
 closed his wings as a diver lays down his arms to his sides, and 
 head straight downward, descended with the velocity of a spent 
 bullet, until within a single yard of the ground, and no more 
 than that distance from the identical spot he had left, he 
 opened those wings and touched the grass as lightly as a 
 snowflake unnanoyed by the winds. 
 
260 NOTpS ON THE 
 
 The song cannot be expressed by any similation of words or 
 syllables, but is totally unlike any other amongst the song - 
 birds. With such a possibility within the reach of any song- 
 loving mortal, who would spend the last dime to hear a Nilsson, 
 and would not go a mile in the open, silent prairie, to hear 
 this peerless skylark? I pronounce an inexplainable paradox. 
 
 Heaven's richest boon to aesthetic man are oftenest over- 
 looked or underheard. Awake, dear sleepers! 
 
 Note. The foregoing was written in 1874, at which time I 
 was not aware that anyone else had ever recorded observations 
 of its skylark like performances. I have been greatly de- 
 lighted to find that Langille has given a graphic description of 
 them in his "Birds in Their Haunts," page 18. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 O Above, pinkish brown, feathers of back streaked with dusky; 
 a broad band across the crown extending backwards along the 
 lateral tufts; a crescentic patch from bill below the eye, and 
 along the side of the head; a jugular crescent, and the tail 
 feathers black, the innermost of the latter like the back; a 
 frontal band extending backwards over the eye, under parts, 
 with outer edge of wings, and tail, white; chin and throat, 
 yellow. 
 
 Length, 7.75; .wing, 4.50; tail, 3.25; bill, above, 0.52. 
 
 Habitat, northeastern North America. 
 
 Family COBYID^. 
 
 PICA PICA HUDSONICA (Sabine). (475.) 
 AMERICAN MAGPIE. 
 
 The Magpie has not yet become as common as the Blue Jay 
 in Minnesota, but they are here and no check list can leave 
 them out. Since the first that came under my notice in 1869, 
 which was obtained in the timber of the Minnesota river 
 bottom, there have been but few seasons when they were not 
 seen by those competent to identify them, and several have 
 been obtained. 
 
 Mr. Washburn reported one at Mille Lacs lake last fall, and 
 several were described to me by parties who had never seen 
 them before. 
 
 That this rather rare species should have escaped the notice 
 of early observers is by no means surprising, for when isolated 
 from the flock individual birds of this species are as alert and 
 cunning as any other with which I ever had anything to do. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 261 
 
 When hunted, their sub rosa vigilance in eluding the eye of 
 the persecutor is simply marvelous, in many respects like, 
 but outdoing the Cuckoo. In flocks, except after having been 
 repeatedly disturbed by being shot at they are quite the 
 opposite, and even become quite familiar after a time. 
 
 I once spent some eighteen months where the Magpies were 
 very numerous and bred abundantly on low branching oak 
 trees that were scattered amongst the hills. The nests, for 
 the size of the bird were extremely bulky, consisting of 
 sticks, twigs and mud, in the order named. "On this again is a 
 lining of fine twigs, hair, feathers and any proper material 
 which they can find. Over the whole, rising from the walls of 
 the nest, is a dome of twigs and sticks very ingeniously and 
 securely woven together and framing a shelter for the bird 
 while setting. There are two openings, opposite each other, 
 evidently to make room for the long tail of the bird, which 
 could never be brought within the nest. The eggs are five, of 
 a pale greenish, very thickly obscured with spots and dashes 
 of pale purplish brown, varying somewhat in intensity and 
 being somewhat thicker at the larger end." I have quoted the 
 description from Birds of the Northwest, pp. 213-14, for the 
 reason that it is so completely in accordance with my own 
 observations in the foot hills along the Cossumnes river in 
 Sacramento county, California, where my sister so long resided. 
 
 Note. — When the foregoing ^as written, I followed Coues" 
 opinion that the Yellow-billed Magpies of that coast were but a 
 variety of the present species, but not without mental protest 
 (often expressed amongst local friends) which the American 
 Ornithologist's Union have confirmed in the Check List. I 
 have never seen the nest of the Black-billed Magpie, and had 
 supposed that the identity of the structures had been an im- 
 portant factor in determining the specific unity of the two 
 varieties, P. L. H. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail very long more than half the total lengbh, the feathers 
 much graduated, the lateral scarcely more than half the mid - 
 die. First primary falcate, curved, and attenuated; bill about 
 as high as bror..d at the base; the culmen and gonys much 
 curved, and about equal; the bristly feathers reaching nearly to 
 the middle of the bill; nostrils nearly circular; tarsi very long, 
 middle toe scarcely more than two thirds its length. A patch 
 of naked skin beneath and behind the eye and the bill black. 
 Generar color black; the belly, scapulars, and inner webs of 
 the primaries, white; hind part of back grayish; exposed por- 
 tion of the tail feathers glossy-green, tinged with purple and 
 
262 NOTES ON THE 
 
 violet near the end; wings glossed with green; secondaries and 
 tertials with blue; throat feathers spotted with white. 
 
 Length, 19; wing, 8.50; tail, 11 to 13. 
 
 Habitat, northern and western North America. 
 
 CYANOCITTA CEISTATA (L.). .f477.). 
 BLUE JAY. 
 
 Nature has shown her caprice in dressing up even a crow in 
 regal plumage in the case of the Blue Jay. In few others of 
 the birds has there been such a wondrously beautiful display 
 of the colors where blue is predominant. The arrangement is 
 without a precedent.. Still he is without friends. Go where 
 we may a deep seated prejudice exists against him, and he 
 seems to rather enjoy this distinption. The numbers in every 
 low timbered, or brushy section in Minnesota, are greater 
 than in any other portion of the United States with which I 
 am familiarly acquainted, and they are yearly increasing. 
 They brave the winter with entire indifference to the measure 
 of cold, and never are known to come out poor in the spring 
 either. They live on anything and everything known to be 
 eaten by any and all the other species of birds, mammals, 
 reptiles or fishes, when pressed by any stress, but are epicures 
 when plenty abounds, taking such dainty tit-bits as Canary 
 brains, and Mockingbird's eyes for an occasional dessert. Still 
 injustice to him I must say that he takes such as he can get 
 with no complaining as to quantity, or quality. In winter he 
 breakfasts on acorns perhaps, dines on cedar berries and bar- 
 berry. If the wind is troublesome, he will look up a few 
 cocoons of moths, and butterflies for tea. In the spring he 
 explores the back yards of dwellings, and if unsuccessful, 
 will content himself with a light cropful of the buds of the 
 lilacs and other shrubbery. Later, his supplies are well 
 understood to embrace the eggs and young of the other birds, 
 not even excepting those of his own species. 
 
 Their notes are often very discordant, and doubtless con- 
 tribute to the popular prejudice against them. More commonly 
 the notes are a shrill cry, expressed best by the sylables, chay- 
 chay-chay, repeated in frequency according with the measure of 
 excitement the bird is under. Under ordinary circumstances 
 his notes may vary considerably, when they might be rendered 
 somewhat like hilly, hillif, hilly, or p'wilhilly, p'wilhilly, followed 
 in a minute afterwards by hweeo-hweeo-hweeo, or chillac-chillac- 
 chillac, after which comes a soft, sweet, metallic note, filled 
 with a sad pathos. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 263 
 
 Not unfrequently he will give a stirring Bote of alarm if he 
 discovers an enemy approaching, which resembles the harsh 
 rattle of the kingfisher. He is credited with imitating other 
 birds. With how much truth I cannot say, but if he does not, 
 it will be about the only mischievous thing he does not essay 
 to do. 
 
 About the last week in April he builds his nest in a second 
 growth red or black oak in a thicket, or a large bush about seven 
 feet from, the ground. It is loosely built of small sticks, twigs, 
 and coarse roots, lined with a finer kind of the same, and leaves. 
 Pour to five light-green eggs are laid, covered with light brown 
 spots., Instances occur in which two broods are brought out in 
 a season, but only one is the rule. 
 
 In no portion of the State where timber or brush are fouiid, 
 is he not to be found from the Lake of the Woods to the Iowa 
 line. I cannot call them beneficial to agriculture, but should 
 be sorry to pass a long Minnesota winter without both seeing 
 and hearing them, as they have been so long identified with 
 the bird life of the country. 
 
 Note. The vicious habit of this species of eating the eggs 
 of its own, and of the other birds, has become more and more 
 evident as I have had further opportunities to observe. In 
 this, however, he has the precedent of so many other species, 
 that he can with plausibility plead as good reason for justifica- 
 tion as the rumseller, who sells his ' 'liquid death" because, if 
 Ae did not, "the other fellow would." My indignation has been 
 at white heat on catching him at the destruction of the eggs of 
 some of the little fellows that were no match for him. So 
 widely is his character known amongst the feathered tribes of 
 his habitudes, that there has come to exist an unwritten edict 
 of outlawry against him, so that when he is caught in the act 
 of trespass, a recognized signal-call will enlist the entire deni- 
 zens of his section in a simultaneous pursuit of him. But he 
 soon disregards, or wilfully forgets all such protests, and re- 
 news his inglorious depredations upon the earliest opportunity. 
 I have never witnessed his destruction of the young birds, as I 
 have the butcher birds but am prepared to believe almost any- 
 thing I may hear against him. As with instances among an- 
 other species of bipeds, neither talents nor external adornment 
 shields them from common contempt. Still, as with some bad 
 boys, we cannot but like them notwithstanding all their faults, 
 when we hear the cheery notes amid all the desolations of a 
 northern winter. The question of the jay's powers of mimicry 
 of the notes of numerous other birds, has long been at rest with 
 me, for I am an eye and an ear witness. His most wonderful, 
 and most successful demonstrations have been in imitating very 
 small birds like the Chickadee, Pewee, Winter Wren, several of 
 18 z: 
 
264 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the sparrows, and indeed almost every known species of the 
 kind, whose combinations are not very long. It must be under- 
 stood that these performances are invariably en sutta voce, and 
 audible to only those who are embraced in his auditorium by 
 chances of fortuitous accident, which keeps the performer in 
 blissful ignorance of his presence. My first opportunity tran- 
 spired by my being placed in the covert of a fallen tree-top, to 
 which the leaves were still clinging, before daylight in the 
 morning to await a band of deer that were to be driven near 
 there by a party of drivers acquainted with their *'runs." I 
 had been there nearly two hours in almost breathless silence, 
 scarcely moving a muscle lest I might be discovered and while 
 thus waiting numerous birds had been twittering and flying 
 about the spot of my concealment ever since the daylight had 
 come, amongst which were many Blue Jays. Now, any experi- 
 enced hunter knows that if one of these irrepressible jays 
 catches sight of him, his chances of a shot at a deer that is any- 
 where near him are gone for that time, and having just before 
 received a preconcerted signal that some were approaching, 
 my attention was centered upon a number of these birds but a 
 little distance from me, ready to rob me of the fruits and con- 
 siderations of my mutual sacrifices, when I saw and heard such 
 a mimicry of many of the little birds before mentioned as no 
 language can describe. Only one individual was engaged, and 
 the notes which fell in showers like dewdrops, almost inaudible, 
 were among the clearest, most delicate, sweet and inelodious 
 that ever found their way into a human ear. I was in an 
 ecstacy of wonder and surprise, and only sighed in silence that 
 every lover of bird- song could not share my delight. I forgave 
 him everything I had ever seen, heard, or surmised against 
 him, and have never since harbored any but the kindest feel- 
 ings toward him. If a diet upon canary brains and mocking 
 bird's eyes afford such inspiration, these songsters contribute 
 as much in their deaths as in their lives, and the regally plumed 
 Blue Jay should live forever. Since then I have his secret, and 
 I have many times been his auditor undiscovered, and I have 
 found that when undiscovered, he will prolong these solo per- 
 formances considerable, constantly varying and modulating 
 them in the most pleasing manner. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Crest about one-third longer than the bill; tail graduated; 
 general color above light purplish-blue; wings and tail feath- 
 ers ultramarine-blue; the secondaries and tertials, the greater 
 wing coverts and the exposed surface of the tail sharply 
 banded with black and broadly tipped with white, except on 
 the central tail feathers; beneath white; tinged with purplish- 
 blue on the throat and with bluish-brown on the sides; a black 
 crescent on the forepart of the breast, the horns passing for- 
 wards and connecting with a half collar on the back of the 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 265 
 
 neck; a narrow frontal line and loral region black; feathers on 
 the base of the bill blue like the crown; female rather duller 
 in color and a little smaller. 
 
 Length, 12.25; wing, 5.65; tail, 5.75. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the plains and from the 
 fur countries south to Florida and eastern Texas.' 
 
 PERISOREUS CANADENSIS (L.). (484). 
 GANADA JAY. 
 
 When I first lived in the State the lumbermen used to tell 
 me a great deal about "the camp bird" as they called it, and 
 my curiosity was no little awakened to learn the identity of the 
 bird but I could persuade none of them to bring me one, as 
 their attachment to it forbid their shooting it, for it was so 
 unsuspicious and tame that it would often come to the door of 
 the cabin and eat the waste and crumbs thrown down to it. At 
 last a good fortune sent one to me and I at once discovered the 
 genuine Canada Jay. It is not a numerous species like the 
 Blue Jay but is a permanent resident along the Lake Superior 
 region and southward about a hundred miles, as I learn from 
 the aforementioned source. It has fallen into my hands in 
 the Big Woods on two occasions, and one or two individuals 
 have been obtained in Sherburne county some time since. Of 
 its habits I know nothing from personal observation, and must, 
 therefore, avail myself of the observations of others. I quote 
 Professor Samuels in his Birds of New England, page 367. 
 He says: — " I have had numerous opportunities for observing 
 its habits and I can positively af&rm that it is equally rapacious 
 and destructive with the Blue Jay, which it resembles in 
 motions and cry. I-once knew of a single pair of these birds 
 destroying the young in four nests of the common Snowbird 
 {Juneo hyemalis) in a single day. I found these nests in an old 
 abandoned lumber road on the morning of June 20th; in the 
 afternoon, when I returned through the same path, every nest 
 was depopulated, and a pair of these jays we're lurking in the 
 trees shouting defiance to us while surrounded by the afflicted 
 Snowbirds that were uttering« their cries of complaint and 
 sorrow. I emptied both barrels of my gun in the direction of 
 the jay, and I am inclined ,to think that they have killed no 
 birds since. The f amiliarty with which this species fraternizes 
 with man in the woods is interesting and amusing. I was once 
 'snowed in,* as the expression is, in a large tract of forest, 
 and, with, my companions, was obliged to wait until the storm 
 
266 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ceased before we could resume our march. We remained in 
 camp two days. A pair of these birds, probably with young 
 in the neighborhood, visited our camp and even penetrated 
 into our tent for crumbs and pieces of bread. They always 
 flew ofE with their mouths full and soon returned for more. 
 Their visits soon got to be anything but a joke, particularly 
 when they flew off with the last piece of our soap. " Audubon 
 says: — "It begins as early as February or March to form its 
 nest which is placed in the thickest part of a fir- tree, near the 
 trunk, and at a height of from five to ten feet. The exterior 
 is composed of dry twigs with moss and grass and the inter- 
 ior, which is flat, is formed of flbrous roots. The eggs, which 
 are four to six, are of a light gray color faintly marked with 
 brown. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail graduated; lateral feathers about one inch shortest. 
 Wings a little shorter than the tail.. Head, neck and forepart 
 of breast, white. A plumbeous nuchal patch, becoming darker 
 behind, from the middle of the crown to the back, from which 
 it is separated by an interrupted, whitish collar. Rest of 
 upper parts ashy- plumbeous; the outer primaries margined; 
 the secondaries, tertials, and tail feathers obscurely tipped, 
 with white beneath smoky-gray; crissum, whitish; bill and 
 feet, black. 
 
 Length, 10.70; wing, 5.75; tail, 6.00; tarsus, 1.40. 
 
 Habitat, northern New England, Michigan, Minnesota, and 
 Canada, northward to Arctic America. 
 
 CORTUS CORAX SINUATUS (Wagler). (486.) 
 AMERICAN RAVEN. 
 
 This bird is a_ permanent resident about Lake Superior, and 
 is common along the Red river and some of the more infre- 
 quented lakes in the northern portions of the state in summer 
 time, arriving quite early in March, and remaining very late in 
 the autumn. It is more frequently seen singly, yet occasionally 
 a pair will attract the attention floating on extended wings for 
 hours over some desolate section in search of food which is 
 preferably carrion, but there is nothing, either dead or alive, 
 they will not eat when pressed by hunger. Their flight is 
 rapid and long sustained. On the ground they have a very 
 dignified walk, with a characteristic of frequently opening the 
 wings as if it wearied them to retain them closed. It breeds 
 in the localities mentioned, quite early in the season. The 
 earliest I have any authentic record of is March 25th. The 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 267 
 
 nests are exceedingly rude, and either on the inaccessible 
 cliffs, 'or in the loftiest trees of some very desolate section. 
 The eggs are usually four to six in number, two inches long, 
 light greenish- blue, with light purple and yellowish-brown 
 blotches numerous about the larger end. Incubation lasts 
 about twenty-one days, and the young remain in the nest 
 several weeks before they are able to fly, fed at first on the 
 half digested food disgorged by the parents. Only a single 
 brood is reared in one season. 
 
 The raven is a much more common bird in northern and 
 western Minnesota than I formerly supposed, but is nowhere 
 so abundant as along the Pacific in the valleys of California 
 and Oregon. By the twenty fifth of March in most years, 
 they are often heard, but less frequently seen. Indeed they 
 are rarely seen in the vicinity of Minneapolis and St. Paul, 
 but from Bigstone lake to the British Possessions they seem 
 to become increasingly common. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill long, very strong and arched; n&,sal feathers lengthened, 
 reach middle of bill; nostrils large, circular, and overhung by 
 membrane; gape without bristles; wings long and pointed, 
 when closed reach nearly to tip of tail, and far beyond under 
 coverts; fourth quill longest; third and fifth about equal; 
 second between fifth and sixth; first nearly equal to eighth; 
 tail short and nearly even; tarsi longer than middle toe, 
 and scaled in front. 
 
 Length, 25 inches; wing, 17; tail, 10. 
 
 Habitat, North America from arctic regions to Guatemala, 
 but local and not common east of the Mississsippi river. 
 
 CORVUS AMERICANCS Audubon. (488.) 
 AMEEICAN CROW. 
 
 I find the Crow a much more common species than my earlier 
 observations had led me to expect. It is generally distributed, 
 yet not at all equally so. It is fairly common in Fillmore 
 county, and along the whole southern tier of counties, but the 
 numbers grow relatively less until reaching about the middle, 
 and especially until the great timber belt is reached. From 
 thence northward there is an increase, so that in Otter Tail 
 county thence eastward and northward their numbers are 
 greatly augmented, even to the Lake of the Woods, where I 
 learn they breed abundantly. Dr. J. C. Hvoslef of Lanesboro 
 in Fillmore county through which the Root river runs, writes 
 
268 NOTES ON THE 
 
 me that ' 'the crow is a resident in the deep valley of the Root 
 river even in the severest winters." In his immediate locality 
 they are "common, feeding about the slaughter houses." 
 
 Mr. Washburn, who spent from July 28th to September 12th 
 in the valley of the Red river in the interests of the survey 
 says : "I am rather puzzled to account for the actions of the 
 crow in this part of the country. I did not meet with them 
 until I reached Ada, and then I saw but a few, flying high in 
 the air. I was told at Georgetown, however, fifteen miles 
 north of Moorhead, that they are common in the spring. And I 
 was told too that they are seen at Ada in June when other 
 birds are nesting, but my informant had never seen a nest. As 
 autumn approached however, and my journey took me farther 
 northward, I met them more frequently. 
 
 ' 'The Crow is certainly more common in the northern part of 
 the valley than further south. I have learned that this bird 
 breeds plentifully about the lakes of Otter Tail county, and in 
 immense numbers in the country about Mille Lacs lake, where 
 there is more or less pine. I assume that they find in the pine 
 sections, conditions more favorable for nesting than near the 
 Red river, and that accounts for their scarcity during July and 
 part of August; whereas, later in the season, when the young 
 crows can fly long distances, and when a change of food is 
 desirable, they flock upon the low land of the valley. In Sep- 
 tember, I observed large flocks of them near the track, north 
 and south of Crookston, and in riding across the country I met 
 them in large numbers on the meadow lands, catching and eat- 
 ing young frogs, which are exceedingly abundant here this 
 season." 
 
 The farmers are close observers of this bird, and have a prac- 
 tical knowledge of some of his more interesting habits. I can't 
 say quite so much for him in his defense, but I think a charita- 
 ble apology by recognizing how he was brought up, and 
 acknowledging his services in the destruction of noxious, 
 ground larvas, are due before exterminating him altogether. 
 Like his regal cousin, the raven, he is a shrewd fellow, and 
 appreciates a joke as well as almost any other member of his 
 numerous family. A farmer in the Sacramento valley, Califor- 
 nia, found that the crow could count up to three with infallible 
 certainty, but four was too much for him, and he settled it in 
 this wise. Immense flocks of them were interested in the 
 botany of his cornfield, and did not replant his corn shoots 
 after examining the fibrous roots, and he was thoroughly mad 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 269 
 
 about it. He undertook to shoot them indiscriminately, 
 ' 'guilty or not guUty. " But they were too shrewd for him, as 
 some one or more on guard would give a warning note, just as 
 he nad got nearly ready to give them a broadside of double B 
 shot. An unused shanty stood in the center of the field, and 
 as he could always approach them much more nearly when 
 with no gun, he arose very early in the morning, before day- 
 light, and put his double-barrelled gun in there and returned 
 home. After his breakfast was over, he walked very deliber- 
 ately across the field and into his shanty with very little atten- 
 tion from the crows. 
 
 Lighting his pipe, he sat down to let them forget his going 
 in there, and after waiting some time he peeped out of a hole to 
 see if they had not resumed their botanical investigations, as he 
 facetiously called their depredations. To his surprise, not a 
 crow was to be seen on his corn, but they were all perched at 
 respectful distances -watching the shanty. He staid until noon 
 in vain, and went to his dinner thinking how he was to deceive 
 them. A thought struck him. So after dinner he took one of 
 his hired men with him into the shanty, and after staying 
 awhile sent him out to his work in another part of the farm, 
 and waited for the crows, believing the departure of the man 
 would throw them ofE their guard, but all in vain. The next 
 day he took two men in, and after a short time one went away, 
 and a while after the second followed, and he thought ' 'now I 
 surely will beat them," but not a crow came, till discouraged 
 he went home. Thinking the matter over in the night he 
 decided that as he had begun on that line he would see how 
 many the crows could count, and in the morning called in one 
 more man. Qne after another took their departure, the last 
 one wearing away an outside garment he had worn in himself. 
 To his great delight, very soon after the third man left the 
 crows began to light down in great numbers and in good range. 
 After all were down, and feeding, he suddenly flung open the 
 door, and as they rose, he gave them first one barrel and then 
 the other, and made the biggest crow shot on California 
 records, winging, killing and otherwise disabling something 
 over a score of birds. To his joy he found that by going into 
 that shanty every day with some of his men, without remain- 
 ing at all, not a Crow would light on his corn, but the first 
 day he failed to go there they poured down upon it as if no 
 such catastrophe had ever decimated their ranks. That farmer 
 says he knows that a Crow can count three. 
 
270 NOTES ON THE 
 
 By the twentieth of April the nests are generally finished 
 and incubation fairly entered upon. The nest is placed in the 
 fork of a tall tree, pine where that kind of timber grows, and 
 consists of a thick course of sticks and twigs, overlaid by 
 moss, barks of different kinds, or dried grass, and well lined 
 with bark and leaves. Four eggs is usually the complement, 
 colored some shade of green and covered with splotches of 
 different shades of brown, and dusky. One brood only is 
 reared. 
 
 I am afraid I cannot add anything to the welfare of this 
 bird economically considered. The weight of testimony is all 
 against him.' He must understand that the waste places of the 
 earth only are voted him henceforth and forever. In common 
 with all of the other members of the family he has got a bad 
 name. 
 
 SPEGIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill much compressed; curved from the base, rather more 
 so towards the tip; incumbent feathers of nostrils reach half 
 the distance from the base of the bill to the end of the lower 
 mandible, and not quite half way to that of the upper; fourth 
 quill longest, second shorter than sixth, first shorter than 
 ninth; glossy black with violet reflections, even on the belly; 
 tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw and has eight 
 scales anteriorly; the lateral toes are very nearly equal; the 
 inner claw the larger and reaching to the base of the middle 
 claw; the webs of the throat feather are a little loose, but lie 
 quite smoothly without the pointed, lanceolate character seen 
 in the ravens. 
 
 Length, 19 to 20; wing, 13 to 13.5; tail, 8. 
 
 Habitat, North America from fur countries to Mexico. 
 
 CORYUS 0SSIFRAGU8 Wilson. (490.) 
 
 FISH (mow. 
 
 The appearance of this species in Minnesota of course was 
 accidental." On September 21st, 1869, I was driving in the 
 vicinity of this city near a small lake, when a flock of what I 
 calculated were not less than a hundred and fifty crows passed 
 over me from the north and lighted on a plowed field close to 
 the road along which I was driving. Several of our common 
 crows were feeding on the same field, which possibly was the 
 immediate cause of their alighting, but the contrast in size 
 arrested my attention before they stopped their flight. The 
 most ordinary observer could hot have failed to see the differ- 
 ence in their sizes. Having my field glass with me I stopped 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 271 
 
 my carriage and enjoyed as good an opportunity for observing 
 them as I would ask, except to have them in my hands, which, 
 having no gun with me, 1 could not do. The resemblance in . 
 general form, color and movement was such that had there 
 been none of the ot^er species, and they had not lighted on the 
 same field, I might not have identified them, at least I could 
 not with the same certainty. I have never seen them since 
 with sufficient certainty to list them, yet I believe I have 
 observed them in migration on one or two similar occasions. 
 I have little doubt that they visit Hudson bay occasionally at 
 least. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Fourth quill longest; second rather longer than seventh, first 
 shorter than ninth. Glossy-black, with green and violet re- 
 flections; the gloss of the belly greenish. 
 
 Length, 15-|; wing, 10^; tail, less than 7 inches; tarsus 
 shorter than the middle toe and claw. 
 
 Habitat, said to be Atlantic coast from Long Island to Florida. 
 
 Family ICTERID^. 
 
 DOLICHONYX ORTZIVOBLS (L.). (494.) 
 BOBOLINK. 
 
 The Bobolink has shown greater variations in the dates of 
 its arrival in the vicinity of Minneapolis than almost any other 
 species of migrating birds. In the spring of 1870 it came on 
 the 5th of April. In 1865, nonei' were seen until the 18th of 
 May. As a general average the males appear between the 
 27th of April, and the 7th of May, followed in a few days by the 
 females. Their distribution is universal over the State in 
 sections affording their favorite meadows. Their habits are 
 always of exceptional interest to those who are observers of 
 birds. The morning one is seen first after arrival, others will 
 be seen, and generally upon a green grass-plat grazed very 
 closely by cattle, drawn there by the presence of different 
 species of larvae upon which they feed in the absence of all kinds 
 of seeds. While the females are still absent they sing but 
 little comparatively, but instantly upon their arrival the music 
 begins in earnest. Courtship is inaugurated at once by the 
 songster with a frenzied display of his powers of melody. 
 With the feathers of his black head slightly lifted, and those 
 of the yellowish- white neck thrown into a crest, the wings 
 
272 NOTES ON THE 
 
 partially spread, and drooping, displaying to the best possible 
 advantage the harlequin dress of boidly contrasted colors, he 
 pours out his devotions in song while waltzing around her on 
 the ground or mounting into the air above and in front of her, 
 he hovers over her, fairly bursting with the notes of his 
 ardent professions, until she flies from his demonstrations, 
 when he accepts the hint and follows her through fences and 
 bushes furiously until she yields to his persistence and from 
 thence through all the period of nestbuilding, incubation, and 
 rearing the brood they remain most truly united. 
 
 Early in June the nest is built in a tussock or depression in 
 the ground, which is further excavated by the birds, and con- 
 sists of dried grasses, rather slightly disposed. It is usually 
 in a meadow near a rivulet of clear running water, and con- 
 tains about five eggs of a brownish-clay color, with spots and 
 blotches of different shades of umber. 
 
 As soon as incubation is completed, the hitherto jubilant 
 male drops his singing and his gaudy dress, and assuming a 
 plain sparrow-like mantle, only lingers long enough to see that 
 the brood can care for themselves, when, with his faithful 
 companion, he spends the remaining summer in the quietest 
 ramblings conceivable. About the first of September, often as 
 early as the 25th of August, old and young gather into flocks 
 and begin to slowly work their way southward, feeding by day 
 and making their flights in the early dawn. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 General color in spring black; nape brownish- cream; a patch 
 on the side of the breast, scapulars and rump white, shading 
 into light ash on the upper tail coverts and the back below the 
 interscapular region; the outer primaries sharply margined 
 with yellowish- white, the tertials less abruptly; the tail 
 feathers margined at the tips with pale brownish ash. 
 
 Length, 7.70; wing, 3.83; tail, 8.15. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Great Plains. 
 
 MOLOTHEUS ATEB (Boddaert). (495.) 
 
 COWBIRD. 
 
 The Cowbirds are as fully represented throughout the State 
 as in almost any other with which I am equally well acquinted. 
 They reach us not far from the first of April, and retire again 
 about the 25th of October. In occasional springs I have seen 
 them as early as the 25th of March, and in others not before 
 the middle of April. And I have seen some of them remaining 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 273 
 
 in autumn until into December, but far more frequently until 
 the month of November, yet in either case in very limited 
 numbers. * 
 
 It is more commonly found first after its appearance in spring, 
 along the streams, in small flocks, perched for half an hour at 
 a time or more, in the tops of scattering, leafless trees. These 
 little parties are doubtless the advance pioneers of the species, 
 on their way to still higher latitudes that move on shortly, 
 leaving the locality for others alike migrating, until the rear 
 ■comes to occupy the territory left them by some unwritten law 
 .yet to be learned by curious mortals. These parties are not 
 unfrequently mixed somewhat with Red-wing Blackbirds. 
 When those which are to remain during the summer have 
 ■come, they at once begin to associate with the herds of cattle 
 grazing the fields and commons. Very soon afterwards their 
 numbers increase preceptibly as the herds increase. I have 
 often noticed them scattered in small parties through an immense 
 herd, tripping sprily about their feet, and under their b°ellies, 
 feeding industriously upon some forms of food evidently asso- 
 ciated with the presence of the cattle. It seemed as if the life 
 and limbs of each individual were momentarily jeoparized by 
 the countless feet of the herd, yet in no instance did I ever 
 know of either life or limb suffering by the proximity. After- 
 wards during the warmest days of summer, these remarkable 
 birds may be seen often, perched along the backs of the cattle 
 while feeding, and when lying down chewing their cuds, em- 
 blems of contentment and repose. At such times I have re- 
 peatedly witnessed the approach of the bird, when it would 
 hop from the ground onto the head of the animal, walk un- 
 hesitatingly down along the face and pick in the angles of the 
 eyes for some time, evidently to the entire satisfaction of the 
 animal thus relieved of the annoying flies and midgets abound- 
 ing there. 
 
 About the time that the birds generally begin to lay their 
 rfirst eggs, the females of this species are noticed to become 
 moody, and to separate themselves from the /flocks. Flying 
 about solitarily from thicket to thicket, and tree to tree, they 
 are found to be in the urgent necessities of finding a place in 
 which to deposit their matured eggs. Building no nests of 
 their own, of the instinct for doing which for some reason they 
 are deprived, they drop the imminent egg in the nest of some 
 •one of the other species of birds, more commonly perhaps, 
 that of warblers and sparrows, or the vireos, but scarcely less 
 
274 NOTES ON THE 
 
 frequently the sparrow or thrushes. I believe that the Cow- 
 bird is without the slightest preference as to what, or whose 
 nest receives her mystericftis deposit, but her instincts have 
 taught her not to take such liberties with 'the nests of rapaci- 
 ous, nor pugnacious species, and as a matter of course the 
 unwelcome responsibility falls more commonly upon the weak 
 and timid. The thrushes therefore ordinarily escape, and 
 most of the vireos do so next in frequency, while the tiny 
 warblers, and the less vigilant sparrows, bear the imposition 
 more uniformly. Notably, the period of incubation for this 
 species is a little less, than for any one of those which are 
 thus imposed upon, thus increasing the probabilities of the 
 maintenance of the species. One of the most comical spec- 
 tacles ever falling under my observation in bird-life, has been 
 the appearance of a young Cowbird nearly large enough to 
 take to its wings, still sitting on (in was impossible) the nest 
 of the Maryland Yellow- throat, and the female of that diminu- 
 tive species in the act of feeding it. The tiny excavation 
 could scarcely afford room for its feet, to say nothing of its body, 
 and with its feathers fluffed so much as to double its apparent 
 size, the mouth extended to its utmost, while the midget foster 
 mother, at the hazard of being swallowed herself bodily, 
 plunging her morsels far down the abyssal throat of the 
 ungracious usurper, who has unavoidably destroyed the 
 mothers own birdling in the process of its development. 
 
 Let that species of birds which has no foundlings to rear, 
 question this strange and exceptional provision of a beneficent 
 Creator for the perpetuation of another species. Great rules 
 are often revealed by their exceptions. The birds have no 
 decalogue. What poor little bird-mother, so long imprisoned 
 by her duties in obedience to the demands of her maternal 
 instincts, may not justly envy this one, which has all of the 
 pleasures, and none of the' sacrifices of bird-life, except the 
 agonizing anxieties of the brief moment spent in extruding her 
 egg into another birds nest? 
 
 From all that I have learned from personal observations, I 
 conclude that the Cowbird lays about the same number of 
 eggs as the average of its family. It is not uncommon to 
 find two in the same nest, and only a little less so to find three. 
 I have recorded two instances of four, and one of five. It is 
 by no means certain in any case where more than one is found 
 that the same female deposited all of them. Indeed it is more 
 presumptive that if her instincts should send her to the same 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 275 
 
 nest to lay five eggs, she would try her bill and feet at building 
 a nest for herself exclusively. 
 
 These birds distribute themselves over the entire State, so 
 that they may be seen almost daily in their favorite localities 
 until late in the autumn as already mentioned, but at no time 
 in such vast numbers as Coues has described them in some of 
 the other western states. Their remarkable disappearance in 
 August which he speaks of (in his "Birds of the Northwest,") has 
 never occurred here to my knowledge, although I have noticed 
 that they were less active during the period of their moulting. 
 Mr. Washburn found them common in his explorations of the 
 ornithology of the Red river valley in the middle of August, 
 and in Otter Tail county on the 17th of October. 
 
 My memorandum says for one year, "Very common Novem- 
 ber 15th in the middle and western part of Hennepin county." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second quill longest; first scarcely shorter; tail nearly even, 
 or very slightly rounded; male with the head, neck and ante- 
 rior half of the breast, light chocolate-brown, rather lighter 
 above; rest of body lustrous black, with a violet- purple gloss 
 next to the brown, of steel-blue on the back, and of grfeen 
 elsewhere; bill short and stout, and about two-thirds the length 
 of the head; claws rather small. 
 
 Length, 8; wing, 4.50; tail, 3.40. 
 
 (Female light olivaceous all ov6r, lighter on the head and 
 beneath; bill an,d feet black.) 
 
 Habitat, U. S. from Atlantic to Pacific oceans. 
 
 XANTHOCEPHALUS XANTHOCEPHALUS 
 
 (Bonaparte). (497. ) 
 
 YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. 
 
 Whatever their numbers in other western localities, the Yel- 
 low-headed Blackbirds are far from abundant in any portion 
 of Minnesota yet explored. 
 
 Neither are they even approximately uniformly distributed, 
 although all of the conditions favorable for them are found in 
 nearly every considerable portion of the State. 
 
 The males are so large and their markings so conspicuous 
 that they cannot escape attention even when their numbers are 
 very few, and they confine themselves so closely to their breed- 
 ing places that whoever finds them once is pretty sure of find- 
 ing them at the same places the next time he seeks them. 
 
276 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Their spring arrival is later thtaii any other species of the 
 family, being more frequently after, than before May first, and 
 generally the females and males arrive nearly, if not quite 
 simultaneously. 
 
 They seek marshy places where coarse, strong reeds abound, 
 and in water too deep or miry for approach except with a boat. 
 Here they build their nests in small communities, suspending 
 them by firm and very ingenious attachments to about four or 
 five of the firmest reed- stalks, but little above the surface of the 
 surrounding water. Coarse grasses and the leaves of the reeds 
 are used in its structure, in such a manner as to evince a. high 
 degree of ingenuity in bird- architecture. It varys somewhat in 
 depth but is relatively a deep nest, with the border elevated 
 and thickened into a strong brim. These nests are finished, and 
 occupied by from four to six grayish-green eggs spotted all 
 over with reddish or umber brown, by the first or second week 
 in June. I have never known them to bring out more than one 
 brood, in caring for which the males have seemed to share all 
 incidental burdens. Their efforts at song are amusing, being 
 much more of a cachination which reminds one of those of a 
 precocious male chicken, making its first rather weak attempts 
 to crow. 
 
 After maturing their broods they become a little more dis- 
 tributed, but by no means generally, as do the other members of 
 its family, until preparing for migration, which takes place a 
 little earlier than the Red-wings. Like the latter they feed 
 principally upon wild rice which abounds along the course of 
 streams and in shallow ponds and lakes, but they are often seen 
 in the yards where cattle and dairy cows are herded, strolling 
 about as fearlessly as the Cowbirds, with whom they are greatly 
 prone to associate, apparently drawn by the scattering seeds, 
 grains and intestinal worms occasionally dropped in the offal. 
 For almost thirty years they have bred and fed in one locality, 
 long since within the earliest corporate limits of this city (Min- 
 neapolis) until their old reedy haunt became too valuable for 
 poor folks and was buried under the deep grading for city lots. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 First quill nearly as long as second and third, (longest) 
 decidedly longer than the third; tail rounded or slightly grad- 
 uated; general color black, including the inner surface of 
 wings and axillaries, base of lower mandible all round, feathers 
 adjacent to nostrils, lores, upper eyelids and remaining space 
 around the eye; the head and neck all around, the fore part of 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 277 
 
 the breast, extending some distance down on the median line 
 and a somewhat hidden space round, the anus, yellowish; a con- 
 spicuous white patch at the base of the wing formed by the 
 spurious feathers, interrupted by -the black alula; female 
 smaller, browner; the yellow confined to the under parts and 
 sides of the head, and a superciliary line; a dusky maxillary 
 line; no white on the wing. , 
 
 Length (of male), 10; wing, 5.60; tail, 4.50. 
 ' Habitat, western America from Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin 
 and north Red river to California, south to Mexico. 
 
 AGELAIUS PH(ENICEUS (L.). (498). 
 RED- WINGED. BLACKBIRD. 
 
 The Red-winged Blackbirds are an exceptionally abundant 
 species here. They reach the southern counties about the 20th 
 of March and the principal parts of the State about the. 1st of 
 April. They come in small flocks generally and some springs 
 a single bird will appear several days in advance of the parties 
 to follow. They take to the reeds, and especially the cat-tails 
 of which they seem to be very fond, obtaining, doubtless, a 
 portion of their food from them. The males sing their brief, 
 melodious songs from the tops of the trees and bushes, which 
 being devoid of leaves; makes them conspicuous objects in 
 their black mantles with scarlet epaulets. Their notes are 
 limpid, sweet and resonant, and are amongst the cheeriest of 
 the early spring. When not singing he keeps a constantly 
 repeated c?ieclc, check, check, from which he frequently abruptly 
 presses into the liquid utterance of o-kle-ree-e-e-e-ee; o-kle-ree- 
 e-e-e-ee, during which his wings and tail are suddenly spread 
 and he bows and sidles as if receiving a regal introduction to 
 somebody allied to the queen. The males precede the females 
 about ten days. Mating immediately follows the arrival of the 
 latter and by the 10th of May they engage in building their 
 nests in communities in the meadows and swamps. Tussocks 
 of grass or low bushes standing in water are preferably 
 chosen, but proximity to the water will answer. Coarse 
 grasses are interlaced and woven into a strong, deep nest 
 which involves the staljis of grass and twigs, upon which they 
 are built. It is lined with fine grasses and fibrous roots and 
 generally receives from four to five eggs of a light blue color. 
 They bring out two broods, and soon after the last is able, to 
 fly strongly, gather into flocks. As the season advances these 
 flocks aggregate into larger ones until their numbers often 
 exceed all computation, feeding upon grain fields and wild 
 
278 NOTES ON THE 
 
 rice. About October 25th they move southward, but their 
 numbers are immediately re- supplied by others from still 
 further north, so that to the casual observer there is little 
 diminution until considerably later. Indeed a few do linger 
 until near, or even into December in occasional autumns. 
 
 Mr. Lewis found them in myriads in Grant county in Sep- 
 tember, and still fairly represented on October 20th. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them the most abundant of their fam- 
 ily in the Red river valley in August, and still numerous asso- 
 ciates with brewers and the rusty blackbirds in Otter Tail 
 on October 25th. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 General uniform lustrous velvet-black, with a greenish 
 reflection; shoulders and lesser wing coverts bright crimson, 
 or Vermillion red; middle coverts brownish- yellow, and usually 
 paler towards the tips; tail much rounded, the lateral feathers 
 half an inch shorter; fourth quill longest; first about as long as 
 fifth; bill large and stout, half, or more than half as high as 
 long. 
 
 Length, 9.50; wing, 5; tail, 4.15. 
 
 Habitat, North America in general. 
 
 STDRNELLA MAGNA (L.). (501.) 
 MBADOWLARK. 
 
 The accidents of early associations and the idiosyncracies of 
 Individ aal sensibility to the melody of bird- songs may account 
 for the diversity of the measure of welcome which different 
 birds meet upon their arrival in spring, yet to me it remains 
 unexplained that comparatively so few seem to appreciate the 
 arrival and presence of the Meadowlark. Braving the cold, 
 rough winds incident to these northern latitudes in the early days 
 of April, he drops down suddenly onto some slightly elevated 
 object, like a stone, an old ant-hill, a low shrub or bush, or in 
 the absence of all these, onto about the third rail of a worm 
 fence along the roadway, and bursts into song. A single note 
 of it reaching the ear of those who know him, between the 
 gusts of high wind, arrests all attention, until its most wel- 
 come source is ascertained. The females are never long behind, 
 and as the season advances, the song, at first broken into con- 
 siderable intervals; grows more and inore frequent until the 
 nesting time draws near, when mounting higher objects, like a 
 stake in the fence, a high bush, or even the topmost branch 
 of a medium sized shade tree, he sings his clear, limpid song. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 279 
 
 broken into short intervals, during which he keeps nervously 
 twitching, jerking and expanding his somewhat abbreviated 
 tail, or dashing into the air, uttering a chuckling twitter, and 
 sailing off, prairie-hen like to another perch to repeat his 
 beautiful and delicious song. Nesting is usually begun about 
 the middle of May, occasionally earlier, and of tener later. Two 
 broods are reared in a season. They lay four to five white 
 eggs, speckled and blotched with reddish-brown or lilac. 
 
 The nest consists of coarse, dried grasses outwardly, and fine 
 grasses within, and is placed in an excavation in a tuft or tus- 
 sock of the ranker grass of the previous year, the tops of the 
 inner stalks of which are adroitly fastened together and con 
 cealed by other loose material mingled with and dropped upon 
 it, leaving an obscure opening on one side only. A more se- 
 cure or completely concealed home could scarcely be conceived 
 amidst so great exposure in the dry, elevated, open fields, con- 
 stituting their chosen local habitats. Their food consists of 
 insects and worms, for the obtaining of which their bills are 
 remarkably adapted, being very long, acutely tapered from the 
 base which is firm, deep and very strong, thus preparing them 
 to bore through the dry, compact soil of the uplands where 
 they remain. 
 
 Individuals of this species remain very late in the autumn, 
 especially in the southern counties — indeed. Dr. Hvoslef, of 
 Lanesboro, in Fillmore county, which borders Iowa in the south- 
 east, met this bird on the third of January, sitting on the fence 
 in the act of singing— a jolly fellow that. If he had been a 
 permanent resident we should have known that he was daft. 
 They are mostly given by the last of October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish- white, 
 with a terminal blotch of pale reddish-brown; exposed portions 
 of wing and tail with transverse bars of dark brown bars 
 which are confluent along the shaft on the middle tail feathers; 
 beneath yellow with a black pectoral crescent, the vellow not 
 extending on the side of the maxilla; sides, crissum, and tubise, 
 pale reddish brown, streaked with blackish; a light median 
 and superciliary stripe, the latter yellow anterior to the eye; 
 and a black line- behind. 
 
 Length, 10.60; T^ing, 5; tail, 3.70; bill above, 1.35. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United. States. 
 
 19z 
 
280 NOTES ON THE 
 
 STURNELLA MAGNA NEGLECTA (Audubon). (501&.) 
 WESTERN MEADOW LARK. 
 
 This species has been occasionally obtained in the Red river 
 valley for the last fifteen years, but is still rare. It has been 
 collected as far down as the Indian Reserve in Pipestone 
 county. I am very familiar with this bird, and its various 
 modifications of song as exhibited in the mountains, foot hills 
 and valleys of California where I spent about two years in the 
 enjoyment of special facilities for observing them, as I was 
 making a collection of the birds from Trucker to Sonoma and 
 south to San Diego in 1871-2. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Feathers above dark brown, margined with brownish-white, 
 with a terminal blotch of pale reddish-brown; exposed portion 
 of wings and tail with transverse bands, which in the latter 
 are completely isolated from each other, narrow and linear; 
 beneath yellow, with a black pectoral crescent; yellow of the 
 throat extending on the sides of the maxilla; sides, crissum, 
 and tibia, very pale reddish-brown, or nearly white, streaked 
 with blackish; head with a light median, and superciliary 
 stripe, the latter yellow in front of the eye, a blackish line 
 behind it; the transverse bars on the feathers above (less so 
 on the tail) with a tendency to become confluent near the 
 ex;terior margin. 
 
 Length, 10; wing, 5.25; tail, 3.25; bill,- 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, western United States from Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
 Iowa to Pacific coast. 
 
 ICTERUS SPURIUS (L.). r506.) 
 ORCHARD ORIOLE. 
 
 This is a fairly common summer resident, arriving about the 
 middle of May and retiring southward about the first of Sep- 
 tember. Its song is clear, strong and thrush-like in melody. 
 
 The nests are usually constructed and incubation commenced 
 by the second week in June, and occasionally a little earlier. 
 The structure consists of green or nearly fresh wiry grasses 
 compactly woven and lined with finer grasses, inner bark of 
 coarse weeds and coarse hairs of cattle and horses. It is 
 usually suspended from a fork in a limb from seven to ten or 
 twelve feet from the ground. In the absence jof the orchards, 
 from which it has received its common name in the east and 
 south, it seems to prefer a low tree of almost any species of 
 timber if somewhere about the size of a matured apple tree 
 and located on a somewhat elevated, dry sidehill with no rela- 
 tion to approximate water. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 281 
 
 I have never known them to bring out more than one brood in 
 the season. After the young are sufficiently grown to fly they 
 disappear from their ordinary localities and are afterwards 
 less frequently seen, except by those familiar with their post 
 nidifying habits. Their distribution throughout the State is 
 universal. Mr. Washburn and many others report it common 
 in districts explored by them. 
 
 Note. — Authors differ as to the pensile character of the 
 Orchard Oriole's nest. In his Birds of New England, Samuels 
 on page 347 says: "It is not pensile, but is built on the 
 branch." Langille says an page 245 of his "Our Birds in 
 their Haunts:" — The nest is Awng'by the upper edge to a limb." 
 
 I have never seen a nest on a limb, as the former states, and 
 from the entire mechanism of it I can not see how it could be 
 thus placed, but while always hung by the upper edge, I have 
 met instances when it received substantial support from a 
 fortuitous limb under it which was firmly secured to it. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill slender, attenuated, considerably decurved; tail moder- 
 ately graduated; head and neck all around, wings, interscap- 
 ular region of the back and tail feathers, black; rest of under 
 parts, lower part of back to tail, lesser upper* wing coverts 
 and the lower one, brownish-chestnut; a narrow line across 
 the wing and the extreme outer edges of quills, white. 
 
 Length, 7.75; wing, 3.25; tail, 2.60. 
 
 Habitat, United States west to the Plains. 
 
 ICTERUS GALBULA (L.). (507). 
 BALTIMOEE OEIOLE, 
 Few of the birds spending their summers in Minnesota 
 arrive with more pronounced regularity than the Baltimore 
 Oriole. Years in succession he had not varied three days 
 from the tenth of May. The very characteristic note of the 
 male upon his first appearance will arrest the attention of 
 anyone enough to secure a careful search for him, when his 
 unmistakable plumage settles his identity for everyone. The 
 females usually arrive about three days later, rarely more, but 
 not infrequently have they come within twenty-four hours. In 
 the interval between the arrival of the sexes, the males have 
 a very peculiar, clear, strong, whistling association of about 
 three or four notes, which are at once exchanged for a beauti- 
 ful, pathetic variety, when she has come. They sing quite 
 volubly, and voluptuously while pairing, and only less so dur- 
 ing incubation, but become comparatively silent afterwards 
 until they retire southward not far from the 30th day of August! 
 
282 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Thirty years ago, when the populatioa of the entire State 
 was only about the same as that of one of her chief cities now, 
 this species was correspondingly represented by fewer num- 
 bers, but unlike some other species, civilization has favored its 
 multiplication probably tenfold. I have no doubt that a hun- 
 dred nests might be found in the corporation of Minneapolis 
 (after extra-limiting half that number of promising additions) 
 and possibly double that figure, while along the highway be- 
 tween it and St. Paul, in a distance of five miles, one-fourth as 
 many more would be possible to be found. I have found no 
 arboreal portion of the State except the coniferous or the 
 swampy, where the species is unrepresented. 
 
 They commence building their nests about the 20th of May, 
 for the most beautiful description of which I shall ofEer no 
 apology for quoting Nuttall : "There is nothing more remarka ' 
 ble in the whole instinct of our Golden Robin than the ingenu- 
 ity displayed in the fabrication of its nest, which is in fact, -a 
 pendulous, cylindrical pouch of five to seven inches in depth 
 usually suspended from near the extremities of the high, droop- 
 ing branches of trees such as the elm, the pear, or appletree, 
 wild cherry, Veeping willow, tulip- tree, or buttonwood. It is be- 
 gun by firmly fastening natural strings of the flax of the silk-weed 
 or swamp hollyhock, or stout, artificial threads around two or 
 more forked twigs corresponding to the intended width and depth 
 of the nest. With the same materials, willow- down, or any acci- 
 dental ravellings, strings, thread, sewing-silk, tow or wool, that 
 may be lying near the neighboring houses or around grafts of 
 trees, they interweave and fabricate a sort of coarse cloth into the 
 form intended, towards the bottom of which they place the real 
 nest, made chiefly of lint, wiry grass, horse and cow hair, 
 sometimes in defect of hair, lining the interior with a mixture 
 of slender strips of smooth vine-bark, and rarely with g, few 
 feathers; the whole being of a considerable thickness, and 
 more or less attached to the external pouch. Over the top, the 
 leaves, as they grow out, form a verdant and agreeable canopy, 
 defending the young from the sun and rain. There is some- 
 times a considerable difference in the manufacture of these 
 nests, as well as in the materials which enter into the compo- 
 sition. Both sexes seem to be equally adepts at this sort of 
 labor, and I have seen the female alone perform the whole 
 without any assistance, and the male also complete this labor- 
 ious task nearly without the aid of his consort, who, however, 
 in general is the principal worker." 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 283 
 
 Their, eggs, usually four, sometimes six, are flesh-colored, 
 and not unfrequently with a bluish shade, with lines of 
 lavender, over all of which are strongly marked scratches of 
 brown and black. 
 
 The species is one of those which the agriculturist and 
 horticulturist ought to call "blessed," and to which he should 
 make an offering of all of his garden peas without a murmur, 
 in view of its extensive destruction of canker-worms, cater- 
 pillars, and other ruinous larvae. Its marvelous beauty, song, 
 and immeasurable service in the destruction of such indisput- 
 able numbers of his enemies, should forever secure it immunity 
 form his curses (for stealing his peas) as the cunning of the 
 location secures it from his cats. 
 
 The devotion of the parents to their nests and offspring has 
 no more exalted illustration in bird-biography, exposing them- 
 selves to all dangers and to death itself in their protection. 
 Instances of tlie capture of the young are on^ record where the 
 parents have followed them long distances and afterwards con- 
 tinued to feed them through the bars of their cage till full 
 grown. One kindred incident has found a place in North 
 American Birds, ' 'where the female entered her nest while he 
 was in the act of severing the limb from which it was sus- 
 pended, and persisted in remaining there until the nest had 
 been cut off and taken into the house." (Ridgway.) 
 
 Mr. Washburn in his Red river valley report to me says: 
 "Fairly common everywhere, in the timber along streams. 
 The richness and depth of color, reported as peculiar to 
 western birds of this species, is particularly noticable in birds 
 taken in the valley. The orange-yellow of some individuals 
 noticed was of such a deep hue as to be almost scarlet. " These 
 instances of intense coloration, come frequently under my obser- 
 vation in many different species, but so far as individuals are 
 involved, the difference is relatively no greater than those I 
 observed on the Pacific coast. Amongst all the highly colored 
 species, there is an annual advancement up to the fourth year, 
 and in some, including the present species, to the fifth year, as 
 extended, consecutive observations have established. 
 
 For an instance, a young oriole of the species, when clam- 
 bering out into the parapet of its nest before being quite able to 
 fly.wasblownoflby a sudden gust of wind, onto the ground quite 
 near the residence of a friend who was very much interested 
 in birds. His cat seized it instantly but being on the spot he 
 rescued the victim, yet not until the cat had torn a piece of 
 
284 NOTES ON THE 
 
 skin from one side of its neck. The unfortunate birdling was 
 immediately restored to its place by the employment of a long 
 ladder. Of course it was an easy matter to distinguish this 
 one from the others by the disfigured neck while the family 
 remained about there, which it did until its departure with the 
 others southward. 
 
 Nothing more was thought of the circumstance till the fol- 
 lowing spring, when a pair of orioles commenced building in 
 another tree near by, gathering their strings and threads from 
 the debris of the chip-pile under the window, with which to 
 construct the frame work of the nest. The disfigurement men- 
 tioned, arrested the attention of those who first saw them, 
 as it was on the male. For five successive years this individ- 
 ual returned and built on different trees within a hundred yards 
 of the house, and after a little painstaking was identified, 
 thus affording a perfectly consecutive history of the modifica 
 tion of the colors of the plumage under the ordinary circum- 
 stances of observation. Many other similar instances of other 
 species might be introduced. The one narrated affords a sug- 
 gestion for means of determining many interesting questions 
 in this department of natural history. The orioles all disap- 
 pear with the advent of the frosts of autumn. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail nearly even; head all around and to the middle of the 
 back, scapulars, wings, and upper surface of tail, black; rest 
 of under parts, rump, upper tail coverts, lesser wing coverts, 
 and terminal portions of tail feathers except the two inner- 
 most, orange-red; edge of wing quills, and a band across the 
 .tips of the greater coverts, white. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 3.75; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Rocky mountains. 
 
 SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS (Muller). (509.) 
 RUSTY BLACKBIRD. 
 
 This blackbird is most noticable in the fall migration when it 
 is abundant in association with the other species of its genus. 
 It arrives in the spring about the first of April and disappears 
 again about the first to the tenth of May moving further north 
 to breed. Although I have discovered no nests, nor have any 
 been reported to me, yet I am satisfied from many observa- 
 tions of their return here at the beginning of October, and 
 other circumstances I might mention, they probably breed in 
 and around the vicinity of Lake Superior in considerable num- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 285 
 
 oers. They do so in the northern parts of Maine and New 
 Hampshire. Samuels in his Birds of New England says: 
 "While in the valley of the Magalloway river in Maine in June, 
 J.b64, I found several (nests) ; and two of them contained- three 
 eggs each. 
 
 ' 'These nests were all built in low alders overhanging the 
 water. They were constructed of, first, a layer of twigs and 
 brier stalks; on this was built the nest proper, which was com- 
 posed of stalks and leaves of grass, which were mixed with 
 mud, and moulded into a firm, circular structure and lined 
 with fine leaves of grass and a few hair-like roots. The whole 
 formed a large structure, easily seen at the distance of a few 
 rods through the foliage. The eggs are of a bluish-white 
 color, of oval form, and covered with fine scratches and spots 
 of light brown. These markings are almost exactly similar 
 to those on the egg of the Great- crested Flycatcher. They 
 appear as if done with a pen, which as soon as it is pressed 
 forcibly on the object, is suddenly withdrawn, making a mark 
 wide at one end, and sharply pointed at the other." Their 
 dimensions were 1.04 by .76 inch, 1.05 by .75 inch and 1 by .70 
 inch. 
 
 They reappear in their southern migration about the first 
 of October, associated with Brewer's Blackbirds and Redwings, 
 and in greatly augmented numbers. At this time their food 
 consists almost exclusively of the wasted grain of the harvest. 
 They seem to have the faculty of obtaining their food in less 
 time than the Redwings, and consequently have more for 
 exclusively social enjoyment. Much oC their time is spent on 
 the fences, and in the trees, with only an unmelodious note 
 like check, or checTc che weecha, uttered alike by both sexes. 
 They mostlj?- take their autumnal leave of us and move south- 
 ward at the beginning of November. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill slender, shorter than head, about equal to hind toe; its 
 height not quite two-fifths its total length; wing nearly an inch 
 longer than the tail; second quill longest; first a little shorter 
 than the fourth; tail slightly graduated; lateral feathers about 
 a quarter of an inch shortest; general color black, with purple 
 reflections; wings, under tail covens, and hinder part of the 
 belly, glossed with green; female, dull brown; iris pale straw 
 color. 
 
 Length, 9.51; tail, 4. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, west to Alaska and the 
 Plains. Breeds from northern New England northward. 
 
286 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SCOLECOPHAGUS C¥ANOCEPJIALUS (Wagler). (510.) 
 BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. 
 
 The migrating movements of this beautiful blackbird do not 
 differ from those of the Rusty Blackbird, arriving and depart- 
 ing at or about the same times, viz: about April first, and 
 about November first. They breed abundantly along the Red 
 river from Big Stone lake to the Canada line, and eastwardly 
 along the shores of the woodland lakes and streams to Mille 
 Lacs in Crow Wing county, and less commonly considerably 
 further south. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them at Georgetown, Ada and St. Vin- 
 cent, August first, old and young in such numbers as to justify 
 the supposition that they breed there. Mr. Lewis reports 
 them in large numbers embracing the young still further east 
 in the same month. 
 
 Wherever their breeding habits have been observed in either . 
 Minnesota or DaK:ota it has been noted that they do not do so 
 in large communities. A few pairs will be somewhat associ- 
 ated, but often only one in a locality. And they almost as 
 often select dry, as swampy sections. The nest is a large 
 structure compactly built of twigs and finer materials, like 
 dried grasses, rootlets, weed-bark and lined with hair. Some 
 nests have considerable mud wrought in, but others have none 
 at all. The eggs, five to six in number, are a dull greenish- 
 gray, with several shades of brown in small spots, some of 
 which are light and others dark, very irregular in their out- 
 lines. 
 
 Doctor Coues in his Birds of The Northwest, page 201, has 
 given so true a description of some of the characteristic habits 
 of this species that I cannot do better than to quote it. He 
 says: "Troops of twenty, fifty, a hundred are commonly seen; 
 they have no special fondness for watery places, but scour the 
 open, dry ground, and scatter among straggling pines and oaks; 
 they come fearlessly into the clearings about houses, the 
 traveller's camp, and the stock-yards, gleaning plentiful sub- 
 sistence from man's bounty oi wastfulness. Much of their 
 time is spent on the ground, rambling in hurried, eager search 
 for grain and insects; they generally run with nimble steps, 
 hopping being the exception, when they have satisfied their 
 hunger, and are moving leisurely with no particular object in 
 view. The movements are all easy and graceful, the bird's 
 trim form and glossy color setting it off to great advantage. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 287 
 
 I 
 
 At full speed the head is lowered and fixed; in slower progress 
 it is held upright bobbing in time with each step. When a 
 flock is feeding they pass over a good deal of ground, without 
 seeming to examine it very closely; every one tries to keep 
 ahead of the next, and thus they scurry on, taking short flights 
 over each other's head. 
 
 ' 'At the least alarm the timid birds betake themselves to the 
 nearest tree, perching in various attitudes. A favorite posture 
 so easy as to appear negligent, is with the body held nearly 
 upright, the tail hanging loosely straight down, while the head 
 "turns in various ways, with the whim of the moment. When 
 ■excited, the bird often sits low down, firmly on its legs, with 
 •elevated and widespread tail, constantly flirted, while its 
 Tvatchful eye peers down through the foliage. However com- 
 pactly a flock may fly up into a tree, they generally scatter as 
 they alight all over its branches, so that it is rarely that more 
 than two, or three can be brought down at a shot. On the 
 ground the case is quite different; there they huddle together- 
 so closely that the whole flock may be decimated. Their be- 
 haviour in the presence of man is a curious mixture of timidity 
 and heedlessness; they come to the very door- step, and yet a 
 sudden movement, or a shout, sends them affrighted into the 
 nearest trees. The next moment they begin to straggle back 
 again, at first singly or in little squads, till the more timid 
 ones are reassured and come streaming down together, when 
 the busy search for food rts resumed. Their hunger satisfied 
 for the time, the birds betake themselves to the trees, often 
 passing the whole period of digestion snugly ensconsed in the 
 thick foliage. Then the concert opens; and if the music is 
 neither sweet nor soft, it is sprightly and not disagreeable, for 
 it suggests the careless joviality, and lazy good humor of black- 
 birds, with their stomachs full, and satisfactory promise of 
 future supply. The notes are energetic, rapid and varied with 
 a peculiar delivery which, like the yelping of the prairie 
 wolves, gives the hearer a very exaggerated idea of the num- 
 ber of the performers. '' 
 
 Nearly all the different species of blackbirds are seen in- 
 discriminately mingled in the autumnal migrations, but one 
 familiar with their individual or rather their specific habits 
 Tvill readily discover the species in the manner of flight and 
 their walk as well as their feeding. This species does not 
 linger as late in individual instances as the Crow Blackbird. 
 The farmer's prejudices against the whole ef them is irremov- 
 able, nevertheless they are all his true friends. 
 
288 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill stout, quiscaline, the commissure scarcely sinuated; 
 shorter than the head and hind toe; the height nearly half the 
 length above; wing nearly an inch longer than the tail; the 
 second quill longest; first about equal to the third; tail rounded 
 and moderately graduated; the lateral feathers about thirty- 
 five one-hundredths of an inch shorter; general color of male 
 black, with lustrous green reflections everywhere except on 
 the head and neck, which are glossed with purplish violet; 
 females much duller, of a light brownish anteriorly; a very 
 faint superciliary stripe. j 
 
 Length, 10; wing, 5.35; tail, 4.40. 
 
 Habitat, United States, from eastern Kansas and Minnesota 
 to the Pacific; south into Mexico; breeds througout its United 
 States range. • 
 
 QUISCALUS QUISCULA (L.). (511.) 
 PURPLE GRACKLE. 
 
 This very common bird it seems to me has claims upon our 
 admiration which have scarcely been acknowledged. Coming 
 back to us after the long silence of the winter one of the first, 
 and remaining until about the very latest in autumn, essaying 
 sometimes to remain all winter, he should awaken our best 
 appreciation of him if for nothing more than these reasons, 
 but he is a beautiful bird, and has the regal grace in his 
 demeanor that shames the strut of the peacock. The fiight is 
 more than ordinarily graceful, in the shorter ones of which he , 
 displays a characteristic peculiarify exhibited by no other 
 bird I know of, natnely folding the tail so as to present a per- 
 pendicular rudder-like appearance, still preserving its sym- 
 metry perfectly. To do this there must be some specialized 
 muscles that depress the central line of the tail while others 
 elevate the borders, thus bringing the two halves of the upper 
 surface in close contact, and the under surface converted into 
 two, looking in opposite directions. 
 
 The coverts preserve their perfect symmetry while they give 
 great firmness to the unique aerial rudder of as graceful a 
 craft as sails the summer air. They arrive in Minnesota about 
 the 25th of March in small flocks or parties and are at once 
 domiciled and "at home" for the season. Their distribution is 
 universal and their breeding places only less so. After finding 
 their nests in a great variety of places I am satisfied they choose 
 the vicinity of dwellings not already pre-empted by comrades 
 or foes, as I find them common in the very heart of the city 
 where there is room enough for the colony. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 289 
 
 The city hall, in the noisiest part of a city of 150,000 people, 
 has niches in the cornice which they occupied for "many years, 
 until the pugnacious little English Sparrows arrived and drove 
 them gradually out and occupied them themselves. My near- 
 est neighbor, Hon. R. B. Langdon, has encouraged their 
 building in the corners of his elegant residence for several 
 years, and our elms, maples and evergreens bear good testi- 
 mony to where the nesting of this species has been in the 
 recent years gone by.* 
 
 The nest is composed of weeds, dried grasses, fine roots and 
 other similar materials compacted in mud, and is' lined with 
 fine grass, weeds and horse hairs. Its location varies in eleva- 
 tion from a crotch in a lilac bush, two feet from the ground, to 
 the tops of trees sixty or seventy feet. They are very devoted 
 to their young and apparently very civil to their neighbors of 
 different species, if unannoyed by them, but woe to the in- 
 truder. 
 
 The charge of eating the eggs and young of other birds in 
 this locality would be a vile slander, and I ask for general and 
 specific testimony to the local facts before I will consent to 
 have so noble a bird thus maligned. As to the indictments of 
 the corn growing agriculturists against him for digging it up, 
 I venture to say that they never grew up to manhood without 
 a few melon patches having suffered at their several hands, and 
 if luscious, ripe melons are an irresistible temptation to one 
 who has been brought up with the Westminster catechism in 
 
 *In the case of a great many species of migrating birds, there can be no doubt of 
 their annual return to the same general, and not Infrequently the same special locali- 
 ties, from year to year during the life-time of the Individual, affording thus an occa- 
 sional opportunity to observe the variations of the plumage associated with age. To 
 do this reliably, a given Individual must have some accidental, unusual mark that Is 
 persistent, so as to leave no possible doubt, as in the case of the Baltimore Oriole, des- 
 cribed with the species elsewhere in the Notes. Another has been*recently related 
 to me of the present species, by the Hon John DeLaittre, who resides on Nicollet Is- 
 land, in the heart of the city, surrounded with the most beautiful forest trees. To- 
 gether with many other species, the Crow Blackbirds breed on that arboreal Island, 
 one nest of which was several years ago built In a hole In a tree very near his house, 
 and so placed that It was within ten feet of a chamber window, from which frequent 
 observations were quite unavoidable. Amongst the full grown brood, one male lost a 
 leg by some means, most probably a sllng-shot of some marauding boy. It seemed 
 otherwise well, but was too well marked to escape constant recognition. 
 
 It disappeared late In the autumn with the rest of a large flock, and upon the return 
 of the spring, reappeared with its species, and in due time built a nest in consort with 
 its newly chosen companion near the dwelling, reared another brood, and is confi- 
 dently expected to return again next year provided no unseen foe has destroyed the 
 remaining leg, wings or body. 
 
 Here is a hint of the possibility of following up the life history of individuals, and 
 settling some open questions as to the variations of intensity of coloration within a 
 uniform term of years. I am persuaded that this species does not reach its highest 
 plumage until the fifth year; or until about the end of the first one-fourth of the nat- 
 ural life of the Individual. 
 
290 NOTES ON THE 
 
 his hand, germinating corn with its little green flag to locate it 
 with certainly, and new com "in the milk" in the delicious 
 covert of broad leaves and silken tassels must be more to these 
 uncircumcized aboriginees, who held the soil before they ever 
 dreamed of waving corn fields or quarter sections. Besides, a 
 grub is found at the root of every fifth hill of what is to be 
 corn at all. And he hab earned extenuation for breaking the 
 sixth commandent by the destruction of hosts of the grubs 
 just over in the pasture and meadow before the corn was 
 planted. 
 
 They lay four to five eggs, varying in color from light blue 
 to light brown, which are marked with obscure spots of light 
 brown over which are laid blotches and lines of black and 
 umber -brown. They vary iu size from 1.30 by .88 to 1.18 by 
 .88 of an inch. They usually bring out two broods, unless 
 greatly disturbed. The larger portion return southward about 
 the first of November, but as already intimated, occasional 
 parties remain much later, and in a few localities, all winter. 
 
 Mr. Edward Everett, of Waseca, writes me: — "One or two 
 small flocks remain here during the winter in the groves, feed- 
 ing on the seeds and grains from the barn yards." Mr. Wash- 
 burn found them still represented as far north as Otter Tail 
 county on the 25th of October, and Mr. Lewis reports them as 
 not gone in many localities further south at a considerably 
 later date. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill above, about as long as the head, more than twice as 
 long as high; the commissure moderately sinuated and consid- 
 erably decurved at the tip; tail a little shorter than the wing, 
 much graduated, the lateral feathers one and ten one-hun- 
 dredth inches shorter; third quill longest, flrst between fourth 
 and flfth; he'ad and neck all well defined steel-blue; the rest of 
 the body with varied reflections of bronze, golden, green, cop- 
 per, and purple, the latter most conspicuous on the tail, tail- 
 co verts and wings; the edgfes of the primaries and of the tail 
 greenish. Female similar, but smaller and duller, with per- 
 haps more green on the head. Iris yellow. 
 
 Length,. 13; wing, 5.50 to 6; tail, 5.80; bill, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, New England and AUeghanies north and west to 
 Hudson's Bay and the Eocky mountains. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 291 
 
 Family FEIKGILLID^. 
 
 COCCOTHRAUSTES TESPEETINA (Cooper). (514.) 
 EVENING GROSBEAK. 
 
 In characteristics, habits and its history, the Evening Gros- 
 beak is a wonderful, if not a mysterious bird. The peculiar 
 combination of its colors in plumage, the huge size of its 
 powerful bill, as well as many other things, almost undefinable, 
 in its feeding, peeping and flying combine to constitute it a 
 very remarkable bird. It is cheerfully assigned the place of 
 honor, at the head of our list of the Pinch family. After all, 
 however, it is least known. It is but recently that it has been 
 very closely observed, and very little has been learned of its 
 summer habits. It appears in the vicinity of our homes so 
 suddenly, so mysteriously, that it seems like a phantom; drop- 
 ped out of the autumn clouds. Its entire absence in summer 
 contributes materially to this. It comes when most of those 
 birds we know, and love, have gone — when the spectral forms 
 of the leafless trees are apparently dead, to reclothe them 
 with life, and by their peeping, recall the spring. Their trust- 
 fulness scarcely recognizes the presence of man. Except their 
 frog-like peeping they give nothing by which to judge their 
 powers of song, 
 
 But silent and songless, no story he tells, 
 Not even to whisper the place where he dwells; 
 And when the bright sun to the northward returns, 
 Like a'ghost, flies away from the land that he spurns. 
 
 I had resided here many years before I saw one of them in the 
 flesh or the skin, notwithstanding my extensive observations, 
 and my familiarity with every local collection besides my own, 
 then known. The individual met with, so far as I have known, 
 was found by Mr. T. A. Whitmore, of this city, on Nov. 9, 
 1870, in the timber bordering the banks of Basset's creek, 
 within or near the corporate limits. Its strongly marked 
 colors and huge bill, assured him that it was a new bird, and 
 after a prolonged ancj exhausting pursait he finally was 
 rewarded by securing it. After it was mounted and placed in 
 his collection I had the pleasure of examining it many times. 
 On Dec. 26th following, a specimen of each sex, in mature 
 plumage, was obtained near the city out of a small flock feed- 
 ing upon the cottonwoods. 
 
292 NOTES ON THE 
 
 They were exceedingly unsuspicious and tame. Others 
 were subsequently secured, by nearly every birdist in this 
 locality, and letters of inquiry came from all sections respect- 
 ing them. Following this a period ensued during which for 
 several years they were rarely seen, and then only by those 
 who were watching closely for them. Later observations lead 
 me to think their lines of migration vary considerably even 
 when the seasonal characteristics do not; The earliest of my 
 own records of this autumnal arrival is November 9th. Prof. 
 C. L. Herrick reported some November 20th. Thir stay 
 amongst us is usually quite constant, and in flocks of from 20 
 to 60 about equally divided between males and females, with a 
 larger preponderence of the young of the year. 
 
 This species has been reported to me from many localities of 
 the State at different times. Dr. J. C. Hvoslef , found a large 
 flock in Lanesboro, near the southern line which appeared there 
 on the 15 th of February, although he did not fully identify 
 them until the 13th of March, by which time ' 'they were very 
 numerous in all the woods along the Root river in this neigh- 
 borhood, and remained till May the 13th when they all left." 
 
 W. D. Hurlburt, of Rochester, in the southeastern part of 
 the State, saw them there some time in March. He says: — 
 ' ' These birds are constantly about our lawns and trees, pick- 
 ing buds and feeding on the ground under the flr trees. I 
 notice only one note, a peep as from frogs or young chicks. " 
 Mr. Edward A. Everett reports them at Waseca February 26th 
 to May 12th. 
 
 It seems from all I have seen and what I get from corre- 
 spondents throughout the State that there is a longer or 
 shorter period of a still more southern migration. 
 
 That occasional individuals linger quite late in the spring is 
 evident from my having seen them as late as May 17th, (1876) 
 but they usually disappear, some considerably earlier. 
 
 The Evening Grosbeak's only song in Minnesota yet heard 
 is its frog-like peeping which is kept up constantly while feed- 
 ing. When perching as they often do on the ridge of build 
 ings, and when flying, they are silent. They are exceedingly 
 fond of the buds of the box elder (Negurdo), which is a very 
 common shade tree with us. 
 
 Their breeding places are in high latitudes to the northwest 
 of us principally, except the proper conditions are found by 
 altitude in lower latitudes. Its winter distribution is very 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 293 
 
 but is less common in all save Minnesota, Wisconsin and the 
 northern portions of Illinois and Iowa, and some sections of 
 the extensive interior table lands of the lower territories. For 
 many years Dr. Cooper failed to meet with it on the Pacific 
 coast until Mr. F. Gruber, an indomitable collector of San 
 Francisco, found a specimen at Michigan bluff. Placer county, 
 California. The doctor saw the feathers of one recently 
 killed at the summit of the Sierra Nevada, latitude 39°, in 
 September, 1863. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill yellowish-green, dusky at the base. Anterior half of 
 body dark yellowish-olive, shaded in yellow to the rump above, 
 and the under tail coverts below. Outer scapulars, a broad 
 frontal band continued on each side over the eye, axillaries, 
 and middle of under wing coverts, yellow. Feathers along the 
 extreme base of the bill, crown, tibiae, wings, upper tail coverts, 
 and tail, black; inner greater wing coverts and tertiaries, white. 
 
 Length, 7.80; wing, 4.80; tail, 2.75. 
 
 Habitat, western North America, east to Lake Superior. 
 
 PENICOLA ENUCLEATOR (L.).. (515). 
 PINE GROSBEAK. 
 
 Another winter visitant from the colder regions of the north. 
 It arrives about the middle of November and remains frequently 
 until the 20th and 25th of April. Less of a seed, and more if 
 possible of a bud-eater than the Evening Grosbeak, it still con- 
 sumes both in enormous quantities. Like the last noted spe 
 cies the Pine Grosbeak is an unsuspicious, trustful bird, being 
 often caught with a noose slipped over his head, or even in the 
 hands, while intently feeding. They are gracefully formed 
 and beautifully colored when in mature plumage, and very so- 
 cial in an unceasing twitter while feeding. Those who have 
 heard them in their breeding places say they have a very sweet, 
 soft warble somewhat like the canary. Their call notes are 
 quite marked and employed by both sexes. They are usually 
 found in small parties during their stay with us, averaging 
 perhaps a dozen to fifteen, but occasionally many more, and 
 sometimes less. Occasionally individuals of this species have 
 been obtained in the vicinity of Port Snelling for thirty years 
 past. Its distribution like the Evening Grosbeak's is very un- 
 equal, and subject to great variation in different years. As the 
 country is larger and larger settled and more improved, their 
 relative numbers increase. Their presence in winter has been 
 
294 _ NOTES ON THE 
 
 reported through many years from nearly all the openly tim- 
 bered sections especially, and less frequently from prairie dis- 
 tricts where trees have come to be considerably grown for 
 shade and ornamentation. During the winter of 1875, I found 
 them exceptionally represented in the vicinity of Minneapolis 
 until the 18th of April. Occasionally individuals, have been 
 seen still later in other years. M. F. L. Washburn reports the 
 species common in Otter Tail county, particularly at Lake 
 Mille Lacs, which is in timbered lands. At Minnetonka Mills it 
 was seen first on November 15th, and remained in that locality 
 in considerable numbers until about the 20th of April. It re- 
 mains all winter in the vicinity of Thompson and Duluth. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill and legs black; general color carmine-red, not continu- 
 ous above except on the head; the feathers showing brownish 
 centers on the back, where the red is darker. Loral region, 
 base of lower jaw all round, sides and posterior part of body, 
 and under tail coverts, ashy, whitest behind. Wing with two 
 ■ white bands across the tips of the greater and middle coverts; 
 oufer edges of quills also white, broadest on the tertiaries. 
 
 Length, 8.50; wing, 4.50; tail, 4. 
 
 Habitat, northern portions of northern hemisphere; 
 
 CARPODACUS PDRPUREU8 CGmelin). (517.) 
 PURPLE PINCH. 
 
 In all my ramblings with gun, rod, and note-book, up to the 
 26th of November, 1869, I failed to discover the Purple Finch, 
 and had about arrived at the conclusion that I should never 
 bring him to my list, when, on that day I discovered a flock of 
 about 20. I was in the depth of the great deciduous forest 
 unromantically called the Big Woods, about thirty miles west 
 of Minneapolis, in special pursuit of ruffed grouse which were 
 then very plenty in that section, when I was surprised and de- 
 lighted at hearing the characteristic "chink" high above me 
 from many throats, and soon discovered its source. They were 
 in the extreme top of the tallest hard maples that abound there, 
 and could only be identified with my ever-ready field glass. It 
 did not take long to seal my discovery by having several in 
 both mature and immature plumage to deposit in my collecting 
 basket. Since that time it has come to be almost a common 
 spring and fall visitor, indeed, resident in the north part of 
 the State, where it breeds abundantly. Its nest has been re- 
 ported to me as found in the section where I first saw it, but I 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 295 
 
 cannot be quite assured of my authority. Those I have from 
 its noted breeding places are made of fine roots, grasses and 
 occasional hairs. Not infrequently other materials are incor- 
 porated, like fine strips of the inner bark-like fibers of rank 
 weeds, and sometimes mosses. 
 
 The eggs are bluish-green with spots and lines of dark brown 
 or black, and are much the smallest at one end. I understand 
 from reliable observers that they rear two broods each season, 
 of four to five, the nests being found at distances varying from 
 twenty to forty feet from the ground, and commonly in conif- 
 erous trees, but not uniformly. 
 
 It is said to be extremely destructive to the buds of fruit 
 trees in New England, which makes it very unwelcome despite 
 its beautiful warblings and plumage, but no complaints have 
 yet been heard from pomologists in Minnesota. They are said 
 to bear confinement well, and become delightfully pugnacious 
 little pets, like their more domestic cousins, the House Finch 
 or Burions of California. 
 
 Dr. J. C. Hvoslef reports it at Lanesboro, near the southern 
 limit of the State, April 26, 1884. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second quill longest; first shorter than third, considerable 
 longer than fourth; body crimson, palest on the rump and 
 breast, darkest across the middle of the back and wing 
 coverts, where the feathers have dusky centers; the red 
 extends below continuously to the lower part of the breast and 
 in spots to the tibiae; belly and under tail coverts white, 
 streaked faintly with brown, except in the very middle; edges 
 of wings and tail feathers brownish red; lesser coverts like 
 the back; two reddish bands across the wings, over the middle 
 and greater coverts; lores dull grayish. 
 
 Length, 6,25; wing, 3.35; tail, 2.50; bill above, 0.45. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America west to the Plains. 
 
 LOXIA CURYIROSTRA MINOR (Brehm). ( 521. ) 
 AMERICAN CROSSBILL. 
 
 Somewhat irregularly common in small flocks which usually 
 come about the 10th of November in this locality, this remark- 
 able species is found in the winter months in nearly all of the 
 timbered sections of the State. Their habit of roving around 
 from one locality to another is quite characteristic, and they 
 suddenly whirl from a given direction of flight and perch upon 
 some dry tree-top, leaving themselves by their conspicious col- 
 20 z 
 
296 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ors the most noticable objects above the russet of autumn, or 
 the snowy whiteness of winter. Often some prominent tree 
 in the very heart of the city becomes the temporary place of 
 their appearence and wien many eyes are turned upon them, 
 they may drop dovni as suddenly as if some hawk was hover- 
 ing over them into a thicket of raspberry or currant bushes, 
 just over the fence nearest the observers. They are not shy, 
 being often approached very closely by the inquisitive looker-on 
 if he have no dog at his heels. 
 
 There seems to be a most reasonable presumption that they 
 breed to some extent within our borders, yet not as early as is 
 claimed for other sections of the United States in much the 
 same latitude. Eev. J. H. Langille of Buffalo New York in 
 his charming book. Our Birds in Their Haunts, says: "It is 
 well demonstrated that in this country these birds breed in 
 winter, or early spring." 
 
 He quotes Andubon's opiaion to the same effect based on 
 the assurance of ' 'many persons in the State of Maine" who 
 followed lumbering in the pine regions of that State. It is a 
 familiar bird to Minnesota lumbermen too, who are largely 
 from Maine, who although noticing it so frequently have never 
 mentioned either eggs or young. The flocks met with during 
 winter are made up principally of the young of the year, with 
 just a presumptive representation of paternal adults. Mr. 
 Wm. Howling^ a local taxidermist of great experience, tells 
 me that the full plumaged adult males are only met with com- 
 paratively rarely in his business. Now, the flocks have ap- 
 peared here as early as' the tenth of September, with appar- 
 ently no old males at all. They, remain until late in April 
 with no indications of breeding, although in the light of all 
 observations, I am inclined to believe the great body of those 
 which have spent the winter months in this locality leave 
 about the first of that month, and may at once enter upon in- 
 cubation in their proximate nesting places which I presume 
 to be the pineries somewhat to the north and east. Mr. Wash- 
 burn, who has been employed to collect birds and notes in the 
 interest of this report in the Red river valley (and a most 
 scrupulous observer) says "on July 27th, at Herman, Minn., 
 I observed a flock of these birds feeding on the "galled" 
 beans of some young poplars in the village. The galls were 
 quite large, and the birds were eagerly biting them open with 
 their peculiar bills to obtain the minute insects within. It has 
 a strong, loud note, resembling somewhat those of the iVweri- 
 can Groldfinch," 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. ' 297 
 
 I suppose these were young birds, probably attended by the 
 relative proportion of adult parents. It would seem from 
 reliable testimony that, the period of incubation in different 
 localities extends from January into June, which is certainly 
 very remarkable for a species reputed to rear but one brood in 
 the year. 
 
 As I have never seen the nest of the Red Crossbill, I shall 
 permit myself to reproduce from Mr. Langille's work a quota- 
 tion from the description of one by Mr. E. P. Bicknell, found at 
 Rimdel, N. Y. 
 
 ' 'The nest was placed in a tapering cedar of rather scanty 
 foliage, about 18 feet from the ground, and was without any 
 single main support, being built in a mass of small, tangled 
 twigs from which it was with difficulty detached. The situa- 
 tion could scarcely have been more conspicuous, being close to 
 the intersection of several roads, in plain sight of as many 
 residences, and constantly exposed to the view of passers-by. 
 The materials of its composition were of rather a miscellaneous 
 character, becoming finer and more select from without inwards. 
 An exterior of bristling spruce twigs, loosely arranged, sur- 
 rounded a mass of matted shreds of cedar bark which formed 
 the principal body of the structure; a few strips of the same 
 appearing around the upper border; the whole succeeded on the 
 inside by a sort of felting of finer material, which received the 
 scanty lining of horse hair, fine rootlets, grass, straws, pieces of 
 string and two or three feathers. The shallow felting of the inner 
 nest can apparently be removed intact from the body of the 
 structure, which, besides the above mentioned materials, con- 
 tains small pieces of moss, leaves, grass, strings, cotton 
 substances and the green foliage of cedar. The nest measured 
 internally two and a half inches in diameter by one and a 
 quarter in depth, being in diameter externally about four 
 inches and rather shallow in appearance." 
 
 The eggs are four to five in number varying in size, pale 
 greenish variously marked in dots and blotches, with different 
 shades of lilac and purplish-brown. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Male dull red, darkest across the back; wings and tail dark, 
 blackish-brown; female dull greenish-olive above, each feather 
 with a dusky centre; rump and crown bright greenish-yellow; 
 beneath grayish; tinged, especially on the sides of the body 
 with greenish-yellow; young, entirely brown; paler beneath. 
 
 Length (male), about 6 inches; wing, 3.30; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
298 NOTES ON THE 
 
 LOXIA LEUCOPTEKA Gmelin. (522.) 
 WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 
 
 I found a few specimens of this species in Mr. Shroeder's 
 collection in St. Paul as long ago as 1865, and later in Mr. 
 Howling's of this city, but I have never met with it in the 
 flesh myself. All those I saw in either collection were said to 
 have been collected in this State. They were nearly all 
 mature birds and readily identified. 
 
 Dr. Brown describes the nest as saucer-shaped, formed of 
 lichens, encased in spruce twigs, lined with hair and bark 
 shreds, four inches in diameter with a cavity an inch and a 
 half deep. The egg is pale blue, spattered at large end with 
 fine dots of black and ashy -lilac; taken at New Brunswick. 
 
 Mr. M. Chamberlain, of St. Johns, New Brunswick, while 
 moose hunting in the third week in January, found himself 
 "face to face with a White-winged Crossbill on her nest, the 
 high bank of snow under me bringing my head about level 
 with the nest. * * * The nest was placed in a fork of one of 
 the main limbs of the tree and was composed externally of the 
 long, gray moss which grew in large patches on most of the 
 trees in this vicinity, and so much resembled these patches of 
 moss as to be difficult of detection. In the inside was a lining 
 of softer moss, and between the lining and the exterior were 
 small twigs interlaced. In the nest were three eggs of a 
 bluish-white ground color, having dashes of red upon the 
 larger end." 
 
 The bill so wondrously formed, as to appear deformed, does 
 not naturally differ in appearance from that of the Red 
 Crossbill. It is, as with the last mentioned species, used for 
 climbing like that of the parrot, as well as penetrating cones 
 of the pine and other coniferous trees for the nuts and seeds. 
 
 It is reported as found in several different timbered sections 
 within our borders at long intervals, but with what reliability 
 I cannot be assured. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill greatly compressed, acute towards the point; male 
 carmine-red, tinged with dusky across the back; sides of body 
 under the wings streaked with brown; from middle of belly to 
 tail coverts whitish, the latter streaked with brown; scapu],ars, 
 wings and tail, black; broad bands on wings across the ends 
 of the greater and me'dian coverts and spots on the ends of 
 the inner tertiaries, white. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 299 
 
 iCANTHIS LIN ARIA (L.). (528.) 
 REDPOLL. 
 
 The Redpolls arrive in the principal portions of the State 
 about the middle of October, varying somewhat in difEerent 
 seasons, and they come to stay, as their persistence through the 
 severest of our winters will attest through twenty-eight years 
 of my own observations. I have neither yet seen nor heard 
 from any considerable section where they were not most 
 usually represented, except at Lanesboro, where Dr. Hvoslef 
 says: "One winter I did not see a single one of these birds." 
 
 Formerly they used to literally swarm about our numerous 
 flouring mills in Minneapolis during the severe winter weather, 
 but the more pugnacious English Sparrow has driven him back 
 to his older, wild haunts on the prairies, and in the open tim- 
 ber where, the seeds of grasses and weeds are supplied in 
 abundance for his food. They are really a very pretty and 
 interesting species that contribute more than any other except 
 the snow buntings to cheer the long Minnesota winters with 
 their restless movements on the wing, and their soft twitter- 
 ings in their flights. Mr. Langille, in his beautiful descrip- 
 tions of them, says: "The graceful curves of their undulating 
 flight intersect each other at all angles, while here and there 
 one seemed to be describing unusually long, sweeping curves 
 amidst the dense, moving mass, as if. throwing out a challenge 
 to its more modest companions. Cru-cru-cru-cru, shru-shru- 
 shru-shru, coming in soft, lisping voices from hundreds of 
 throats." 
 
 About the first of April the flocks begin to consolidate and 
 fly in wilder swoops, and leave us about the 20th of that 
 month, the latest record I have being by Mr. T. S. Roberts' 
 on the 18th, 1875. . The somewhat conspicuous dark-crimson 
 on the top of the head, and black patch on the chin leave no 
 doubt of i ts identity to even a casual observer, and should there 
 be, the manner of flight alluded to already, and their soft, 
 chu-chu- chu note constantly repeated in fight will render it 
 certain, for only the notes of the Goldfinch resemble theirs, 
 and their plumage is too characteristic to confuse in that re- 
 spect. They breed in the northeastern portions of the State, 
 in the smaller spruces and other evergreens and the willows 
 along the streains, in nests constructed of dry grass, strips of 
 fibrous barks, roots, moss, fragments of wasps nests, hair, 
 twigs thistledown, feathers, etc., woven artistically into a 
 
300 NOTES ON THE 
 
 firm structure. They are mostly lined with hairs. Four to 
 five is the usual number of the eggs. They are pale bluish- 
 green, spotted with orange-brown near the larger end. Prom 
 several circumstances, as well as what has been reported to 
 me from those familiar with the localities of their breeding I 
 think they probably do so in Minnesota about the middle or 
 latter part of May, but according to Mr. C. O. Tracy, in an ar- 
 ticle published in the Ornithologist and Odlogist in June, 1883, 
 and which Mr. Langille has quoted, they breed in Vermont 
 much earlier. He found the nest and eggs ' 'the last of March, 
 1878. " It is a Little remarkable how reports of different species 
 in this respect differ, when the general conditions seem much 
 the same. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above, light-yellowish, each feather streaked with dark 
 brown; crown dark crimson; upper part of breast and sides of 
 body tinged with a lighter tint of the same; the rump and un- 
 der tail coverts similar but less vivid and with dusky streaks. 
 Rest of under parts white, streaked on the sides with brown; 
 loral region and chin dusky; cheeks and a narrow front, 
 whitish, brightest over the eye. Wing feathers edged exter- 
 nally, and tail feathers all around with white; two yellowish- 
 white bands across the wing coverts; secondaries and tertiaries 
 edged broadly with the same. Bill yellowish, tinged with 
 brown on the culmen and gonys; The basal bristles brown, 
 reaching over half the bill. / 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 3.10; tail, 2.70. 
 
 Habitat, northern portions of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 SPINUS TRISTIS (L.). (529.) 
 AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 
 
 No species of our birds is more irregularly distributed than 
 this. Nor is there another more reliably persistent in its fa- 
 vorite localities. In all my observations for at least twenty- 
 five years, I have never looked in vain for it where it has pre- 
 viously reared its young, except when, by great changes in the 
 conditions favorable to its breeding, it has been practically 
 driven out, as where extensive removal of the timber and brush 
 for agricultural purposes has occurred. 
 
 These localities are proximately near running water, where 
 the timber is somewhat scattered, and interspersed with smaller 
 growths like poplars and alders, and where brushy thickets 
 are common. They are also rolling, if not positively hilly, and 
 of course dry. They arrive in spring in force late in March 
 
BIRDS OP MINJSTESOTA. 301 
 
 and early in April, but the mature males, to a considerable 
 extent, still in their winter plumage, and are often unrec- 
 ognized on that account. A few usually remain all winter, as 
 here and there from all the timbered sections of the state I am 
 informed of their presence. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef, of Lanesboro, near the southern state line, re- 
 ports them present in different years, January 16th, February 
 4th, March 8th, and December 19th, but in small numbers. On 
 the Red river near Pembina, one or two individuals are known 
 to remain in the vicinity of where they breed. I can recall no 
 winters in fifteen years during which a few have not been seen 
 between Minneapolis and. Lake Minnetonka, fourteen miles 
 west. Mr. Washburn found them "quite common throughout 
 the Red river valley and at Mille Lacs lake." They are re- 
 ported from Duluth and St. Vincent by several observers. I 
 found them in Grant county in November, as well as many other 
 widely separated localities. 
 
 Although here in considerable numbers so early they do not 
 begin to nest until the very last of May and into June. Dr. 
 Hvoslef, a careful and very conscientious observer, says, ' 'Sept. 
 12th I found a nest with five eggs in incubation." This sug- 
 gests the possibility of a second brood in exceptional cases, as 
 it is well known that ordinarily they breed but once. The 
 males require two years, or rather two winters to mature their 
 plumage. And ever afterwards they undergo a change from 
 their summer to their winter dress about the middle of Sep- 
 tember, when the yellow is gradually exchanged for olive-brown, 
 which obliviates the sexes. In April begins a resumption of 
 the summer decorations, which is completed in May. Gregari- 
 ous, a number of families usually living in a single locality, the 
 males are found together, during the nidifying season, in 
 such numbers as to lead the uninitiated to suppose them 
 alone to represent the species. Their nests a.re uniform 
 in pattern, but consist of a considerable range of materi- 
 als employed in their structure. In some sections, after 
 'the strips of bark, which form the framework, are securely 
 fastened to the twigs of a wild plum or other similar tree, or 
 occasionally even a strong, rank weed, it is covered with lichens 
 cemented together with saliva for the outside finish and lined 
 with various soft materials. In other localities I find the strips 
 of bark woven into a neat, firm structure with no lichens or 
 saliva at all. Eggs, four, bluish-white, oval in form. 
 
302 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bright gamboge-yellow; crown, wings and tail black; lesser 
 wing coverts, band across the end of the greater ones; end of 
 secondaries and tertiaries, inner margins of tail feathers, upper 
 and under tail coverts and tibia, white. 
 
 Length, 5.25; wing, 3. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 SPINUS PINUS (Wilson). (538.) 
 PINE SISKIN. 
 
 This bird resembles the Goldfinch so remarkably in many of 
 its habits us to have left no good reason for its specific differ- 
 ence, but in others it is so characteristic that the reasons are 
 evident and satisfactory. It arrives here from some lower lati- 
 tude about the first of Aptil and remains, feeding mostly like 
 the goldfinch, until about the first of June, when it is seldom 
 seen except in coniferous timber where it breeds. I have never 
 seen its nest, but find considerable discrepancy in the descrip- 
 tions of different writers. Dr. Brown says it is ' 'neat, is made 
 of pine twigs, and lined with hair." Dr. Merriam says the 
 nests are ' 'a very bulky structure for so small a bird, and its 
 rough exterior loosely built of hemlock twigs, with a few sprigs 
 of pigeon moss interspersed, is irregular in outline, and meas- 
 ures about six inches in diameter. The interior, on Lhe con- 
 trary is compactly woven into a sort of felt, the chief ingredi- 
 ents of which are thistle-down, and the fur and hair of various 
 mammals." 
 
 The same authority says of the winter of 1878: "During the 
 past winter and spring they literally swarmed in Lewis county, 
 New York, and thousands of them bred throughout the heavy 
 evergreen forests east of Black river, while many scattered 
 pairs nested in suitable hemlock and balsam swamps in the 
 middle districts." It is certain that Dr. Merriam^s observa- 
 tions radically differ from any of my own, and where he further 
 records the taking of eggs as early as March 18th, and the 
 presence of the young in April, I am astonished, for while 
 there may have been other similar observations in like lati- 
 tudes I have never had them. 
 
 As before stated, these birds reach Minnesota early in April, 
 after which they are often seen, both in small parties of their 
 own, and associated with the Goldfinches. At the time of 
 their arrival, and for some time afterwards, the casual obser- 
 ver would scarcely distinguish the two species, or the sexes of 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. i 303 
 
 either, so little difference is there in their appearance when on 
 the wing or perching a little distance away. But the males of 
 the Goldfinches in due time begin to don their courting dress of 
 strongly contrasted colors, and become more exclusive in their 
 association with their own species until the breeding season is 
 over. The song of the Pine Finch is so much like that of 
 the pther species, that I have only learned to distinguish it by 
 its softer tones and lesser volume when both are in act of 
 ' singing. They build their nests about the beginning of the 
 second week in June, chiefly of twigs of spruce, or larch, in 
 the section where I live, but uniformly of pine where those 
 are found, (with which I have found a few coarse hairs from 
 the tails of cattle in one or two instances) and line it with 
 hairs of different kinds in as pretty a manner as almost any 
 nest I have seen. One nest sent from Princeton, had the larg- 
 est amount of those coarser hairs in its main composition of 
 any I have seen. When these birds are devoted to incubation, 
 they are very rarely seen except specially sought for by one 
 somewhat familiar with them. Indeed their incognito contin- 
 ues until about the second week in August, when families of 
 half a dozen may occasionally be seen flying loosely about the 
 backside of a stubble field, lighting here and there on the 
 fences, or on the branches of some isolated tree left standing 
 in the field for its shade. Later, they may be often detected 
 in scattering flocks of the Goldfinches. These two species 
 become more and more associated as the season advances, 
 until both gradually disappear amongst the latest migrants of 
 the fringilline family in November even. I have received but 
 little information through my correspondence to aid me in 
 forming any approximate idea of the distribution of this spe- 
 cies within the territory of my investigations. Of course, the 
 principal numbers go still further north to breed, so that it is 
 nowhere at any time an abundant species, if the principal por- 
 tion of the season of migration is excepted. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail deeply forked. Above brownish-olive; beneath white- 
 ish, every feather streaked distinctly with dusky. Concealed 
 bases of tail feathers and quills, together with their inner 
 edges, sulphur-yellow; outer edges of quills and tail feathers 
 yellowish- green. Two brownish- white bands on the wing. 
 
 Length, 4.75; wing, 3; tail, 2.20. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
304 NOTBS ON THE 
 
 PLECTROPH EN AX NIVALIS (L). (534.) 
 SNOWFLAKE. 
 
 No Minnesotian, compelled by duties, or depletions of his 
 purse, to see his more favored friends hie them away from 
 our zeros, and blizzards without him, can fail to welcome and 
 cherish his best appreciations of the Snow Buntings, which 
 appear variously from the 25th of October to the 10th of 
 November in bands, or small parties of a dozen to twenty or 
 thirty. They are usually met with earliest in the more wild 
 and unimproved broad prairies, where the seeds of grasses 
 and coarser seeds are most abundant. 
 
 Indeed, in some of our severest winters which generally 
 afford less deep snows, I have known them to remain in the 
 most unprotected, fleldless sections, to such an extent that bird 
 observers have insisted upon their exceptional scarcity until 
 made aware of their mistake by accidentally visiting those 
 localities during a severe storm perhaps. Undisturbed by the 
 obtrusive presence of observers, they will perhaps seek their 
 food under the slightest elevations, but they almost unexcep- 
 tionally avoid anything approximating a covert. I was pro- 
 foundly impressed with the wisdom of this habit many years 
 ago. The day, in February, was one of those ' 'only read of in 
 books" by persons in the timbered, prairieless latitudes below 
 us. The mercury was 37° beJow zero, (45° during the night 
 following), and a wind from the northwest was blowing at a 
 fearful rate when I was summoned professionally twelve miles 
 away across continuous rolling prairie, with barely snow 
 enough on the ground to justify runners instead of wheels. I 
 began at once to observe frequent flocks of perhaps forty or 
 fifty to one hundred Snow Buntings, almost unceasingly rolick- 
 ing and cavorting on the wing as if to them it was ' 'the great 
 day of the feast. " How they could survive, not to say possibly 
 endure, such fierce blasts of frozen winds was inscrutible, but 
 to see them apparently so jolly was more than a mystery. 
 Presently in the very middle of the treeless waste, I saw a 
 flock drop into a cluster of weeds slightly protected by a little 
 elevation of the general surface of the ground, and instantly 
 engage in feeding. 
 
 Scarcely a moment had passed when from another like eleva- 
 tion my eye caught a glimpse of an almost invisible tiny 
 object, half a mile away to the northwest, coming like a bullet 
 before the spinning wind, directly for the spot where the 
 Buntings were feeding close to the drifted snow. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 305 
 
 With all the powers of vision I had, aided by the direction 
 of the cold winter's sunlight, I could not tell that it was even a 
 living object until within a hundred yards of where I was, 
 skimming within a hand-breadth of the ground, it swooped 
 through the paralyzed flock bearing ofE a victim in less time 
 than it takes me "to dot an i or cross a t." But in the same 
 instant it passed me within thirty yards apparently unconscious 
 of my presence, when I clearly identified the Sharp-shinned 
 Hawk. Although so long a close observer of the habits of the 
 winter birds here, I had not known of the presence of this 
 hawk after about the first of November. Here was the secret 
 revealed to my mind why these birds avoid the protection of 
 better co.verts. 
 
 According to all I have been able to ascertain, they arrive 
 quite simultaneously in the upper Red river valley within our 
 borders, and in the more southern localities in the State, in 
 the family bands found in the remoter north, at or before 
 migration. They remain in these smaller flocks until spring 
 draws near, when they begin slowly to consolidate, so that by 
 the time for their general movement northward, about the 
 25th of March to the 1 st of April, they have gathered into 
 immense flocks. 
 
 They spend their nights on the slightly protected inclina- 
 tions of naked spots on the prairies, where I have many times 
 found myself in the very midst of them before I know they 
 were in the section. Stragglers occasionally linger long be- 
 hind the general migrations. I met them as late as April 15th 
 in 1875, and Mr. T. S. Roberts, of Minneapolis, secured a 
 pair in very much altered plumage, on May 14th of the same 
 year, if my memory serves me rightly. No nests have ever 
 been reported, / although from the circumstances last men- 
 tioned, I see no reason why stragglers may not breed here as 
 "on the ground among low bushes," on a slope of the White 
 Mountains, in New Hampshire, as reported by Mr. Langille, 
 who states that the nest resembles that of the Song Sparrow, 
 and contained young birds. He further says "Another is 
 reported even from Springfield, Mass. " In its wonted haunts 
 for nesting it is said to "become a bird of accomplished song, 
 building a substantial nest on the ground, and in the clifts of 
 rocks, lined with feathers and the hair of the Arctic Fox. The 
 eggs are whitish-mottled with brown, especially around the 
 large end where the blotches sometimes become a dark 
 wreath. " 
 
306 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Mr. Washburn reported a flock of six of these birds, October 
 22d, at Dead lake, Otter Tail county, and again on November 
 1st, at Lake Mille Lacs, where he found them abundant. He 
 says: "When flying they utter a loud chirp, and with it a 
 musical 'purr' which is very pleasing. The large flocks 
 seemed restless and shy, flitting about like wind-blown snow 
 flakes, the uneasiness of one bird seeming to communicate itself 
 to the rest, and a whole flock would thus be kept in almost 
 constant motion over the same bushes of the lake shore."' 
 
 This allusion to its note and peculiar purring sound inter- 
 larded, expresses all of its habits in this respect that could be 
 said in a chapter. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 In full plumage the colors are entirely black and white. 
 Middle of back between scapulars, terminal half -of primaries 
 and tertials, and two innermost tail feathers black, elsewhere 
 pure white. Legs black at all seasons. In winter dress, white 
 beneath; head and rump yellowish-brown, as are also some 
 blotches on the side of the breast; middle of the back brown 
 streaked with black; , the white on the wings and tail much 
 more restricted. 
 
 Length, 6.75; wing, 4.35; tail, 3.05, first quUl longest. 
 
 Habitat, northern parts of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 CALCAEIUS LAPPONICUS (L.). (536.) 
 LAPLAND LONGSPUR. 
 
 Another variably represented species of semi-arctic birds, 
 occasionally appearing in countless thousands . on our plowed 
 fields, from the 15th to the 30th of September, remaining until 
 December, when it disappears until in March, remaining about 
 a month, when it moves northward again. Dr. Hvoslef reports 
 it abundant at Lanesboro on our extreme southern line in 
 migration. He saw it there on February 22, 1885, in a flock of 
 five individuals on a high, bleak prairie. Prof. C. L. Herrick 
 reported it abundant at Lake Shatek, in the same latitude. Mr. 
 P. Clague pronounces it very abundant in migration at Her- 
 man, Grant county, a favored locality for most open-field birds. 
 
 Like the Snow Buntings, some of them linger in their vernal 
 sojourn. In 1877, some were seen as late as May 8d. Although 
 Dr. Coues, in his Birds of the Northwest, expresses the opin- 
 ion that they may breed in Minnesota, I have gotten as yet no 
 reliable evidence that they do. As of Snow Buntings, loiterers 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 307 
 
 may become so pressed with ' 'imminent incubation" as to make 
 a necessity of "sweating it out", rearing a family with the 
 temperature, as occasionally, 103° in the shade. 
 
 It is known to breed on the meadows along the shores of the 
 Arctic sea, in Alaska, where it arrives the second week of 
 May. It is also at home about Great Slave lake and McKenzie 
 river. At all these places its song is said to be eminently 
 beautiful. 
 
 Dr. Coues tells us the eggs are rather pointed at the smaller 
 end; are dark colored with a thick mottling of chocolate- 
 brown through which the greenish-gray ground is scarcely 
 apparent. The nests are constructed of such materials as are 
 readily obtained in the surrounding localities, namely — "mosses 
 and fine dried grasses, and lined with a few large feathers from 
 water- fowls, and are placed on the ground, under tussocks, in 
 grassy hammocks." As the name of this species naturally 
 suggests, the nail of the heel-toe is long and straight like a 
 spur, by which, if necessary, they could be readily identified 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 First quill longest; legs, head all around, and a semicircular 
 patch extending to the upper part of the breast, black; sides 
 of lower neck and under parts white, with black streaks on 
 the sides and spots on the side of the breast; a short, brown 
 ish- white streak back of the eye; a broad chestnut collar on 
 the back of the neck; rest of upper parts brownish-yellow 
 streaked with dark brown; outer tail feathers white, except on 
 the basal portion of the inner web. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wing, 3.90; tail, 2.80. 
 
 Habitat, northern portions of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 CALCARIUS PICTUS (Swainson). (587.) 
 SMITH'S LONGSPUR. 
 
 This Longspur has become more commonly observed of late, 
 but escaped my notice for several years after I resided here. 
 A few are obtained in autumn from year to year, ever since it 
 came under my observation. So far as I know, Mr. R. 
 Kennicott (who obtained it in Pembina in September, 1857) 
 was the first to discover it in what was then the Territory of 
 Minnesota. It is usually associated with the Lapland Long- 
 spurs, and the identity is only discovered when in hand. I 
 know no more of its habits. 
 
308 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head black; a line passing over the eye, a small spot on the 
 nape, another on the ears and a large patch on the wings, 
 "white; nuchal collar and the whole under plumage, brownish- 
 bu£E-yellow; legs flesh color. 
 
 Length, 6.50; wing, 3.50; tail, 2.75; bill, .45. 
 
 Habitat, interior J^orth America from Arctic coast to Texas. 
 
 CALCARirS OKNATUS (Townsend). (538.) 
 CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR. 
 
 Another bunting that has been found to breed in the north- 
 western portion of the State along the Red river as far south 
 as BrecJcenridge and Traverse, about the habits of which I 
 know very little beyond that fact. I spent several days in 
 October, 1884, in Grant county, where I found quite a number 
 of this species associated with the Longspurs, but of course I 
 was too late for other observations. Whether they breed just 
 there, or not I cannot tell, but in the next county west which 
 lies for a long distance along the Red river, is where they 
 have been repeatedly located. 
 
 Mr. Allen says: — "They breed of course on the ground, 
 constructing a rather slight but neat nest of dry grass and 
 the stems of small plants. The eggs appear to be commonly 
 five in number, blotched and streaked with rus-ty or a white 
 ground, full sets of which are obtained the first week in 
 June." 
 
 It is known to breed extensively on the northern plains of 
 Dakota. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill dark plumbeous; crown, a narrow crescent on the side of 
 the head, a line running into it from behind the eye, entire 
 breast and upper part of belly all round, black; throat and 
 sides of head, lower part of belly, under tail coverts, and bases 
 of the tail feathers, white; the white on the tall feathers runs 
 forward as an acute point; a chestnut band on the back of the 
 neck extending around on the sides; rest of upper parts gray- 
 ish-brown, streaked with darker; lesser wing coverts like the 
 back. 
 
 Length, 5.25; wing, 3.20; tail, 2.30; tarsus, 0.75. 
 
 Habitat, interior of North America, from the Saskatchewan 
 plains to Texas. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 309 
 
 POOOiETES GRAMINEUS (Gmelin). (540.) 
 VESPER SPARROW. 
 
 So common is this species that from the time of its arrival 
 until its departure it will be seen almost anywhere one may go 
 along the highways where there are fences or frills of low 
 bushes. In driving from my residence in the city to my cot- 
 tage on Lake Minnetonka, a distance of fifteen miles, I have 
 seen over one hundred and fifty males in the time of incubation 
 Tvhen the females were confined to their nests. 
 
 I think other similar highways would show relatively as 
 great a number. 
 
 This species has greatly increased with the settling up of 
 the country, as is the case with many others, the productions 
 of agriculture affording so much more abundant food. Its 
 habit of running considerable distances in front of the horse 
 one is driving, and when forced to wing flits a short distance 
 and again lights in the dusty road, is one that will compel its 
 recognition as no other of its family does. 
 
 It uniformly arrives at this place about April 20th; in Pill- 
 more county and westward into Pipestone, about ten days 
 ■earlier It may be well to note here that the thermal lines 
 deflect much more northward after entering the southern por- 
 tion of the State, a fact rather indefinitely evident in the 
 migration of some species of birds, as well as the records of the 
 signal service; and a bold line about one degree south of Min- 
 neapolis, is evident to any observing person in travelling by 
 rail in that direction. It takes about five to ten days for the 
 van of bird-migration to ride over this thermal barrier. In a 
 olose correspondence with several gentlemen residing in the 
 southern tier of counties, who are interested in the study of 
 "the habits of birds,' I have found this fact to be assured. 
 Strange as it may seem, with less positive proof, there seems 
 to be another similar line at a little greater distance north of 
 this city where all is reversed again, so that I am now sur- 
 prised to find migrants of the spring in Grant, or even Otter 
 Tail counties as early as here. The nest of this species does 
 not very materially differ from that of Savanna except in being 
 concealed less than that more cautious species, and not quite 
 so select materials used. The eggs, four or five in number, 
 are a dull white thickly spattered with reddish-brown and 
 lilac, but they vary considerably m the intensity of coloration. 
 
310 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Its plaintive song seems simple and easily described, yet in 
 reality it is a very difficult task. In "Our Birds and their 
 Haunts," by the Rev. J. H. Langille of Buffalo, N. Y., it is said 
 "the melody of the bay -wing, if not so sprightly and varied, 
 still bears quite a resemblance to that of the song sparrow, 
 and is expressive of a tender pathos, which may even give it 
 the preference. It is one of the few Mrd-songs which might be 
 written upon a musical staff. Beginning with a few soft syl- 
 lables on the fifth note of the musical scale, it strikes several 
 loud, and prolonged notes on the eighth above, and ends in a 
 soft warble which seems to die out for want of breath, and may 
 run a little down the scale. Though the song is not brilliant, 
 and rather suggestive of humble scenes and thoughts, "the 
 grass, the stones, the stubble, the furrows, the quiet herds, and 
 the warm twilight among the hills," it is nevertheless a fi^e 
 pastoral, full of the sweet content which dwells in the bosom 
 of nature. It is heard to the best advantage when the rosy 
 hues of sundown are tinting the road, the rocks, and all the 
 higher lights of the evening landseape. Then an innumerable 
 company of these "poets of the plain, unado*rned pastilres," 
 some perched on the fences, some on weeds and thistles, but 
 many more hid in the grass and stubble, swell into their finest 
 chotus, while most other birds are gradually subsiding into 
 silence. It has been well said that the farmer following his team 
 from the field at dusk, catches the Bay-wing's sweetest strain, 
 and that a very proper name for it would be the Vesper Spar 
 row." 
 
 I find the Bay-winged Buntings quite uniformly represented 
 in all parts of the State reasonably adapted to them. One 
 correspondent who has been much interested in the local 
 sparrows thinks the variation in the numbers of them in- differ- 
 ent years exceeds that of any other species except the Black- 
 throated Bunting, {A. Mlineata), sometimes there seeming to 
 be almost an entire absence of them. My own observation 
 measurably corroborates his, yet they have usually been well 
 represented in the region where I reside. I can say, however^ 
 that few species have a greater range of measurements. Those 
 are as follows in 33 cases: Length, 4.60 to 7.20; wing, 2.80 to 
 3.10. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS. 
 
 Tail feathers rather acute; above light yellowish brown, the 
 feathers everywhere streaked abruptly with dark brown, even 
 on the sides of ,the neck which are paler; beneath yellowish 
 white; on the breast and sides of neck and body, streaked with 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 311 
 
 brown; a faint light superciliary and maxillary stripe; the 
 latter margined above and below with dark brown; the upper 
 stripe continued round the ear coverts, which are darker than 
 the brown color' elsewhere. Wings with the shoulder light 
 chestnut-brown, with two dull whitish bands along' the ends of 
 the coverts; the outer edge of the secondaries also white; outer 
 tail feathers and edge apd tip of the second, white. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wing, 3.10. 
 ■ Habitat, eastern North America to Plains. 
 
 AMMODRIMTIS SANDWICHENSIS SATANIfA (Wilson) 
 
 (542a.) 
 
 SAVANNA SPAEROW. 
 
 Although seldom extremely numerous,, the Savanna Sparrow 
 is a common summer resident of Minnesota. 
 
 I have no knowledge of any dry prairie districts within the 
 boundaries of my special observations where it has, not, earlier 
 or later, been found to spend the nidifying season. It reaches 
 the principal points of notice from April 20th to May 5thj and 
 proceeds to build its neat very soon afterwards, w:hich is con 
 structed of fine grasses and roots, aijd quite artistically inter- 
 laced, the finest of the material being diisposed neatly on the 
 inside. It lays usually four grayish-white eggs,, covered 
 rather irregularly with spots of umber-brown and lilac. Com- 
 monly two broods are brought out in a season. 
 
 The. song is really one of the hardest to describe, and I shall 
 not attempt it, but Dr. Samuels,, in his "Birds of New Eng- 
 land/' has so admirably Succeeded in approximating it that I 
 shall avail piyself of his rendering. He says: "It resembles 
 nearly the syllables 'chew^e 'chewitt 'chewitt 'chewitt 'chew6et 
 'chew6e, uttered slowly and plaintively." I have seldom vis- 
 ited a section favorable to its breeding habits, but what, dur- 
 ing a morning's rambles, I have not heard its characteristic 
 song. 
 
 Mr. Washburn reports this species "extremely common in 
 grass land throughout the Red river valley. I secured spec- 
 imens ranging from the polair eastern varieties to the darker, 
 sharply-m^-rked, western f oi:ms. From thi? fact, and from ob 
 servations of other species,, I am led to infer that the Red river 
 valley, situated as it is with the western plains on one side and 
 the Mississippi river on the other, fbrnls as it were, a neutral 
 ground where eastern and western varieties meet and interbreed 
 to some extent, forming intermediate varieties, with interme-, 
 diate shades of plumage." 
 
 21 z 
 
312 NOTES ON THE 
 
 A characteristic of many species of females under similar 
 occasion, is very marked in this, in assuming to be badly 
 wounded when incautiously driven from her n^st. She drags 
 one leg and its corresponding wing, as if she had been stepped 
 upon by the ruthless intruder, and she successfully "fools the 
 greenhorn," be he an oBlogist or an other, by trotting him to a 
 safe distance from her nest, when she suddenly forgets there is 
 anything the matter, and flits away to a safe distance, from 
 which to enjoy the disappointment of the intruder. 
 
 Their food, as with most of the sparrows, consists of small 
 beetles and the finer seeds of grass and weeds. 
 
 So entirely terrestial is this species in all of its habits, that 
 after a lifetime's observation of them in nearly every state and 
 territory of the United States and Canada, I have yet to see 
 the first one of them perched on a tree, and only very rarely on 
 a bush or a fence. No doubt that in extremely rare instances 
 others may have witnessed such an event, but I make the state 
 ment to emphasize this characteristic of the specieB. 
 
 The localities in which I have found them, unlike many other 
 species, have always been rather, indeed, quite restricted. To 
 instance, when . out on a collecting excursion, in which I drive 
 over considerable territory which would average in all condi- 
 tions favorably to their habits, I have not found them in more 
 than three or four localities in a whole afternoon, yet if I return 
 to those places many times afterward during the summer, I 
 may depend upon finding them there. And between these sec- 
 tions of occupation, none, or if any, only an individual or two 
 will be seen. Some of them linger far into October, and even 
 November in exceptional instances,' before their migration 
 southward. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Feathers of the upper parts generally with a central streak 
 of blackish-brown; the streaks of the back with a slight rufous 
 suffusion laterally; the feathers edged with gray, which is 
 lightest on the scapulars; crown with a broad median stripe of 
 yellowish-gray; a superciliary streak from the bill to the back 
 of the head, eyelids, and edge of the elbow, yellow; a yellow- 
 ish-white maxillary stripe curving behind the ear coverts, 
 margined above and below by brown; the lower margin con- 
 sists of a series of thickly crowded spots on the side of the 
 throat, which are also found on the side of the neck, across 
 the upper part of the breast, and on the sides of the body; a 
 few spots on the chin and throat; rest of under parts white; 
 outer primary and tail feathers edged with white. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.70; tail, 2.10. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 313 
 
 AMMODRAMUS BAIRDII (Audubon). (545.) 
 BAIRD'S SPARROW 
 
 Of this sparrow's appearance in Minnesota I said in a hasty 
 list of birds of the State published by the survey in 1881, I 
 think, "common along the Red river where it breeds." This 
 probably was based upon a mistaken identity of the species by 
 those reporting to me from that section. While it has been 
 found there by several different collectors it is in no ways 
 "common." I think all the specimens sent to me except one, 
 have evidently been young birds, but the exceptional one was 
 an adult male, the special characters of which were typical. 
 
 It is said to breed abundantly in Dakota. The nests are 
 built on the ground, being constructed of the bark from weed- 
 stalks and grass that are rather losely disposed. They usually 
 contain five eggs, the ground color of which is dull white, 
 speckled all over with pale reddish- brown, with some darker 
 splotches of the same. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Somewhat similar in general appearance to Passerinus 
 savanna; back grayish, streaked with dusky; crown nearly 
 covered by black streaks, but divided by abroad median band 
 of brownish-yellow; eyelids, and a faint supercilary stripe, 
 yellowish- white; beneath white, with a maxilliary blackish 
 stripe and some narrow streaks on the upper part of the 
 breast and the sides of the throat and body; outer edges and 
 tips of tail feathers white, the two outer feathers obsoletely 
 white; bend of wing white. 
 
 Length, 4,75; wing, 2.80; tail, 2.20. 
 
 Habitat, interior of North America from Saskatchewan 
 plains southward to Texas. 
 
 AMMODBAMJJS SAVANNARm PASSERINUS (Wilson) 
 
 (546.) 
 
 GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 
 
 This unobtrusive little sparrow, notwithstanding my vigi- 
 lance, escaped my recognition for many years, simply because 
 I had not heard his song under circumstances to associate it 
 with him. But in 1875 Mr. T. S. Roberts identified it not far 
 from the city, since which time it has become extremely com- 
 mon in restricted localities. It seems to choose, dry, barren, 
 weedy pastures, and builds a nest on the ground consisting of 
 dried grass lined with hairs. Its usual number of eggs is 
 
I 1 
 
 314 NOTES ON THE 
 
 five, but Mr. Samuels records one instance in. which, there were 
 nine. They are pure white, speckled with reddish-brown, 
 principally around the larger end. They arrive in this section 
 about the 10th of May and bring out the first of their two 
 broods about the middle of June. They leave the State, so 
 far as I have been able to determine, about the first of October, 
 although an occasional individual may linger still later. I 
 found it in Grant county in considerable numbers as late as the 
 time mentioned. It was on high and dry prairies. Mr. Wash- 
 burn reports it in company with the Sharp-tailed Finch in the 
 Red river valley about the first of September. Its character- 
 istic song to my ears bears no other comparison than to a sound 
 produced by running the finger nail rather deliberately over 
 the tense teeth of a large fine-toothed comb, five or six times 
 in succession. It also has a rather weak chirp when unem- 
 ' ployed in this humble song. Some persons mention an almost 
 invariable warble as preluding the song-strains, bul; I have 
 never detected it with sufflcient certainty to record it. 
 
 Note. — Mr. Washburn remarks in his note upon this 
 species: — "Frequently heard; and one specimen secured in 
 Norman county, August 4th, measuring 4.75; 2.00; 2.00. The 
 peculiar chirping, grasshopper -like note of this species, fitly 
 compared by Dr. Hatch to the sound made by drawing the 
 point of a knife across the teeth of a fine-toothed comb, is 
 very deceptive. In August the note is short and rarely given; 
 and when it is given, is so low that unless one is a very quick 
 observer he cannot determine the locality of the bird's perch." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Feathers of upper parts brownish-rufous, < margined nar- 
 rowly and abruptly with ash color, reddish on the lower part 
 of back and rump; feathers all abruptly black in the central 
 portion; this color visible on the interscapular region where 
 the rufous is more restricted; crown blackish, with a central 
 and superciliary stripe of yellowish, tinged' with brown, 
 brightest in front of the eye; bend of wing bright yellow; 
 lesser coverts tinged with greenish -yellow; quills and tail 
 feathers edged with whitish; tertiaries much variegated; 
 lower parts brownish- yellow, nearly white on the middle of 
 the belly; feathers of the upper breast and sides of body with 
 obsolete darker centres. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.40; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and southern Canada to the 
 Plains. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 3l5 
 
 AMMODRAMUS LECONTEII (Audubon),. (548.) 
 LBCONTE'S SPAEROW. 
 
 it, affords me great pleasure to credit the discovery of this 
 species within our , boundaries to 0. ,L. Herrick, now quite 
 well known amongst western educatorg and to naturalists 
 generally. I will transcribe that portion of a report* made to 
 me, as State Ornithologist, in March, 1878, which piertains to 
 this species: 
 
 "Six specimens have been taken in all. It was first obtained 
 by Mr. C. L. Herrick on June 20th, 1877, when an adult male 
 was secured and others noticed. On the following day a young 
 bird was taken by the same collector in the same place. On 
 the 22d, T. S. Roberts having been informed by Mr. Herrick 
 of the capture of the sparrows, and the locality, visited the 
 meadow and was rewarded with a fine male, a sight of one or 
 two others, and an acquaintance with the song. July 17th Mr. 
 R. S. Williams secured an adult female, and on August 1st a 
 young bird. The last specimen was a bird of the year taken 
 on August 8th by T. S. Roberts. These birds were all taken 
 in the same locality — a ditched, but at the same time moder- 
 ately wet meadow, supporting a heavy growth of grass, per- 
 haps a foot and a half to two feet high, with here and there 
 low swamp willows. The most swampy .portion of this 
 marsh is the home of marsh wrens, (both species, ) a few Vir- 
 ginia Rails, Maryland Yellow-throats, Swamp Sparrows, etc., 
 
 "The bird in question, however, seemed to prefer the dryer 
 parts around the edge. Here the collector, walking quietly 
 along, may hear in the grass a smothered, rapid kind of chirp- 
 ing. Investigation shows it to proceed from Leconte's Bunt- 
 ing. The startled bird, if the collector is not a sure shot on the 
 wing, flies in a wren4ike manner for a moderate distance, and 
 drops suddenly into the grass. It will now require patience to 
 flush it again, and each successive attempt grows more difficult. 
 The song is firm, wiry, and uttered with the head thrown up in 
 the manner of the Yellow-winged Sparrow {Goturniculus passer- 
 inus). In fact the general character of the song is much like 
 the ordinary efforts of this species. They sing at times on the 
 ground among the tall grass, but mounted upon a small bush 
 or other low elevation, is apparently the preference. 
 
 ' 'It is probable that there are but one or two broods in this 
 meadow, which was of limited extent, and as yet they have 
 
 *T. S. Eoberts. 0. L. Herrlok, K. 3. WiUiams, of Minneapolis. 
 
316 NOTES ON THE 
 
 been detected in only this one locality. The survivors appar- 
 ently left in the latter part of August. 
 
 "An inspection of the dates given above, will show that the 
 young buntings are taken at times considerably separated, and 
 as they are probably all of the same brood, they afford excel- 
 lent subjects for a few remarks upon the plumage of the first 
 year. In the "Birds of the Northwest," page 135, Dr. Coues 
 gives the characters of the immature birds taken by him. 
 These were evidently older than those' before us, as a compari- 
 son of the following with the description given by Dr. Coues 
 will show. In adult specimens the plumage does not differ 
 materially. The buffiness of the breast and throat, and the 
 intensity of the coloration generally, varies of course to a 
 certain extent. All the tail feathers are acuminate, but the 
 two central ones are very slender. 
 
 "The young we will designate Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, in 
 the order in which they were taken. All three show more Or 
 less strongly that fluffy, unsettled looking plumage character- 
 istic of young birds for a short time after they become full 
 fledged. 
 
 "No. 1, taken June 20th, is presumably, judging from date 
 and appearance, the youngest. In this specimen, the entire 
 under parts are light, diffuse yellow. Over the whole upper 
 parts, including wing coverts and tertials, the feathers are 
 either almost wholly saffron-yellow or broadly edged with this 
 color. The wings, and to a slight extent, the tertials, show the 
 chestnut edgings of the adult. The collar on the back of the 
 neck but very faintly indicates that it will become chestnut and 
 grayish. The feathers of the dark bands on the top of the 
 head show the chestnut edgings of the adult. Across th^ 
 back is a very slight tinge of buff, and the same area is thickly 
 marked with small subdued streaks entirely across for a 
 distance of half an inch, and as a feature of special note there 
 is on each isde of the throat a very distinct maodllary streak. 
 
 "In No. 2, taken August 1st, the lower parts are much less 
 yellow, and the upper parts darker, while the chestnut and 
 white of the interscapulars, and other feathers, are beginning 
 to appear. The markings on the breast are firm and confined 
 more to the sides, and while the maxillary streaks are still 
 evident, they are becoming indistinct. 
 
 "In No. 3, taken August 8th, we have a much nearer approach' 
 to the adult. The under parts are beginning -to appear white 
 posteriorly and buffy anteriorly; the streaks of the median 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 317 
 
 line of the breast are obsolete; the maxillary streaks have 
 disappeared, and the back part of the median line of the 
 crown begins to show white. 
 
 "Here our evidence of the further changes ceases for want of 
 specimens. There is still much difference between number 3, 
 and the adult. In the former the characteristic chestnut and 
 grayish collar has not appeared; the handsome white and 
 chestnut markiiigs of the back are wanting; the color and 
 markings of the under parts are unsettled; the bill is lighiij 
 instead of dark bluish-brown, and the whole general coloration 
 is uncertain, and blended, very different from the bold, strik- 
 ing pattern of the adult. From these specimens we are there- 
 fore to draw the conclusion that in the young bird, distinct 
 maxillary streaks are present, the breast is streaked thickly 
 entirely across; the tail feathers though pointed, are not nar- 
 row and acuminate as in the adult; that yellow is the ground 
 color of the entire plumage, tail and wings excepted, and lastly,, 
 that these characters gradually pass with age, into those 
 of the adult." 
 
 The interest of ornithologists in this bird justifies the space' 
 we have given for the foregoing notes. They were penned' 
 only a comparatively short time after the rediscovery of the 
 species, which was originally observed and named by Audubon, 
 but for a long time lost. That this bunting breeds considerably 
 in favorable localities, in a large part of the State, I have no 
 doubt, as it has of late years come to be observed in the breed- 
 ing season in Freeborn, Big Stone and Grant counties. I have 
 never seen the nest or eggs, but my very reliable friend Lewis, 
 who has explored northern Dakota, gives the former as essen- 
 tially like that of the Yello-vy- winged Sparrow, but possibly con- 
 structed of a little coarser grasses, and a little bulkier in its 
 genei;al appearance. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 "Bill much more slender than in Emberiza henslowi. First 
 quill the longest, the rest diminishing rapidly. Tailemarginate 
 and rounded. With the feathers acute. tJpper parts light yel- 
 lowish-red, streaked with brownish-black; the margins of the 
 feathers and scapulars pale yellowish-white; tail feathers 
 dusky, margined with light-yellowish; lower parts with the 
 cheeks, and a broad band oyer the eyes, fine buff; median line 
 yellowish- white; the buff extending to the femorals and along 
 the sides, streaked with brownish-black. Throat, neck, and 
 upper parts, of the breast without streaks, and plain buff." 
 
 Length, 4.40; wing, 2.13; tail, 1.90. 
 
 Habitat, Plains eastward to Illinois, South Carolina, and 
 Florida, and from Manitoba to Texas. 
 
318 NOTES ON THE 
 
 AMMODRAMUS CAUDACUTUS (Gmelin). (549.) 
 SHAEP-TAILED SPARROW. 
 
 I have not had the opportunity to examine the specimens of 
 this species secured by Mr. F. L, Washburn, but do not hesi- 
 tate to introduce them into this report, believing him fully 
 competent to their identification. In his notes of observations 
 and collections in the Red river valley during July and August, 
 1885, he says of the Sharp- tailed Pinch. "Three individuals 
 secured, and others observed. Two were shot near Ada, and 
 had dimensions &:2;2 each. The third killed on the northern 
 boundary at St. Vincent, measured 4.50:2:2. I found them in 
 grass-land near water, associating with long, and short-billed 
 Marsh Wrens." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts brownish-olivaceous; head brownish, streaked 
 with black on the sides, and a broad central stripe of ashy; 
 back blotched with darker; a broad superciliary and maxillary 
 stripe, and a band across the upper breast, buff yellow; sides 
 of tbroat with a brown stripe; upper part of breast, and sides 
 of boiiy streaked with black; rest of under parts white, the 
 edge of the wing yellowish-white. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.30; 
 
 Habitat, Salt marshes of Atlantic coast westward to Minne- 
 sota, 
 
 CKONDESTES GRAMMACUS .(Say). (552.) 
 
 LARK SPARROW. 
 
 The Lark Finch may be justly considered one of the most 
 abundant birds, according to relative numbers that we have for 
 summer residents in the State, yet there have been jesirt> when 
 their favored localities have been almost deserted. 
 
 It is found more or less cotamon on the prairies, but so far 
 as my own observation has noted them, they prefer the vicinity 
 Of open brush-land with a few deciduous tr6es not far away, 
 and may there be found in greatest nunibers. Its manners and 
 haibits commend it to the lovers of birds wherever it lives in 
 summer. 
 
 Its song is really beautiful during the mating and brooding 
 season, and may be heard in almost any direction in the early 
 day and at evening about an hour before sunset, one singer 
 answered by another until the sparrow song- wave seems to 
 circle out of hearing in the distance. It is not entirely terres- 
 trial, but often is seen perched on trees or fences even when 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 319 
 
 in the act of singing, although more commonly they, seejc but a 
 slight elevation for piouring out their melodious song. They 
 nest on the ground with remarkable attempts at concealment, 
 and the structures are not quite as artistic as many others of 
 the fringilline birds, consisting mostly of rather coarse grasses 
 and weeds, with a lining of fine fibrous roots. They arrive 
 in the vicinity of Minneapolis and St. Paul about the 25th of 
 April, and nests are generally found about the 20th of May, 
 occasionally one a little earlifer, and they bring out usually two 
 broods before the 20th of July of about five, but often six or 
 seven of each. Their size and strongly marked colorings, 
 and their want of greater caution in concealing their nests, 
 makes birds and eggs both an easy prey to the smaller hawks 
 or their relative numbers would be greatly increased. They 
 seem to appear simultaneously all over the State according to 
 reports fronl eight or ten counties scattered from the extreme 
 southern to the northern boundary lines of the State. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef reports nests and eggs at Lanesboro, Fillmore, 
 county, on the 15th of May. P. Lewis, at Herman, Gtrant 
 county, on the 20th of the same month. Mr. Potts, in. Big 
 Stone, the 17th; etc 
 
 The eggs are rather strikingly marked, being ' "white, curi- 
 ously streaked in zigzag;" the markings sha^rply defined, and a 
 rich, dark reddish brown or chocolate. They taper very little 
 towards the smaller end giving theiin a decidedly globular form. 
 These sparrows are all gone usually by the first of, October, 
 but a few have been seen considerably later in favorable 
 autumns. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Hood chestnut, tinged with black towards the forehead, with 
 a median and superciliary stripe of dirty whitish; rest of up- 
 per parts pale grayish-brown,.the interscapular region streaked 
 with dark brown; beneath white, a round spot on the upper 
 part of the breast, a maxillary stripe and a short line from the 
 bill to the eye, continued faintly behind it, black. A white 
 crescent under the eye, bordered below by black, and behind 
 by chestnut. Tail feathers dark brown, tipped broadly with 
 white. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 3.30. 
 
 Habitat, Mississippi valley region. 
 
320 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ZONOTRICHIA QUERULA (Nuttall). (553.) 
 
 HARRIS'S SPARROW. 
 
 ■ t 
 
 My first observation of this noble sparrow was in October, . 
 1870, and again in April. In May, 1876, it fell into my hands,, 
 and became frequently reported to me in the autumn. T. S. 
 Roberts, near this city, and P. Lewis, in Pipestone, secured 
 several. Indeed, for several years it has been often seen itt 
 migration. My correspondent, Dr. Hvoslef, at Lanesboro,' 
 shot several, the last one on the 11th of May, 1885, and others; 
 mention their assured presence still later in different localities, 
 some of which, like the last mentioned, are in the southern 
 tier of counties, and one on the St. Croix, east of St. Paul. . < 
 
 Observed in so many places late in the spring, I have 
 expected to hear that the nest and eggs were found, in which 
 expectation, however, I have thus far been disappointed;, 
 Nearly all the localities where it has been obtained have been 
 along the course of streams and in the brush that fringes 
 them. ■ . 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Hood and nape, sides of head anterior to and including the 
 eyes, chin, throat, a few spots in the middle of the upper part 
 of the breast, and on its sides, black; sides of the head and, 
 neck ash-gray, with the trace of a narrow crescent back of the, 
 ear coverts; interscpular region of back, with the feathers l-ed- 
 dish-brown streaked with dark brown; breast and belly clear' 
 white; sides of body light brownish, streaked; two narrow' 
 white bands across the greater and middle coverts.' 
 
 Length, 7; wing, 3.40; tail, 3.65. 
 
 Habitat, middle United States from Minnesota west to Da- 
 kota and middle Kansas. 
 
 ZONOTRICHIA LEUCOPHRYS (Forster). (554; 
 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. 
 
 This species is frequently seen in migration both in spring; 
 and autumn mingled with others oE the same great family in, 
 thickets and brushy land generally. I have found them during 
 these periods more commonly along the borders of clearings 
 in the numerous brush-piles, where ihey enjoy the safest 
 covert from rapacious enemies while seeking their food of seeds 
 and insects of different kinds. If encroached upon they will 
 conceal themselves so closely as to lead one to suppose it an 
 illusion that he had seen them at all until driven from their 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 321 
 
 hiding place by something thrown into their covert, when a 
 dozen will- dash out and into a low tree near by, or in a short, 
 confused, desultory flight whip into another similar pile of 
 brush, or a closer thicket. A beautiful bird, indeed, but they 
 conceal their capacities for song until they reach their breed- 
 ing localities, further to the north, where their pe< t?e< de, de, 
 de, de, de, the first two syllables of which are somewhat pro- 
 longed in 'crescendo,' and slightly rising inflection, with the 
 remainder more rapid in 'diminuendo, ' may be heard frequently 
 repeated through the day in sunshine and shade, even far into 
 the night. 
 
 They are usually seen in the more southern line of partially 
 timbered counties about the 10th of March, and frbm the 15th 
 to the 25th, over the rest of the State. My own earliest 
 record of their arrival is March 15th, 1870, but in 1875, it was 
 almost a month later'. They remain until about the 1st of 
 May -^straggling laggards until still later. Kennicott found 
 them at Lake of the Woods, May 31st. Dr. Hvoslef, reports 
 them as ''common some years" at Laeesboro. 
 
 They build, their nests on the ground, generally at the foot 
 of shrubs, or bushes amongst coniferous trees in the north-' 
 eastern portions of this State. Its principal materials consist 
 of dried grass, very fine inside and neatly finished within. 
 During the months of March, April and May of 1891, I was 
 much of the time at Florin, nine miles south of Sacramento, 
 Galiforhia, and from March 11th to May 8th it was the most 
 abundant species at 'Walnut Corners," (where my sister, Mrs.- 
 T. Renbick I resides). The trees surrounding the dwellings 
 were mostly English walnuts, and but little farther away the 
 usual varieties of fruit trees. The street fence on two sides^ 
 was a hedge and immediately about the house were a larg& 
 variety of bushes, shrubs, etc., affording perfect covert for 
 birds of several species. The House Pinches were numerous 
 and kept up a wealth of melody from the earliest dawn till the 
 last rays of the setting sun faded away, but the still more' 
 numerous White-crowns were heard only in weak chip-notes until 
 the 6th of May, when the inspiration of song broke their silence 
 with melodies scarcely inferior to the Burions. It was beauti - 
 ful, but to the casual ear, was so mingled with the notes of 
 the other species that it was difflcult to distinguish it fully, 
 yet occasionally a strain would be completed alone, and then' 
 it was charming, excelled by but few of the sparrow kind. 
 
322 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above, upper half of loral region from the bill, a nar- 
 row line through and behind the eye to the occiput, black; a 
 longitudinal patch in the middle of the crown, and a short 
 line from above the anterior corner of the eye, the two conr 
 fluent on the occiput, white. Sides of head, fore part of breast, 
 and lower neck all round, pale ash, lightest beneath, and shad- 
 ing insensibly into the whitish of the belly and chin; sides of 
 belly and under tail coverts, tinged with yellowish-brown. In- 
 terscapular region streaked broadly with dark chestnut-brown- 
 ish. Edges of the tertiaries brownish-chestnut; two white 
 bands on the wing. 
 
 Length, 7.10; wing, 3.25. 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS (Gmelin). (558.) 
 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 
 
 No close observer of birds fails to recognize the claims that 
 this regal sparrow has upon his admiration. His manners be- 
 long to more pretentious orders, and his supreme dignity sug- 
 gests a miniatureship of some larger species. His very shy- 
 ness is rather an expression of disregard of your presence in a 
 slow and undisturbed removal from you. The song is touch- 
 ingly sweet and very fascinating when once it has the undi- 
 vided attention. 
 
 Mr. Langille says: "The notation of its song could be easily 
 written on the musical staff. Beginning generally on the fifth 
 note of the scale, after the first syllable it ascends to the eighth, 
 or last note, and ends in four syllables more. After the first 
 syllable of the song the bird will sometimes utter the second on 
 the second or third note of the scale above, and then dropping 
 back will render the remaining three syllables on the usual 
 pitch for the ending. I have heard it begin on the last note of 
 the scale, and after sounding two" syllables, drop to the sixth 
 interval for the remaining three syllables, thus giving a beau- 
 tiful minor effect. If several are singing, they may each per- 
 form on a different key, one responding to the other from dif- 
 ferent dead trees or tall stubs in the neighborhood. 
 
 ' 'The charm of the song is principally in the pathos of the 
 tones, which resemble those of the Chickadee, being an inimita- 
 bly tender and vibrating, or tremulous, whistle. There are few 
 bird songs which are so affecting to an aesthetic nature as is this 
 simple pastoral. The tenderest and most sympathetic ideas, 
 with a tinge of melancholy, find their expression in these 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. , 323 
 
 strongly- characterized notes, whichj as T^horeau says, "are as 
 distinct to the ear as the passage of a spark of fire shot into 
 the darkness of the forest would be to the eye." "Like most 
 sparrows they build on the ground, amongst bushes. The 
 nest Is formed neatly of dried grass, weeds and mosses, and 
 lined with finer grasses and fibrous roots. The eggs are gray 
 ish- white, spotted and splashed with brown and pale markings, 
 and five in number. 
 
 It arrives in spring migration from the 25th of April to the 
 1st of May, and engages in nest-building from the 15th to the 
 20th of that month. About the 20th of September they begin 
 to leave for the South in a very quiet, sparrow4ike way, appar- 
 ently in families or little colonies. Its food from the moment 
 of its arrival until its departure makes it a friend to the farmer 
 and gardener. 
 
 SPKCIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Two black stripes on the crown separated by a median one 
 of white; a broad. superciliary stripe from the base of the man- 
 dible to the occiput, yellow as far as the middle of the eye, and 
 white behind this.- , A broad black streak on the side of the 
 head from behind the eye; chin white, abruptly defined against 
 the dark ash ' of the sides of the head and upper part of the 
 breast, fading into white on the belly, and margined by a nar- 
 row black maxillary line; edge of wing and axillaries yellow; 
 back and edges of secondaries rufous-brown, the former streaked 
 with dark brown; two narrow white bands across the wing 
 coverts. > 
 
 Length, 7; wing, 3.10; tail, 3.20. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, west to the plains. 
 
 Note. It has never been my fortune to hear the song of the 
 White-throated Sparrow in the night, after the manner of the 
 nightingale, but Samuels in his "Birds of New England," page 
 gl, says after graphically describing a bird- chorus made up of 
 the notes of the Virginian owls, loons, etc., etc.: "After this 
 had died away and all was still, there came from a bush near 
 bur tent, the almost heavenly song of the White-throated Spar- 
 row, the 'Nightingale of the North.' One cannot imagine the 
 efEect produced by the contrast; he must be on the spot in the 
 dark night, and through the sighings of the winds amid the 
 grand old trees, hear the loons, and then the silence broken by 
 the beautiful song of the nightingale." 
 
 SPIZELLA MONTICOLA (Gmblin). (559.) 
 
 TEEE SPARROW. 
 
 A very abundant species which seldom, if ever, leaves the 
 
 state during the coldest winters, and breeds extensively about 
 
 the lakes and streams bordered with alders, willows and low 
 
324 NOTES ON THE 
 
 trees, more especially in the north and eastern portions. The 
 nests are found in trees, bushes and on the ground, formed 
 exteriorly of dried grass and mud, and lined with down from 
 woods and fine, soft hairs. Eggs, light greenish-blue, marked 
 with blotches and spots of different shades of red and brown, 
 resembling much those of the Song Sparrow. 
 
 When I record as a permanent resident a species so well 
 known as the Tree Sparrow, I take for granted that no one 
 will infer it to be anywise abundant during our rigorous 
 winters. During those seasons only small flocks are ordinarily 
 seen, sometimes only two or three individuals until approaching 
 spring, when , these smaller bands are merged into larger ones, 
 until by the latter part of March— ^the time the migration north- 
 ward is begun— when they may be only surpassed in numbers 
 by the Snowbirds. 
 
 The earliest I have ever met them near this city was March 
 3, and the latest individuals have rarely lingered until the last 
 of April. Their times however of principal arrival and de- 
 parture have averaged March 25th and April 25th. They 
 return from their more northern breeding places about the 
 25th of September to the first of October, varying greatly 
 with the thermal character of the seasons. The greater part 
 of them leave us here about the 15th of November. I saw 
 some December 25th, 1874, and Mr. Jolin Roberts again saw 
 small parties of them in January, 1876. Dr. Hvoslef's notes 
 at Lanesboro record them December 28th, February 23d, 
 March 18th. I have a letter from him under date February 
 3d, 1886, which says: — "There are hundreds of them here." 
 
 I cannot, in speaking briefly of some of their habits, refrain 
 from transcribing a few lines from the pen of Dr. Coiies in 
 "Birds of the Northwest," page 147. He says: — "On several 
 occasions, when the thermometer was far below zero, the river 
 frozen solid for two feet in depth, and snow on the ground, I 
 have unexpectedly come upon little groups of these birds 
 hiding away close to the ground, amongst and under a net- 
 work of vines and rank herbage, close enough to collect and 
 retain a mantle of snow. When startled at such times they 
 have a low, pleasant chirp as they flutter into sight among the 
 brushes, scattering a little, but only to collect again and seek 
 their snug retreat as soon as left to themselves. Whether 
 rendered careless by the cold, or through a natural heedless- 
 ness, they are very tame at such times. They sit unconcern- 
 edly on the twigs, it may be but a few feet distant chirping 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA ' 225 
 
 Cheerfully, with the plumage all loosened and puffy, making 
 very pretty 'roly-poly' looking objects. There is a partic- 
 ular kind of plant here,, the seeds of which endure all winter, 
 furnishing a favorite repast. In a clump of these tall weeds 
 dozens of the birds may be seen together busily feeding. 
 Some, more energetic, spring up and cling to the swaying 
 peniples, picking away, while others gather about the stem, 
 getting a go6d dinner without trouble off the seeds that their 
 neighbors above rattle down. At such times the whole com- 
 pany keep up an animated conversation, expressing their 
 satisfaction; no doubt, in their own language; it is more than 
 chirping and not quite siUging — a low, soft, continuous chant- 
 ing, as ple:asing as it is indescribable. The Tree Sparrow is, 
 indeed, one of the sweet- voiced of our sparrows and one very 
 fond of singing, not only in the spring, but at other seasons; 
 times are hard with it indeed when it cannot, on occasion, 
 tune its gentle pipe." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Middle of the back with the feathers dark brown centrally, 
 then rufous and edged with pale fulvous (sometimes with 
 whitish); hbod and upper part of nape continuous chestnut; a 
 line of same fl-om bdiind the eye; sides of head and neck 
 ashy; a broad^ light superciliary band, beneath whitish with a 
 small circular blotch of brownish in the middle of the upper 
 part of the breast; edges of tail feathers, primary quills and 
 two bands across the tips of the secondaries, white; tertiaries 
 nearly black; edged externally with rufous, turning to white 
 near the tips; lower jaw yellow; upper black. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wing, .3. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America west to the Plains. 
 
 SPIZELLA. S0CIALI8 (Wilson). (560.) 
 CHIPPING SPAEROW. 
 
 "Chippie," as this most common sparrow is popularly called, 
 is also named the Hair Bird, on account of its nearly uniform 
 habit of lining its nest with coarse, long hairs. It builds in 
 low trees, door-yard shrubs and currant bushes, preferably 
 near the habitations of men. The nest consists of roots, 
 twigs and grasses, lined as above. 
 
 Its proclivity to rear its young so near our homes, display- 
 ing the utmost confidence in man, picking up for most of its 
 food his waste, is what has given it the scientific specific name 
 "Socialis." Its common note and songs cMp-ip-ip-ip-ip-ip-ip, 
 have given it the common name with which the notice of this 
 bird begihs. 
 
326 NOTES ON THE 
 
 It arrives in the southern counties about the 1st to the 10th 
 of April and in the vicinity of Miuneapolis not very far from 
 the 20th of that month, often a trifle later. 
 
 It may be that th,e absence of variety and greater modula- 
 tion in the songs of the Chipping Sparrow will account for its 
 absence from the songs of the poets, but its claims to the re 
 membrances of man, are second only to that of the bluebirds 
 and robins. It even exceeds either of those species, in the 
 measure of confidence it manifests in coming to our very 
 thresholds for the crumbs that fall from our boards, and trip- 
 ping almost under our feet as we go abQiat the garden or 
 through the orchards. Its song, so monotonous as it is, ought 
 to awaken, our notice, for its associations, are legions, reach- 
 ing back through the many summers, to the adieus to. our 
 very cradles. ' 'We boys" recall the many times we used to 
 find their nests,, wondering, where > they got all the hair there 
 was in their structure, and how they painted, their eggs such a 
 beautiful, bright, bluish-green, and speckled them at the large, 
 end with reddish-brown and black. And when the little eggs 
 had all gone to smash, and some tiny, featherless little carica- 
 tures of blind birdies had ta,ken their places with their hide- 
 ous, yellow lined mouths constantly wide open, we were still 
 more confounded with the dawning mysteries of life.' AIL this 
 with only a sort of ia conventional protest from the confiding 
 parents, ought npw to give this humble, cheerful, plainly 
 dressed sparrow a warm place in our memories. Its specific 
 scientific name affords one instance of appropriateness amongst 
 a large number, the selection of which is an impeachment, to 
 claims of advacement made for the race. Adam never burd 
 ened so many of the birds with the, a)3pmina;tions employed in 
 our scientific nomenclature of them, or he would tave wanted 
 to escape from the garden of Eden earlier than he was driven 
 ont. 
 
 ■ ' SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Eump, back of neck, sides of heck and head, ashy; inter- 
 scapular with black streaks, margined with pale rufous;' crown 
 continuous and. uniform chestnut; forehead black, separated 
 in the middle by white; a white streak over the eye,, and a 
 black one from the base of the bill through, and behind the 
 eye. Under parts unspotted whitish, tinged with ashy, especi- 
 ally across the upper breast. Tail feathers and primaries 
 edged with paler, not white. Two narrow white bands across 
 the wing coverts. JBill black; 
 
 Length, 5.75; wing, 3; 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, west to Rocky Mountains. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 327 
 
 SPIZELLA PALLIDA (Swainson), (561.) 
 CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. 
 
 The Clay, colored Sparrow was first brought to my notice in. 
 the spring of 1875, by T. S. Roberts. Very soon after he 
 obtained his, a considerable number were collected by others as 
 well as myself. Since that time it has become a decidedly 
 familiar species, breeding along the Red river and eastwards 
 to the vicinity of prevalent timber. It arrives in spring from 
 the 25th of April to the 5th of May, but does not remain in 
 this locality. The nest is found on the brush along the water 
 courses, particularly those tributry to the Red river, and the 
 low willowy bushes bordering some of the lakes with which 
 our State abounds. Prom all I have been able to learn from a 
 variety of sources I think that incubation is inaugurated by 
 the first week in June, and two broods of four each is' the 
 rule. The structure is, in the words of Dr. Coues' Birds of 
 the Northwest, page 150, — " Inartistically built of fine dried 
 grass-stems, and the Slender weed-stalks, with perhaps a few 
 rootlets. It is sometimes lined quite thickly with horse hairs, 
 sometimes not, having instead some very fine grass-tops." 
 
 The color of the egg is light green, and they are thinly 
 speckled with several shades of brown. The speckling is 
 principally confined to the larger end. 
 
 The habits of this species do not materially differ from thpse 
 of the Chipping Sparrow. The song of the male is said to be 
 less pretentious, but equally persistent with those of the last 
 mentioned species, consisting of a monotonous trio of notes 
 ending in a weak trill. 
 
 Their fall movement southwards is somewhat later than 
 that of the Chipping Sparrow as I must not only infer from 
 local observations, but from Mr. Washburn's notes of observa- 
 tions in the Red river valley. The latter, after having been 
 ordinarily represented throughout that region, were gone 
 while he still found Pallida "common indeed." 
 
 He says: "I met old and young birds on the banks of the 
 Red river, about Georgetown, on the first of August. The 
 young then, were of all ages, but most of them full grown. 
 With their parents they congregate in pastures, and on weed- 
 grown fields in good sized flocks'." I think they have all left 
 the State by the first or second week in October. 
 
328 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Back and sides of hind neck ashy; prevailing color above, 
 pale brownish yellow, with a tinge of grayish; feathers of back 
 and crown streaked conspicuously with blackish, the latter 
 with a median ashy, and a lateral or superciliary ashy white 
 stripe; beneath, whitish tinged with brown on the breast and 
 sides, and an indistinct narrow brown streak on the edge of 
 the chin. Ear coverts, brownish-yellow, margined above and 
 below by dark brown. 
 
 Length, 4.75; wing, 2,55. 
 
 Habitat, interior of North America. 
 
 SPIZELLA PUSILLA (Wilson). (563.) 
 FIELD SPAKROW. 
 
 About the 25th of April, or a little earlier, the Field Spar- 
 rows' have got here as unobserved as a "frown upon the brow of 
 twilight, " and are then found ir» dry, bushy pastures, and low, 
 open woods, away from the dwellings of men. By the second 
 week in May they are engaged in constructing their nests of 
 dried grasses and fine twigs loosely arranged and placed on 
 the ground under a bush, or in it, as is the case occasionally. 
 Four eggs constitute the complement, colored grayish-white 
 with thinly scattered spots and blotches of reddish-brown and 
 lavender. During incubation the male is heard singing from a 
 perch on a low tree, or a rail of the fence. His song is a 
 plaintive, humble ditty, poured out in the early morn and eve. 
 In dark, cloudy weather he sings all the day long, as if fully 
 appreciating the need of cheering the little bird- wife ;n the 
 patient waitings of her maternity. 
 
 The song has no claims to melodious variety, while it fills no 
 mean place in the grand choral of usual song. The best idea of 
 it may be expressed in a recently employed combination of the 
 following syllables adopted by Mr. Langille: "■Free-o, free-o, 
 free-o, free-o, free, free, free, free, free, free; the first four louder, 
 well prolonged and on a higher key, while the remaining notes 
 run rapidly to a lower pitch, growing softer and weaker to the 
 end, the last being barely preceptible at a short distance. The 
 song is quite constantly repeated at short intervals, and has a 
 rather melancholy, but soothing, and pleasing effect, which 
 sensitive natures readily recognize, and do not easily forget. 
 
 ' 'It is the homely, pensive poetry of the thicket, that line of 
 land where the cultivated beauty and fertility of the fields end, 
 and the solitude and gloom of the forest begin. " 
 
' BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. ^ 329 
 
 No bird-notes of my own, or of my correspondents, fail to 
 embrace this species in localities according with its well-known 
 habits everywhere in the State. It is, however, not a numerous 
 species. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAEACTEES. 
 
 Bill red; crown continuous rufous red. Back somewhat simi- 
 lar, streaked with blackish. Sides of head and neck, including 
 a superciliary stripe, ashy; ear coverts rufous; beneath white, 
 anteriorly tinged with yellowish; tail feathers and quills faintly 
 edged with white. Two white bands across the wing coverts. 
 
 Length, 5,75; wing, 2.35. 
 
 Habitat, Eastern United States and southern Canada, west 
 to the plains. 
 
 JUNCO HTEMALIS (L.). (567.) 
 SLATE-COLORED JUNCO. 
 
 The snow-birds are so extensively distributed, and every- 
 where so well known, that any one at all acquainted with 
 them will expect to find them included in our Minnesota 
 birds. They may be listed as permanent residents, at least 
 along our southern borders, where belts of timber between 
 sheltering bluffs and along water-courses afford more favorable 
 quarters during the severest weather. At the locality from 
 which I write they are rarely seen in winter, but come in force 
 variously from the 20th of March to the first of April, when one 
 who "sees birds at all" must be prepared to have them spring 
 up from almost any slightly protected ambush, and almost 
 from under his feet, and simultaneously dash into the nearest 
 thicket or brush-heap, to cautiously slip out of the hastily- 
 chosen covert, one at a time, and flit to a safer distance, if not 
 better hiding place. They usually, as a kind of feathered 
 courtesy, or sort of a courtship, have mingled with them more 
 or less abundantly, some of the other sparrows, amongst which 
 are the White- crowned. Pox-colored, Clay-colored, Song and 
 Tree Sparrows, etc. They have only a chipping note, while 
 thus abundant, that very much resembles the true chippies (spi- 
 zella socialis). By the first week in May the principal part 
 of them have disappeared. They breed extensively in the north 
 part of the State, and exceptionally in many others affording 
 favorable conditions. Their principal food consists of larvae 
 and insects, especially small beetles, but they are quite omniv- 
 orous, devouring many kinds of seeds as well. 
 
330 ^ NOTES ON THE 
 
 Their nests are remarkably well constructed and variously- 
 situated, generally on the ground under some bush or clump 
 of weeds; it is occasionally built in a low bush, and rarely on 
 an old log or stump. The number of eggs rarely exceeds four, 
 that vary in color from nearly pure white with reddish spots, 
 to grayish-white with reddish-brown spots, and bluish-white 
 with a roseate tint and spots of umber, reddish-brown and 
 lilac. 
 
 As to varieties of this species as observed within my province 
 I can only say if such are well founded they are all here. A 
 single excursion of a few hours has put them all into our 
 basket too many times to leave any question of doubt. But for 
 the special benefit of those who are seeking for evidence that 
 this omnipresent species is, in fact, not a species, but a long 
 drawn out series of varieties in rapid 'process of evolution into 
 many species, I will transcribe a report of T. S. Roberts, R. S. 
 Williams and C. L. Herrick concerning these birds. T. S. 
 Roberts, a very careful and conscientious observer, has the 
 credit of writing it. Amongst a list of others he says, ' 'We 
 mention the Snowbird only to call attention, briefly, to the 
 forms or species noticed in this locality. Sufficient material is 
 not at hand to do the matter justice, but from the nine skins 
 before us we select the three most decidedly marked birds. 
 First is hyemalis proper, showing nothing but the characters 
 of this form. Second is a specimen of oregonus (Towns ) Scl. 
 The colors are bright, sharply defined, and just as decided as 
 oregonus. It was taken in the spring of 1876, by R. S. Will- 
 iams, and is apparently a typical specimen of this western 
 form. The third is a very stronghly marked specimen of 
 what is called annectus, Bd. This bird was taken October 5, 
 1877, by T. S. Roberts, from a straggling flock of Snowbirds, 
 among which it immediately attracted attention by its peculiar 
 colors. R. S. Williams has a partly albino Junco taken in the 
 fall, which is also plainly this form." 
 
 I am gratifled at the growing indications of a general halt 
 along the line of evolutional varieties in the avi-ological march. 
 
 More will be known of the Juncos a thousand years hence. 
 Perhaps then some typical embodiment of accumulated knowl- 
 edge, from underneath this No. 11 Sombrero, shielding 
 him from the rays of a tropical March sun, will be sitting upon 
 a jutting rock overhanging what was once the renowned Falls 
 of St. Anthony, his two eyes merged into one now composed of 
 a series of compound lenzes with which he alternately looks 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 331 
 
 upon the moving protozoans in the rapid waters beneath him, 
 and the moving shadows in the mountains of the belated moon, 
 while ruminating upon the unfolded life-history of what was 
 once considered a simple species, pregnant although with the 
 potence of genuine possibilities— Presto Junco! 
 
 Note. The above was written before a number of my 
 ornithological friends of the State verbally reported to me 
 some extensive comparisons of the Juncos obtained in migra- 
 tion Which showed a graduation from hy emails into oregonus, 
 which since that time I have measurably verified. Reconsol- 
 idation is the natural order of the day. Let the good work go 
 bravely on. P. L. H. 
 
 I i ^1 c^ SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 □ Everywhere of a grayish, or dark ashy-black, deepest anter- 
 iorly; middle of breast behind and belly, under tail coverts, 
 first and second external tail feathers, white; third tail feather 
 white, margined with black. 
 
 Length, 6.25 wing, 3. 
 
 Habitat, North America at larg e. 
 
 MELOSPIZA FASCIATA (Gmelin). (581.) 
 SONG SPAEROW. 
 
 Usually about the 15th of April, in 1869 as early as March 
 19th, upon visiting the borders of heavy timber lands bordered 
 with thickets and brush, I have been captivated by the song 
 of this beautiful singer, made most welcome by his long win- 
 ter's absence. It is easy, amid the grand chorus of bird-song 
 in May, to overlook this sweet songster, but never when we 
 first meet him under such circumstances. He seems to have 
 chosen his rostrum upon the very border of winter's receding 
 trail, from which he twitters, trills and rolls his wondrous 
 melodies into the very soul of advancing spring. The frosts 
 of early morning, those trembling jewels which flash back the 
 departing glories of the winter, seem to charge his every bone, 
 muscle and feather with the fulness of the inspiration of song, 
 • which he pours at the feet of the new-born season. 
 
 At this time small numbers associate in bands, but their 
 rival melodies soon awake the conjugal instinct and in a short 
 time mates are chosen and the summer's welcome task begun. 
 
 The earliest nests I have found in process of construction 
 were begun in the first week in May, but I cannot divest 
 myself of the conviction that they will be found occasionally 
 much earlier than that in favorable seasons if diligent search 
 is made. 
 
332 NOTES ON THE 
 
 It is well known to bring out two broods, and sometimes 
 three in the same season. 
 
 The nest is composed mostly of dried grasses and fre- 
 quently lined with horse hair. It is found usually in spring 
 directly on the ground under some kind of shelter, perhaps a 
 clod of earth, a bunch of grass, a bush or a root, yet may be 
 in , some exceptional place like a stump, in a hedge or even in 
 a castaway old teakettle. One is said to have been found in 
 the crown of an old "plug" hat hanging in a hazle brush. 
 The general coloration of the eggs, I should say, is bluish- 
 white, but they are almost unparalleled in their variability, and 
 different eyes seem to see the same eggs "in a different light." 
 The markings are brown touched with lilac. Minnesota is 
 probably about the western border of their fullest representa- 
 tion. They are relatively abundant here and yet twenty-eight, 
 years ago I did not see more than one-tenth of the present 
 numbers. Their food-habits make them a necessity to agri- 
 culture, so they have come with or close upon the heels of th^ 
 farmer and gardener. 
 
 Owing to their disregard of a little snow and considerable 
 frost, we find them almost simultaneously appearing in all the 
 principal and more cultivated sections of the State. I have 
 special reports of its appearance from the line adjoining Iowa 
 to Detroit lake, on the Northern Pacific. It lingers quite late 
 in autumn, and even into early winter in the southwest portions 
 of the State, in the dense thickets of the heavily timbered 
 localities. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found Song Sparrows at Dead lake at the 
 head of Dead river, northwest of Otter Tail lake, in Otter 
 Tail county, as late as October 13th, and expresses a very 
 decided opinion, based upon local inquiries and observations, 
 that this species remains much later. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 General tint of upper parts rufous-brown, streaked with 
 dark brown and ashy-gray; crown rufous, with a superciliary 
 and median stripe of dull gray, the former lighter; anteriorly 
 nearly white, with a faint shade of yellow; each feather of the 
 crown with a narrow streak of dark brown; interscapulars 
 dark brown in the center, then rufous, then grayish on the 
 margin; rump grayer than upper tail coverts, and both with 
 obsolete dark streaks; a whitish maxillary stripe, bordered 
 above and below by one of dark rufous-brown, with a similiar 
 one from behind the eye; under parts white; breast, sides of 
 body and throat streaked with dark rufous, with a still darker 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 333 
 
 central line, these marks rather aggregated on the middle 
 of the breast so as to form a spot; no distinct white on tail or 
 wings. 
 
 Length, 6.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 3. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to Plains. 
 
 MELOSPIZA LINCOLNI (Audubon). (588.) 
 LINCOLN'S SPARROW. 
 
 Of the habits of this species, quite common in both migra- 
 tions, I know very little, except that I cannot separate it 
 from the Swamp Sparrows until I have it in my hand. 
 
 Mr. R. S. Williams of Minneapolis, was the first to bring 
 this locally new species "to bag" in the State sc far as I am 
 aware. This he did on the 9th of May 1876. Mr. Robert 
 McMullen obtained unother on the 12th of the same month. 
 Since then few collectors have failed to appropriate one or 
 more of their skins, in the interest of science, or the fun of 
 shooting. From reports sent me annually from "beyond the 
 Big Woods," the great deciduous belt of timber traversing a 
 good portion of the State from north-east to south-west, I am 
 assured of its abundance in the period of both migrations in 
 which it shares the general characteristics of the Swamp Spar ■ 
 rows. 
 
 I have been less favored with observations of this species in 
 the southern sections, but have no doubt that it is equally 
 represented. Dr. Coues says its range embraces the whole 
 continent. Somewhat unequally distributed: it is rare in the 
 east; but abundant in Colorado; common in Iowa; numerous in 
 lUnois; but only in migration except in the mountains near 
 Idaho spring where "it breeds about 9,500 or 10,000 feet up to 
 timber line." In Birds of the North-west he again quotes from 
 Mr. Allen who states it is ' 'an abundant summer resident of the 
 mountains of Colorado, from about 8,000 feet to above the 
 limits of trees. It is found chiefly in the vicinity of wooded 
 streams, and in moist or swampy thickets, being essentially 
 a woodland bird. Its song is rather feeble, but pleasant and 
 varied, and generally uttered for a considerable period from 
 s.ome elevated point of the thicket. It is one of the few 
 species that are as abundant at the timber- line as at the lower 
 points. I also met with it sparingly in May in eastern Kansas, 
 and found it abundant in the vicinity of Ogden, Utah, in Sep- 
 tember." 
 
334 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Crown chestnut, with a median and two lateral, or supercil- 
 liary ash colored stripes; each feather above streaked centrally 
 with black; back with narrow streakes of black; beneath 
 white, with a maxillary stripe curving round behind the ear 
 coverts; a well defined band across the breast extending down 
 the sides; under tail coverts brownish yellow; maxillary stripe 
 margined above and below with lines of black spots; throat, 
 upper part of breast, and sides of body, with streaks of black, 
 smallest in the middle of the former; a chestnut stripe back of 
 the ear streaked with black; the pectoral bands are sometimes 
 paler. 
 
 Length, 5.60; wing, 2.60. 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 MELOSPIZA GEORttlANA (Latham). (584.) 
 SWAMP SPARROW. 
 
 The local habits of the Swamp Sparrow are such that none 
 but a close observer could form any correct idea of its relative 
 numbers. It will have become installed in its summer haunts, 
 and engaged in the building of its nests, or even in somewhat 
 advanced incubation, before we are aware of its presence, 
 unless considerable vigilance has been maintained through the 
 early spring. For many successive years I failed to detect its 
 earliest arrival, and have settled into the opinion that it was 
 rather a late sparrow in its migrations, notwithstanding my 
 knowledge of its late departure in autumn. But a friend who 
 had no special interest in ornithology was fond of duck shoot- 
 ing that brought him much in the way of the incoming birds 
 of the spring, and I suggested to him that he keep one end of 
 his bag for "small fry " and he kindly collected specimens of 
 many species of exceeding interest to me, and to local orni- 
 thological science in general, amongst which was this bird, 
 obtained on the 13th of March. He was an exceedingly modest 
 man, and peremptorily forbid my putting his name in print, 
 which injunction for about one-fifth of a century I have faith- 
 fully observed, but now that his name has already leaked out, 
 I feel relieved of my obligation, and I am impelled to state here 
 that his name was John Smith. I will have the burden no longer. 
 T|ae world shall know who he is. From that day forward X 
 have been able to date the average time of the arrival of the 
 Swamp Sparrow the 1st of April — 1864, March 29; 1867, April 
 5th; 1870, April 2d; 1875, March 30th; 1878, March 13th. These 
 dates are abundantly corroborated by corresponding observa- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 335 
 
 tions throughout the State. On its first arrival it will be found 
 in rather low brush,i or thickets in the woods in the vicinity of 
 streams or swampy marshes and in parties of perhaps half a 
 dozen mates who vie with each other in delightful song. A few 
 days later and the females have come, but when and how, is more 
 than has been reliably recorded; It is not very long before the nest 
 is jointly built of patent sparrow material, weeds, stalks, 
 leaves and grasses lined with fine grades of the latter. It may 
 be on the ground, or in a low bush, or even a low tree. From 
 four to five eggs constitute their "clutch," variously marked, 
 the ground color grayish, or bluish-white and thinly scattered 
 spots of reddish-brown, increased to confluent splotches of 
 umber- brown, mostly at the greater end. I think that as a 
 general thing they raise three broods of young. Mr. J. W. 
 Bostwick found a well identified nest of four eggs on the 25th 
 of April, near Pig's Eye, an unromantic name of a romantic 
 and eminently historic suburb of St. Paul. Mr. E. P. Her- 
 man, found young birds in the nest unable to fly on the 24th of 
 August. 
 
 I deem it one of the most numerous of the fringilline birds 
 breeding in Minnesota. It is everywhere equally abundant in 
 the brushy woodland districts which I have visited, from Moor- 
 head to Albert Lea, and from the St. Croix to Big Stone lake. 
 Mr. P. Lewis found it "everywhere in Grant and Douglas 
 counties,." Mr. Washburn reported it abundant everywhere 
 in the Red river valley in August, and still represented at 
 Dead lake October 10th. It has been my own experience to 
 find a remnant of them still in the vicinity of Minneapolis as 
 late as the 10th of November, but the larger portion are gone 
 by the 25th of October, as a general rule. 
 
 Their food consists of insects, wild rice and grass- seeds. 
 When fiushed they seldom seek the shelter of trees, but skulk 
 from one thicket to another and flirt their tails vigorously while 
 fiying. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Middle of the crown uniform chestnut; forehead black; super- 
 ciliary streak, sides of head and back and sides of neck, ash; a 
 brown stripe behind the eye; back broadly streaked with black. 
 Beneath whitish, tinged with ashy anteriorly, especially across 
 the breast, and washed with yellowish-brown on the sides. 
 Wings and tail strongly tinged with rufous; tertials black, the 
 rufous edgings changing abruptly to white towards the end. 
 
 Length, 5.75;- wing 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
336 NOTES ON THE 
 
 PAS8ERELLA ILIACA (Merrem). (585.) 
 
 FOX SPAKROW. 
 
 The earliest knowledge of this pretty sparrow I obtained, 
 was from a specimen presented me by a Mr. Van Druberg, who 
 collected it near the city on the 22d of September, 1870. It 
 was obtained still later that year, but I have lost the precise 
 date. Since then I have met with it frequently in both spring 
 and fall migrations, and not infrequently associated with the 
 true Snowbirds. It comes early and stays several weeks. 
 
 My .own notes through a long series of years, average the 
 arrival in spring from the 1st to the 10th of April, but Mr. 
 John Roberts obtained some on the 13th of March, 1878. I 
 have no doubt that the average will be found about the 1st of 
 April. Dr. Hvoslef found it on the 28th of March in Fillmore 
 county and again on the 2nd of May, 1885, which is the latest 
 record I have in spring. The earliest date of its autumnal 
 arrival is September 17th, so far as I know. 
 
 It cannot be said to be abundant, but is sub-common in the 
 lines of its favored migration. Its habits are such that it 
 must be sought to be found, seldom approaching very near to 
 habitations, yet often not very far away if it has the coverts of 
 thickets bordering >ieavier timber. Mr. William Howling, for 
 a great many years the principal taxidermist of Minneapolis, 
 obtained a single individual in his shrubbrry on the 8th of 
 April, 1875. But I have never known of another such in the 
 city. 
 
 Wilson, the immortal historian of the birds, says of this 
 species: — "They are rather of a solitary nature, seldom feed- 
 ing in the open fields, but generally under thickets or among 
 tall, rank weeds on the edges of fields. They sometimes 
 associate with the snowbirds, but more generally keep by 
 themselves. Their manners very much resemble those of the 
 Red-eyed Bunting; they are ^ilent,^ tame and unsuspicious. 
 They have generally no other note while here than a shep,shep." 
 
 Dr. Coues' facile pen grows fervid while describing the Fox- 
 colored Sparrows on page 161 of his "Birds of the North- 
 west:" — "The Fox Sparrow enters the middle states from the 
 north in October, and by the first of the following month has 
 become abundant. Some linger here through the winter in 
 sheltered situations, but the greater number repair further 
 south early in December to reappear the latter part of Feb- 
 ruary, thus escaping the coldest weather." 
 
BIEDS OF MINNESOTA. 337 
 
 "During the winter they are dispersed over the southern 
 states, beyond which, however, they do not appear to pass, as 
 I have found no record. In March they again become plenti- 
 ful in the middle states, and, having already taken up their 
 line of migration toward their homes in the north, their com- 
 ing is with songs of gladness and all the busy stir of the 
 opening season. 
 
 ' 'They are not all ofE until April, and during the sunny days 
 that precede their departure the males are fond of mounting 
 the little bushes or even the trees, to warble a few exquisitely 
 sweet notes, the overture of the joyous music which, later in 
 the year, enlivens the northern solitudes, whither the birds 
 resort to nest. So musical is the Fox Sparrow indeed, that 
 even in autumn, when the transient glow and fervor of the 
 nuptial period has subsided and commonplace occupations 
 alone engage him, he forgets the dull season at times and 
 lisps fugitive strains of sweet memories awakened by the 
 warmth and glamour of the Indian summer. But this is a 
 mere fragment — the shadows of a song stealing across the 
 mind, not the song itself, which is only heard in perfection 
 when the bird's life is quickened in the sunny, showery April, 
 and he leaves us with cheery "good-bye," promising to come 
 again. What one of our fringilline birds is so entirely pleas- 
 ing as this, my favorite? Strong, shapely, vivacious, yet 
 gentle, silver-tongued; clad most tastefully in the richest of 
 warm browns, and that nothing may be wanting to single 
 him out from among his humble relations. A highbred, 
 exclusive, retiring bird. We do not , find him mix- 
 ing indiscriminately with the throng of sparrows that 
 accompany him in his journeys and spend the winter with 
 him. With a few select associates of his own kind, perhaps 
 only two or three families that were reared together, he 
 chooses his own retreat and holds it against intrusion. In some 
 little glade, hedged about with almost impenetrable briers, 
 you will come upon him and his friends nestling among the 
 withered leaves on the ground, gently calling to each other in 
 the assurance of safety. On your unwelcome appearance they 
 will hurriedly take flight together, throwing themselves into 
 the thickest shrubbery. You will find such company again in 
 the ravines overgrown with smilax and brambles that lead 
 down to the brook; and as you pass along neglected fences, 
 fringed with tall, rank weeds, you may surprise the birds out 
 
338 NOTES ON THE 
 
 for a morning ramble and make them hurry back in alarm to 
 the shelter of heavier undergrowth. " 
 They do not breed in the United States as is yet known 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Middle of back dull ash, each feather with a large blotch of 
 brownish-red; top of head and neck and rump, similar, but 
 with samller and more obsolete blotches. Upper tail coverts 
 and exposed surface of wings and tail bright rufous. Beneath 
 white, with the upper part of the breast and sides of throat 
 and body with triangular spots of rufous and a few smaller ones 
 of blackish on the middle of the breast. Inner edges of quills 
 and tail feathers tinged with rufous-pink. No light lines on the 
 head, but a patch of rufous on the cheeks. First quill rather 
 less than the fifth. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 3.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, west to the Plains. 
 
 PIPILO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS (L.). (587.) 
 TOWHBE. 
 
 This is a very common sumCaer resident throughout the 
 entire State, arriving the last week in April, at the latitude 
 from which I write. It reaches the borders adjoining Iowa 
 from the 10th to the 15th of April, and Grant county in the 
 first week of May. Few but those who are looking for these 
 birds will be likely to recognize their earliest appearance 
 owing to their shy, skulking habits. A ready pen in the hand 
 of a keen observer says: "Thickets, brushy pastures and 
 barren tracts on the higher grounds are the favorite resorts of 
 this species. The bottom poles of an old rail fence among the 
 briers by the woods, is very likely to be its thoroughfare; and 
 at all times it keeps, for the most part, on or near the ground. 
 Sit down quietly in the thicket and you will hear its sharp 
 rustle as it scratches among the dry leaves; this hen-like 
 scratching, probably in search of food, being one of its marked 
 characteristics of habit. As it flits from bush to bush, never 
 flying far nor high, you can hear the whir-z-z-r of its rounded, 
 concave wings, and as it opens its long, fan-like tail, with a 
 jerking motion, the white markings contrast strongly with the 
 jet black figure. It hops, and sidles, and dodges about, in and 
 out through the brush-pile, the brambles and the thicket, with 
 a nervous, sparrow-like movement, its tail being often thrown 
 up, after the manner of the Chat, or Wren. "* 
 
 •Our Birds anfl Their Haunts, page 577. (J. Hitbert LanglUe, til. A.) 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 339 
 
 They build a very concealed nest the last week in May — 
 sometimes a little earlier — in an excavation in the ground deep 
 enough so that it is, when finished, about even with the sur- 
 rounding surface and under cover of brushwood or in a thick 
 tuf t*of grass. It is bulky, consisting of shreds of bark and dry 
 leaves, and is lined with fine grass . It lays about five eggs of 
 a dingy white color, finely speckled all over with reddish-brown 
 and lilac. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts generally, head and neck all around, and upper 
 part of the breast glossy black, abruptly defined against tlie 
 pure white that extends to the anus, but is bounded on the 
 sides and under the wings by light chestnut. Under coverts 
 similar to sides, but paler. Edges of outer six primaries with 
 white at the base, and on the middle of the outer web; inner 
 two tertiaries also "edged externally with white. Tail feathers 
 black; outer web of the first, with the ends of the first to the 
 third, white, decreasing from the exterior one. Iris red. 
 
 Length, 8.75; wing, 8.75; tail 4.10. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Missouri river. 
 
 CARJDINALIS CARDINALIS (L.). (593.) 
 CARDINAL. ' 
 
 I have on several occasions referred to this southern species 
 as an accidental straggler into Minnesota. Since the last of 
 my lists was published, I have had further evidence that it has 
 been seen under circumstances and at such times in the year as 
 to justify the recognition of being an occasional summer resi- 
 dent in the southeastern portion of the State and northeast- 
 wardly into the more central portions. Those places where it 
 has been observed have been, so far as my sources of informa- 
 tion extend, in the vicinity of clearings and improved farms in 
 the larger bodies of deciduous timber. 
 
 It has proved to be much less a strictly southern bird than 
 the early writers supposed. A permanent resident there, it 
 becomes decidedly migrant after reaching Virginia and Penn- 
 sylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Southern Illinois. It has been ob- 
 served as far north on the Atlantic coast as Nova Scotia, and 
 now, as above recorded, in Minnesota in the interior. Con- 
 siderable numbers of them are permanent in Ohio, remaining 
 in pairs in patches of woods near cornfields. When speak- 
 ing of northern Ohio, Eev. J. H. Langille says of this species 
 ' ' more common in winter than in summer." 
 
340 NOTES ON THE 
 
 They are said to locate their nests in bushes, and trees, much 
 after the manner of Catbirds. The nests consist pf small 
 twigs, dry weeds, strips of grapevine bark, leaves, coarse 
 grasses, etc. , lined neatly with fine grass. The eggs four to five, 
 are somewhat variable in coloration from a gray to a clear 
 white, and two broods are raised each season as a rule. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 A flattened crest of feathers on the crown. Bill red, body 
 generally bright vermilion red, darker on the back, rump, and 
 tail. Narrow band around the base of the bill with chin and 
 upper part of the throat black. 
 
 Female of a duller red, and this only on the wings, tail and 
 elongated feathers of the crown. Above with light-olive, 
 tinged with yellowish on the head; beneath brownish-yellow, 
 darkest ©n the sides, and across the breast.. Black about the 
 head only faintly indicated. 
 
 Length, 8.50; wing, 3.75; tail, 4.50. 
 
 Habitat, more southern portion of United States to Missouri. 
 
 HABI4 LUDOYICIANA (L.). (595.) 
 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK. 
 
 This beautiful birdf, and sweetest of singers, comes to us in 
 the last days of April, or the first week in May. They appear 
 almost simultaneously in every brushy and wooded section of 
 the State, from Iowa to the British possessions. It is so con 
 spicuous that I have had no difBiculty in getting observations of 
 its earliest arrivals from all points where I have correspond- 
 ents. Rev. E. Lyman Hood, an oOlogist and general orni- 
 thologist, reported this bird as early as April 17th. Prof. 
 Herrick on the 25th of the same month. P. Lewis, in Grant, 
 and Dr. Hvoslef of Fillmore, the 29th of April. 
 
 All speak of the appearance of the males some days before 
 the arrival of the females During this interval they are quite 
 reticent, and are employed for the most part in peering about 
 the brushy and timbered margins of ponds, marshes and 
 streams most favorable for their supply of food. "When the 
 females arrive "the music opens;" for of all the exhibitions of 
 chivalric fighting for sweet love's sake in the bird kingdom, 
 theirs is at the head. A single instance out of a great many 
 will be enough. While observing the spring birds with one 
 eye and watching game ducks with the other, on the 26th of 
 April, a rather raw, windy day, I heard the familiar voice of 
 this grosbeak, which was instantly duplicated by several others, 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 341 
 
 and before I could turn around six of this species were almost 
 within my reach directly before me, one of which was a female, 
 that perched upon the top-most branch of a bush a little further 
 removed, and the males all singing, poised on their wings and 
 at the same time pecking, biting, tearing each other until the 
 blood was dripping from one of them — never sweeter nor half 
 so varied melody from the throats of these birds, each ap- 
 parently at his very best endeavor, while maintaining the 
 bloodiest bird battle I ever witnessed. The mystery was, 
 where the notes found a vent through bills occupied with the 
 gore and feathers of such conflict, or where such savagery 
 could reach its foe through beaks so exquisitely freighted 
 with melody! Although, unavoidably cognizant of my proxi- 
 mity they entirely ignored my presence, and continued the 
 battle in a heterogeneous melee, surging, backward, forward, 
 upward, downward, once directly through a leafless oak bush 
 of considerable size down onto the ground, and up again, 
 never for a single moiety of a moment relaxing or diminish- 
 ing their mellifluous torrent of melody, until two dropped to 
 the ground absolutely exhausted, with their wings extended, 
 their mouths open, and panting as if life was ebbing away at 
 the very moment. The other three sought the nearest perch 
 upon some brush and a wood-pile, one of which alone con- 
 tinued his perfectly maintained song. During this Balaklavian 
 charge of the feathered cavaliers, I glanced at the familiar 
 female, who, without seeming to entertain the least concern 
 about the ambitious singing, or the grand result, was pruning 
 her feathers, in the calm, composed deliberation of an ex- 
 emplary grandmother getting ready for church or prayer- 
 meeting. 
 
 In a few minutes, perhaps I should say moments (for one 
 does not measure time very accurately under such circumstan- 
 ces), the exhausted pair gathered themselves up and slipped 
 away out of sight amongst the bushes, while the two perchers 
 in silence flew nervously away in another direction. 
 
 All this time the victor held his solitary strain at its wildest 
 pitch, but instantly when the others had gone he ceased, and 
 bounded into the air, and away, over the tops of. the bushes, 
 and the hitherto unconcerned coquette immediataly, followed 
 him as if she had always been his devoted wife. 
 
 Lovelier blood, or bloodier love, I never witnessed, from 
 which I turned with some reflections which domestic prudence 
 suggests ' ' are better left unsung. " 
 
342 , NOTES ON THE 
 
 Throughout the breeding season constantly and until the fall 
 migration, occasionally the notes of the Rosebreasted Grosbeak 
 may be heard by the accustomed ear from the edges of the woods 
 or in the cool, shadowy thickets bordering the swamps. More 
 than once during the warm month of July, when quietly picking 
 my way through the dense forests and moist, cool shades, I have 
 been halted by the solitary song of this bird^ — soft, sweet, dis- 
 tant, pathetic — and at the last moment before resuming my 
 way, discover him not twenty feet away in the very act. He 
 saw me, and seemed to know he charmed me and therefore had 
 a sweet faith that I would not harm him — :and I did not. 
 
 They do not build their careless and rather slovenly nests 
 until after the 25th of May and often considerably into June. 
 It is composed of considerably different materials in different 
 localities, but is losely formed of bits of vines, small sticks, 
 roots, straws, leaves, etc., outwardly, and inwardly of finer, 
 though similar materials, more closely and compactly disposed. 
 It is placed in a tree about five feet from the ground. The 
 number of eggs varies from three to five, but will scarcely 
 average four, so far as I have yet observed. They are pale 
 green and speckled with dull reddish-brown. 
 
 Although it is said that the male shares the duties of sitting 
 upon the eggs, I have never yet found one so occupied. 
 
 These birds devour immense numbers, of insects, notwith- 
 standing they are seed eaters. They retire from the State 
 about the midd.le of September. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found them exceedingly common in the Red 
 river valley in the woodlands and at Dead Lake. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck all round, and upper parts generally, glossy 
 black; a broad crescent across the upper part of the breast 
 extending narrowly down to the belly, axillaries and under 
 wing coverts, carmine; rest of under parts, rump and upper 
 tail coverts, middle wing coverts, spots on the tertiaries and 
 inner great wing coverts, basal half of primaries and secon- 
 daries and large patch on the ends of the inner webs of the 
 outer three tail feathers, pure white. 
 
 Length, 8.50; wing, 4.15. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and southern Canada west to 
 eastern border of Plains. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 343 
 
 PASSEKINA CTANEA (L.). (598.) 
 INDIGO BUNTING. 
 
 This beautifully plumaged bird has been observed in nearly 
 every locality I have visited within the State, and is reported 
 from many others as a regular summer resident, breeding in its 
 wonted places.' It arrives with great uniformity the first 
 week in May in this latitude, and commences the building of its 
 nest usually in the third week. This is found more commonly 
 in thickets bordering or interspersing woods where briers and 
 brambles are abundant, and is built in the branches or 
 tangle from very near to three or four feet above the ground, 
 completely sheltered by the foliated canopy. It is formed 
 usually of leaves- and coarse grasses exteriorly, and a good 
 supply of fine roots and fibrous barks constitute the bulk of it 
 interiorly, finished with some horse hairs. The eggs, five in 
 number are white, and annually two broods are raised. Mr 
 Lewis found its young as early as June 8th, in Pipestone, and 
 Dr. Hvoslef at Lanesboro as late as July 21st. 
 
 Its habits are usually more familiar to persons residing in 
 the rural districts than to professional experts whose ambition 
 for extended notes is liable to question whether it does not 
 incline to more extended travel. After all of my own desul- 
 tory observations through quite a long life, it has been no 
 uncommon experience to have a rural friend give me hints and 
 points on the habits of many species of our birds which sub- 
 sequent observations, thus directed, have proved of great 
 value. Yet, in common with all conscientious students of 
 bird-life, I have long since learned to accept nothing from 
 such sources until it was verified by personal observation, 
 except I qualify the record. Under such qualifications I will 
 say that one of the most critical observers of the characteris- 
 tics of birds, who resided for many years in one of the most 
 favored localities, told me that at considerable intervals he 
 had seen instances of the Indigo Bird's mounting, hovering 
 and warbling its humble- notes for a few moments in the man- 
 ner of the Sky -lark. As I never witnessed such a demonstra- 
 tion or met with any record of it elsewhere, I leave it with 
 this bare mention. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Male, blue, tinged with ultramarine on the head, throat, and 
 middle of breast; elsewhere with verdigris-green. Lores, and 
 S3 -'. 
 
344 NOTES ON THE 
 
 anterior angle of chin, velvet-black. Wing feathers brown, 
 edged externally with dull bluish-brown. 
 
 Length, about 5.75; wing, nearly 3 inches. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Missouri. 
 
 SPIZA AMERICANA (Gmelin). (604.) 
 DICKCISSBL. 
 
 This bunting, so common in the country where I spent my 
 boyhood, eluded my observations for a good many years until 
 one morning in April a male presumably from a recent battle 
 with a rival, dashed ipto the fence very near me in a fearfully 
 excited condition in which he failed to recognize my presence, 
 thus giving me a coveted opportunity to see him in all his glory 
 before devoting him as a sacrifice to science. Encouragedbythis, 
 I kept a sharp lookout for these birds, and enlisted the atten- 
 tion of several amateur collectors, who soon found they were 
 almost daily to be seen in a single restricted, locality. The 
 following year, that spot was under constant scrutiny until 
 assured that not an individual had been seen in its vicinity up 
 to the 1st of June. But several miles from it a number of 
 them had been secured in another similarly situated locality. 
 It was found in both instances in the immediate vicinity of 
 plowed, and cultivated fields, but in dry, rich meadows bearing 
 a dense growth of wild grass, and a few shrubs, or bushes, 
 with an occasional, small-sized tree. A few only were flushed, 
 and only two or three shot, not wishing to drive them from a 
 locality presumably chosen to rear their young in. A few days 
 established the presumption when on the 23d of May their 
 mouths were observed to be occupied with straws. Although 
 repeated efforts were made to find the nests, only one was found 
 by a boy, who believed it was a Bluebird's, and only brought 
 away the eggs, four in number, that were barely addled. A sub- 
 sequent investigation established its identity, as that of the 
 Black-throat, 
 
 The next two years following, I neither saw any of this 
 species, nor gathered any reports of it in the State, when on 
 the third year it reappeared in perhaps a little increased num- 
 bers but not in either of its former localities. 
 
 In the autumnal migrations Prof. C. L. Herrick reported 
 them ' 'quite abundant" in th^ vicinity of Minneapolis. Mr, 
 John Roberts and several others mentioned seeing them in the 
 spring. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 345 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef found them on "North Prairie, June 19th, 1883 
 setting on a newly plowed field." The same gentleman met 
 them again on the 11th of May, 1884, at Lanesboro. 
 
 This species seems to be more capricious in its choice of lo- 
 calities from year to year, than any other of the fringilline 
 birds. 
 
 They arrive in spring about the middle of May, but vary the 
 time somewhat in different years. They are recognized by 
 their song. 
 
 Describing the songs of some species so as to convey a very 
 good idea to an attentive, enlisted person is quite possible, if 
 they are bold, and strongly characteristic, but with the Black- 
 throated Sparrow, as with many others equally unpretentious, 
 it is really a, very difficult task. However, Dr. Coues has ap- 
 proximated it more nearly than any other in the words: 
 "Look! look! see me here! see!" repeated frequently in a 
 rather weak voice but quite spirited manner. His at- 
 titude almost perpendicular, wings and tail deflected, opened 
 bill pointing skyward, he throws his whole soul into an effort 
 worthy of higher results as he reveals his form against the 
 background of sky or cloud from the top of some bush, on the 
 tip of the tallest limb of a small sized tree. He is really a very 
 pretty if not quite beautiful bird. 
 
 The nest is variously located on the ground, in a tussock of 
 grass, on a, bush, and sometimes in a tree five or six feet from 
 the ground, and consists of coarse grass externally, lined with 
 finer inside, and generally finished with horse-hair. The eggs, 
 four or five in number, like Lark Bunting's, so resemble those of 
 the Bluebirds that I cannot satisfactorily differentiate them. 
 
 They begin their southward movement very quietly about the 
 20th of September, although all are not gone before the second 
 or third week in October. At this time they are much aggre- 
 gated in number and are found commonly on the high prairies 
 I confess my inability to get as much melody out of this species 
 as does the Rev. Mr. Langille, or even as .much "chic-chic-cMlac" 
 as does he, — I suspect that either his observations, or his de- 
 scription of the bird in northern Ohio, which he first saw and 
 heard "one evening at sunset," had been preceded by an excep- 
 tionally good cup of tea, for I have lent that warbler my best, 
 sharpest and longest ears, with no such return for their use. 
 Indeed, while blessed with a fairly available imagination when 
 listening to melody, I confess that even Dr. Cones' formulation 
 of "Look! look! see me here! see!" is a little straining to it, 
 
346 NOTES ON THE 
 
 but neveitheless it is better than I could do myself, aiud so I 
 thankfully accept and appreciate it. I will do the former the 
 justice to say, however, that I regard him as entitled to the 
 palm in the description of the songs of many other species. 
 
 .SPECIFIC CHAKACTERS. 
 
 Sides of head, sides and back of the neck, ash; crown tinged 
 with yellowish green, and faintly streaked with dusky. A su- 
 perciliary, and short maxillary line, middle of breast, axilla- 
 ries, and edge of the wing, yellow. Chin, loral region, spots 
 on the sides of the throat, belly and under tail coverts, white. , 
 A patch on the throat diminishing to the breast, and a spot on 
 the upper part of the belly, black. Wing coverts chestnut; 
 inter- scapular region streaked with black; rest of back immac- 
 ulate. 
 
 Length, 6.70; wing, 3.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Kocky Mountains. 
 
 CALAM08PIZA MELANOCORTS Stejnegek. (605.) 
 
 LAEK BUNTING. 
 
 This quite remarkable species, which in widely different re- 
 spects seems to resemble so many others, has long been known 
 to frequent portions of the State along the Red river, but has 
 only of late years been often met with in limited numbers in 
 the middle and southern counties. Like the Bobolink changing 
 its striking dress of spring and early summer, when the breed- 
 ing season is over, for the somber, plain plumage of the female, 
 it may easily escape identification afterwards in its autumnal 
 migrations. A male fell into my hands in May, 1877, taken in 
 the immediate vicinity, since which it has come under my no- 
 tice frequently in its strongly marked nuptial dress, but from 
 more southern localities generally. 
 
 Without positive proof I still believe that it is of much more 
 frequent occurrence in the interior and eastern sections of the 
 State than I am justified in now recording it. I have enough 
 reliable reports from &uch sections to show that it is not very 
 infrequently seen in those localities during the breeding season, 
 but no nests have yet been obtained. Dr. Hvoslef reports it 
 from Fillmore county as late as the 19th of June; also the 12th 
 of May; and Mr. P. Lewis, in several places between the last 
 named and Redwood, in all of which it is reasonable to suppose 
 it might be breeding, as the times of its observation included 
 the earlier part of July. 
 
BIKDS OF MINNESOTA. 847 
 
 I have spent considerable time in its favorite districts, many- 
 years ago, since which time I have anticipated its presence, 
 particularly in the southeastern prairies of Minnesota. The 
 nests were comparatively easy to find after the peculiar habit of 
 the male of singing while poised on his wings was carefully 
 noted, for as a general thing, this demonstration takes place - 
 not very far from over where his listening little wife is attend- 
 ing to family duties. The nests were always found not far 
 away, if detected at all, and generally flush with the ground, 
 but in localities characterized by rank or bushy, sedgy growth, 
 it was sometimes found a little more elevated. It consists of 
 weeds and grasses, rather indifferently constructed, with a 
 sparing supply of the same for the lining, but a little finer. 
 They have from four to five eggs that resemble those of the 
 Bluebird, as has been often obs.erved, to such an extent that 
 they are almost indistinguishable. 
 
 The plumage of the male, as described in the Special Char- 
 acters of the species, is completely changed in the month 
 succeeding the breeding period, after which the hovering de- 
 monstrations and song are dispensed with, and from small 
 colonies of a few pairs, in one circumscribed locality, it soon 
 gathers into considerable flocks in those sections where it hab- 
 itually is most abundant. The song of the male is really much 
 that of the Yellow-breasted Chat, a musician with whose mel- 
 odies I became exceedingly familiar at Sacramento, California, 
 during a sompwhat protracted visit there in the spring of 1869. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Entirely black; a broad band on the wing with the outer 
 edges of the quills and tail feathers, white. Bill rather large, 
 swollen at the base; commissure much angulated near the 
 base. Legs large and stout; claws strong, compressed, and 
 much curved. Wings long and pointed. Tail a little shorter 
 than the wings and slightly graduated, the feathers rather 
 narrow and obliquely oval-rounded at the end. 
 
 Length, 6.50; wing, 3.50; tail, 3.20; tarsus, 1.00; bill, 0.60. 
 
 Habitat — from Minnesota, plains of Dakota, west to the 
 Rocky Mountains. 
 
348 
 
 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Family TANAGRID^. 
 
 PIRANGA ERYTHROMELAS Vieillot. (608. ) 
 SCARLET TANAGER. 
 
 This is truly a wonderful bird. Its striking; colors are with- 
 out a precedent in this latitude, and it is a marked exception 
 to the rule that the higher the colors the lower the measure of 
 the melody of the song, for it sings absolutely beautifully. 
 
 I have had the rare pleasure of listening to its strains under 
 circumstances most favorable to avoid accrediting the wrong 
 warbler. I am not a little surprised that so few writers men- 
 tion any other note but the ' 'chip, churr-r-r" originally given 
 by Wilson I think. One or two have discovered a series of 
 modulations resembling the song of the Robin "only softer, 
 and less copious and fluent. " I also read of the performance 
 of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak "strongly resembling the finest 
 of the Robin's" but in the memory of the beautiful melodies 
 of the Scarlet Tanager, I have no comparison which 
 would not grossly mislead. The best approximation would 
 be the liquid sweetness and copiousness of the best efforts 
 of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, with scarcely any inflec- 
 tions or modulations belonging to the same class of song 
 as the Robin's. I never attempted more than a snatch of 
 the closing notes of the exquisite peroration of its melodious 
 undulations, which I can but faintly describe at the 
 best. Closing an effort which had been prolonged about as 
 long as the longest of the Grosbeak's, it seems most nearly to 
 resemble, to wit-to where-wheedle, wheedle-wee-woo-wit. The first 
 two notes with an upward, but gentle inflection, the next two 
 downward, the next two and two following with a slight roll 
 and the upward and downward marked in "wee-woo" by cor- 
 responding inflection and deflection ending with an abrupt 
 upward "wit." 
 
 Not an approximation towards an unmelodious note in the 
 whole strain, delivered with deliberation, and a restful com- 
 pleteness of volume. It has an undoubted right in the calendar 
 of the genuine song birds. 
 
 It arrives about May 10th usually, although much earlier in 
 extremely premature seasons. I have one good record for April 
 4th. I mention this because so very exceptional. Rev. Father 
 Gear, who was the earliest army chaplain ever stationed at Ft. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 349 
 
 Snelling, (situated at the junction of the Minnesota and Mis- 
 sissippi rivers,) was a very careful observer of the habits of 
 the birds, from whom I received much reliable information of 
 the habits of many of the more common birds in early times, 
 and I availed myself of his notes upon this species particularly. 
 He assured me that the Scarlet Tanager was never seen here 
 until some time after the then territory had been appropriated 
 by the white people. When first seen it was in the tall timber 
 which skirts the Mississippi, about the 15th of May, and back 
 in the "forties. " It was not met again for several years, and 
 then more frequently until about 1850 it began to return regu- 
 larly, and with increasing numbers. 
 
 It has greatly increased in the time that I have been a resi- 
 dent, until at the present time it may be said to be abundant 
 for its species. They are to be looked for in brush land in 
 which are also considerable numbers of tall, 'forest trees, and 
 near water courses. In the absence of the water courses, it 
 will seek the vicinity of lakes or of swamps. The male pre- 
 cedes the female by about ten days, during which time it seems 
 to go outside of its summer range, in a sort of restless waiting, 
 and is then seen often about our shrubbery and ornamental 
 groves. 
 
 On the arrival of the mate, the favorite localities are at once 
 selected, and about the first week in June they construct a 
 nest of weeds, strips of bark, twigs, wool, etc. , which is lined 
 with fine roots and occasionally bits of tamarack twigs. It is 
 exceedingly loosely built, scarcely having firmness apparently 
 to answer its purpose. They lay three eggs generally, and 
 occasionally four, light green, spotted thickly with reddish- 
 brown. It is placed almost uniformly on a horizontal limb of 
 a sapling, or rather smaller tree, and about eight feet from the 
 ground, with now and then one much higher. I have never 
 known them to bring out more than one brood in a season. 
 They generally begin to move southward early in September, 
 and are usually all gone by the 15th of that month. They are 
 by no means uniformly distributed through the State, but 
 have increased their distribution with increase of population. 
 They will forage sometimes amongst the smaller fruits, and 
 hence are somewhat under the ban of the fruit-growers. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill somewhat straight, subcorneal, cylindrical, notched at 
 tip, shorter than head; culmen moderately curved, commissure 
 with a median acute lobe; wings elongated, the first four 
 
350 NOTES ON THE 
 
 primaries about equal, second quill longest, first and. third a 
 little shorter; tail moderate, slightly forked; general color, 
 bright carmine; wings and tail velvet black, the quills intern- 
 ally edged with white towards the base. 
 
 Length, 7.40; wing, 4; tail, 3. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States, west to the Plains. 
 
 Family HIBUI^DIKID^. 
 
 PROGNE SUBIS (L.). (611.) 
 PUEPLE MARTIN 
 
 When the long winters of Minnesota have gone so that the 
 snows have disappeared from the thickets and corners of the 
 fences, and tiny coleopterous insects begin to appear in the 
 air, even though'still chilly, the Purple Martin may appear any 
 forenoon, approaching 12 o'clock. It usually does so in com- 
 pany with greater numbers of the White-bellied Swallows. In 
 1870 they both came on the 17th of April, and after skirmishing 
 vigorously about for an hour, and finding no food along the 
 river, departed as abruptly as they came. On the 22d they re- 
 turned in augmented numbers, and went no more away for the 
 season. They soon build their nests in various places, but 
 manifest a strong preference to have them near dwellings. 
 Their readiness to occupy boxes, artificial houses placed on 
 poles, on the eaves of out houses, is a matter of the commonest 
 observation, doubtless for no sentiment toward our species, but 
 because our habits and our habitations attract the larger quan- 
 tities of insects upon which they feed. Yet, like the Chimney 
 Swallows, they frequent the forests, and employ holes in old 
 dead trees in many places familiar to me. They habitually 
 enter the state at the southern border early in April, as Dr. 
 Hvo&lef of Lanesboro has the 3d of that month in his record 
 for several years in succession. He also observed the circum- 
 stances of their disappearing again for a few days — onc^ eleven 
 — and then invariably remaining upon their return. The nests 
 consist of fine straw, hay, dried leaves, and feathers which are 
 employed to line it. They lay four pure white eggs, that are 
 almost indistinguishable from those of the White-bellied Swal- 
 low. The first brood is brought out by the 10th of June and 
 another one late in July. 
 
 As a fighter, the courage of this bird has but one approxima- 
 tion, and that is in the Kingbird. Crows, ravens, hawks and 
 
BIKDS OP MINNESOTA. 351 
 
 eagles are instantly put to flight by them, and in the words of 
 Wilson, "So well known is this to the lesser birds, that as soon 
 as they hear the Martin's voice engaged in fight, all is alarm 
 and consternation. To observe with what spirit and audacity 
 this bird dives and sweeps upon, and around the hawk, or the 
 eagle, is astonishing. He also bestows an occasional bastinad- 
 ing on the Kingbird, when he finds him too near his premises, 
 though he will at any time instantly co-operate with him in 
 attacking the common enemy." The value of the Purple Mar- 
 tin to the general, or the special agriculturist is so well under- 
 stood, and so universally accepted on account of their destructon 
 of noxious insects, that for an exception, no argument is needed 
 with that class of producers to defend it. It is nearly univer- 
 sally distributed over the State. It leaves the whole country 
 almost simultaneously between the 20th and 25th of August, in 
 company with the White-bellied Swallows. Years of record 
 show that they have left the vicinity of Minneapolis on either 
 the 23d or 24th of that month. 
 
 Note. Mr. Washburn when referring to this species in his 
 notes gathered on his second trip to the Red river valley says: — 
 ' 'This species too, occurs about Mille Lacs, where the farmers 
 provide boxes for them. The great majority of them there, 
 however, nest with the Gulls on an island called Spirit island 
 by the Indians, lying about • two miles rCrom the southeastern 
 shore of Lake Mille Lacs. Here large numbers lay their eggs 
 in the sand, — in the crevices and fissures of the rocks, and 
 serve as allies in driving away the ravens and other birds dis- 
 posed to prey upon the eggs and young of the gulls." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill strong, short, gape very wide, sides gradually com- 
 pressed, culmen and lateral' margins arched to tip, and the 
 latter inflected, nostrils basal, lateral, open, and rounded; tail 
 considerably forked; tarsi shorter than middle toe and claw, 
 and about equal to the toe alone; toes long, strong, lateral ones 
 equal; closed wings rather longer than the deeply forked tail; 
 tarsi and toes naked; color everywhere glossy steel-blue with 
 purple and violet reflections. 
 
 Length, 7.30; wing, 5.85; tail, 3.40. 
 
 Habitat, temperate North America. 
 
 PETROCHELIDON LUNIFBONS (Say). (612.), 
 
 CLIFF SWALLOW. 
 
 Nowhere that my personal observation has extended, has 
 this species of sparrow been' more abundant from about the 
 first of May to the 20th of August, than in this northern land. 
 
352 NOTES ON THE 
 
 It does not come quite as early, nor remain quite as long as 
 the Black-bellied Swallow, but is far more numerous, and 
 domestic. 
 
 Its habits are essentially the same as those of the Barn Swal- 
 low in flight as well as in feeding, but it builds a different nest, 
 both as to form and some of its elements. Its construction 
 consists of pellets of mud plastered onto the perpendicular 
 surface of rocks at considerable elevation from the ground, and 
 underneath jutting ledges, or beneath the eaves and cornices 
 of buildings, beginning upon a broad base which is uniformly 
 built out from the building, or clifE, far enough for a comfort-, 
 able-sized cavity which is closed over except that a neck, curv- 
 ing a little downward, is extended somewhat, through which is 
 formed the entrance. 
 
 Into this inclosed cavity are carried a lining of fine grass, 
 and feathers. Five slightly pinkish -white eggs, spotted more 
 or less thickly with fine specks of reddish, brown and purplish, 
 are layed about the 20th of May — perhaps occasionally a little 
 earlier, but quite as likely a little later. Two and three broods 
 are reared in the season. 
 
 They are quite uniformly distributed throughout the state in 
 localities favoring them with breeding places. It has been said 
 that they sometimes barrow into banks to nest after the man- 
 ner of the Bank Swallows — ( Clivicola riparia ( Linn. ). ) — but 
 I do not credit the observation. The rapidity of their flight 
 precludes the urgency of incubation as a reason for their enter- 
 ing the burrows of the other species, so that unless strong 
 proof is adduced I must reject it. 
 
 They leave the country about the 20th of August. 
 
 I 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAEACTEES. 
 
 Crown and back steel-blue, the upper part of the latter with 
 concealed pale edges to the feathers; chin, throat, and sides 
 of the head, dark chestnut; breast f uscus; belly white; a steel- 
 blue spot on the throat; rump, light chestnut; forehead brown- 
 ish-white; a pale nuchal band; tail slightly emarginate. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 4.40; tail, 2.20. 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 CHELIDON ERYTHROGASTER (Bodd.^bt.) (613.) 
 BARN SWALLOW. 
 
 This is undoubtedly the most abundant species of the whole 
 family of the swallows throughout the State, arriving in small 
 parties about the 25th of April, and building its nests about 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 353 
 
 the 15th of May. Its presence is easily noted, as the tail is ex- 
 tremely forked, and it seeks the inside of barns and other out- 
 houses to build its nest on the rafters and beams. Failing to 
 find its favorite place to build, it will accept a place under the 
 eaves like the ClifE Swallow, or not obtaining this, will go to 
 the woods, and there select a hollow stub or tree so widely 
 open that little else but the shell of the dry sappy part remains 
 and will occupy it with ten to twenty or more nests. This out 
 wardly, consists of mud brought in pellets and plastered to- 
 gether with the saliva of the bird, into which is mixed a desir- 
 able quantity of fine hay. When it has assumed the right pro 
 portions it is lined with fine grass, covered over which are loosely 
 disposed feathers. It lays from four to five white eggs bear- 
 ing a tint of fleshy roseate color, with fine dottings of two 
 shades of brown, and reddish purple. Three broods ar# reared 
 in a season oftentimes, but more frequently only two. In the 
 early autumn they gather into flocks of considerable size, 
 though not as large as in some other sections reported, and 
 after staying a few days about the unfrequented streams and 
 large marshes, disappear so suddenly that it is little wonder 
 that our not very remote ancestors were led to believe that 
 they hibernated in the marshes and swamps. In a country con 
 sisting of so much treeless territory, it would not be expected 
 to find the Barn Swallow universally distributed, but nowhere 
 has it failed to be found where conditions favoring its incubat- 
 ing habits have existed, or been subsequently developed . On 
 the broad plains of the Red river valley, where barns are still 
 the exceptions, I have found them in great numbers about a 
 single out-house oftentimes. 
 
 In common with all of the social sweIUows, they are every- 
 where welcomed by the agriculturists, as their feeding habits 
 do not levy upon the productions of man. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail deeply forked; outer feathers several inches longer than 
 the inner; very narrow towards the end, above glossy blue, 
 with concealed white in the middle of the back; throat chest- 
 nut; rest of lower part reddish-white, not conspicuously differ 
 ent; a steel blue collar on the upper part of the breast, inter- 
 rupted in the middle; tail feathers with a white spot near the 
 middle on the inner web. 
 
 Length, 6.90; wing, 5; tail, 4.50. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
354 NOTES ON THE 
 
 TAIJHTCINETA BICOLOR (Vieillot). (614.) 
 TREE SWALLOW. 
 
 This bird loses no time in making its northern migrations as 
 early as there is to be found an appropriate supply of food. It 
 is looked for with so much interest by the poet as well as the 
 naturalist, that its arrival could not long escape notice. Quite 
 early in April, when the sun has driven away the cheerless 
 clouds enough to let his rays begin to warm the recently frozen 
 earth a little, and clusters of tiny forms of insect life begin to 
 occupy the air, the White-bellied Swallows, often accompanied 
 by the Purple Martins appear suddenly upon the scene, in lim- 
 ited numbers, as avaunt couriers of the hosts to come when the 
 question of food supply has been assured. Sometimes, after a 
 few ho«irs spent here, as described in connection with the 
 Purple Martins they leave as suddenly and as completely as 
 they came, and are not seen for five, ten, or even fifteen days, 
 if the season remains exceptionally backward, yet there have 
 been years when all of the conditions referred to being contin- 
 uously unfavorable, they have come early and remained. The 
 time of average arrival may be set down at about the I2th of 
 April in the southern part of the State, not much time there- 
 after passing before reaching all parts. 
 
 In 1884 they were not in the more southern tier of counties 
 till the 27th of April, while in 1875, according to my notes, they 
 arrived in the latitude of Minneapolis by the 8th, and in 1886 
 on the 7th. 
 
 They build their nests about the 15th of May, in holes in 
 trees, or occasionally in the deserted nests of the Barn Swal- 
 lows, or in a hole of a log or stump. , The materials involved in 
 its structure are usually dried fine grasses and feathers, very 
 loosely disposed in the cavity occupied. They lay five eggs, and 
 bring out two broods of young. The eggs are clear, roseate 
 white. 
 
 They retire from the State exceptionally early, not even 
 waiting for the first frost. They are usually gone by the 25th 
 of August. In 1870 Mr. W. L. Tiffany, a very competent ob- 
 server, reported them clean gone, with the Purple Martins on 
 the 23d of that month. 
 
 Their departure on that occasion, was noticed by many ob 
 servers of the habits of the birds, as there was an unusual 
 demonstration of preparation by both species for many hours 
 before the final movement took place. The variation of the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 355 
 
 nesting habits of this beautiful swallow which has been noticed 
 so much of late years, I believe to have been associated with 
 its entire history, and is abundantly verified here. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 « 
 
 Glossy metallic green above; entirely white beneath; nos- 
 trils basal, small, oblong, and covered by a membrane; tail 
 emarginate; tarsus naked and shorter than the middle toe, and 
 scutellate. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wing, 5; tail, 2.65. 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 CLIVICOLA BIPABIA (L.). (616.) 
 •BANK SWALLOW. 
 
 This smallest of the swallows, which avoids all intercourse 
 with man, seeking its breeding places in the neighborhood of 
 streams and lakes, often quite inaccessible, would be a hard 
 species to watch as to the times of their arrival and departure 
 but for the circumstance of their spending their nights in their 
 holes in the banks where they breed. When new holes haye to 
 be excavated, it is done very rapidly, so as to provide a place 
 for the first night's lodging. An early visit to the vicinity of 
 the banks will determine their arrival. A single locality may 
 be occupied by only a few birds, but many places within a short 
 distance of each other are occupied by hundreds, if not thou- 
 sands. The supply of food must in some measure determine 
 that, although the possibilities of their wings may meet most 
 emergencies of that kind. 
 
 They reach the greater part of the State by the 5th of May as 
 a general thing, and at once enter upon their nidification. The 
 nest is usually at the end of a hole about half a yard in length, 
 and consists of a cavity of sufficient dimensions to receive an 
 ample quantity of dried grasses, hay, feathers and down of 
 different kinds. Sometimes the nest is much further in the 
 bank. 
 
 They deposit four or five pure white eggs, and bring out two 
 broods in due time for the last to be ready for the southern 
 migration by the 25th of August. 
 
 Its nidification habits doubtless restrict its numbers in certain 
 districts, but it is an abundant species. I have not failed to 
 find it in every important section seen or heard from. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Smallest American swallow. Tail slightly emarginate, outer 
 web of first primary soft, without hooks; lower part of tarsus 
 
356 NOTES ON THE 
 
 with a few scattered feathers; above grayish brown, somewhat 
 fuliginous, with a tendency to paler margins to the feathers; 
 beneath pure white, with a band across the breast and sides of 
 the body like the back. 
 
 Length, 4.75; wing, 4; tail, 2. 
 
 HaUitat, Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 STEIGIDOPTERTX SERRIPENNIS (Audubon). (617.) 
 ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. 
 
 This swallow arrives about the same time of the arrival of 
 the Bank Swallow, and is no less common in some sections 
 breeding in different localities, but more generally in banks 
 
 I am less familiar with its habits or history than with most 
 of the other species of its family. Dr. Hvoslef reports it "one 
 of our very common swallows" arriving at Lanesboro, 
 April 19, (1884). I have never seen the nest in situ, but the 
 eggs are by no means rare amongst our oblbgists. They are 
 said to be 4 or 5 in number, and white. They leave the State 
 q"uite as early as any of the swallows, I think. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail slightly emarginate; first primary with the pennulse of 
 the outer web much stiffened, with their free extremities recur 
 ved into a hook very appreciable to the touch. Above rather 
 light sooty-brown, beneath whitish-gray or light brown-ash, 
 becoming nearly pure white in the middle of the belly, and on 
 the under tail coverts. 
 
 Length, 4.50; wing, 4.30; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, United States at large. 
 
 Family AMPELID^. 
 
 AMPELIS GARRFLUS (L ). (618.) 
 BOHEMIAN WAXWING. 
 
 The Bohemian Waxwing is one of our winter visitants, arriv 
 ing variously from the first of December to the 20th of that 
 month. 
 
 The closest observation locally, and a wide correspondence 
 extending over the State has failed to note their presence for 
 several winters in succession occasionally, yet they may be put 
 down 'as rather an abundant species during a portion of the 
 winter and long into spring. They are in flocks of from 20 to 
 50 or even more, and are often most numerous in spring when 
 they have entirely escaped observation in the autumn or early 
 winter. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 357 
 
 The general texture of the feathers of this species, (and its 
 near relative, the Cedar Bird) so remarkably different from that 
 of nearly all other species, gives it a beautiful, rich, and soft 
 plumage which must be seen to be fully appreciated. 
 
 No close observer of the individual characteristicts of the 
 birds, ever fails to be peculiarly impressed by it, and so strik- 
 ing is it that nearly everybody wants a specimen for mounting, 
 which has led to the decimation of the species, and would most 
 naturally lead to its extermination, or to driving it to other 
 lines of migration, but for the irregularities of its migrations 
 already alluded to. It has grown shy, but less so than we 
 would naturally expect. While closely resembling the Cedar 
 Bird in its quaker-drab general coloration, and a prominent 
 crest which it elevates at will, it is appreciably larger, a little 
 darker, and has some white on the wings, besides dark-red, or 
 iron-rust under tail coverts which constitute a striking distinc- 
 tion from the white of the other species. The two species 
 some time become mixed together in the same flock in early 
 spring. 
 
 Their food consists chiefly of berries and wild grapes in win- 
 ter, but as the spring awakens the insect world, they become 
 decidedly insectivorous, catching winged forms after the most 
 approved methods of the true fly-catchers. 
 
 They remain until the latter part of April in this latitude, 
 and have all left the State for more northern regions by the 
 1st of May. I know nothing of their breeding habits, but trust 
 they are more songful then, for they have no approacli to 
 melody while with us. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 High crested; general color brownish- ash with a faint shade 
 of reddish, especially anteriorly; the forehead, sides of head 
 and under tail coverts brownish- orange; hinder parts purer 
 ash; region about vent white; primaries and tail feathers plum- 
 beous black, especially towards the tips; tail with a terminal 
 band of yellow; a narrow frontal line passing backward, involv- 
 ing the eye, and extending above and behind it; chin and upper 
 part of throat black; tips of the secondary coverts and a spot 
 on the end of the outer webs of all the quills white; those on 
 the inner primaries glossed with yellow; secondaries with red, 
 horny tips, like sealing wax; side of the lower jaw whitish. 
 
 Length, 7.40; wing, 4.50; tail. 3. 
 
 Habitat, northern parts of Northern Hemisphere. 
 
 If' 
 
358 , NOTES ON THE 
 
 AMPELIS CEDROBUM (Vieillot). (619.) 
 CEDAR WAXWING. 
 
 Without a note of song, uttering only an oftrepeated twhe, 
 tivle, and with a palate for cherries in particular that reaches 
 into the pocket of the fruit-culturist, this beautiful bird has 
 friends but few. I had long been under the influence of the 
 popular prejudice towards this bird, when one day a country 
 woman brought a young, but nearly f uUgrown specimen to me, 
 and I bought it. The soft delicate drab mantle and reddish- 
 olive head with its expressive crest were irresistible, and I took 
 it with a mental resolve to give it full liberty when the time 
 came for the autumnal migration. On releasing it in the dining- 
 room it flew to a bracket in the sitting-room directly over a 
 mantel on which a clock stood. From that time that ever re 
 mained his perch. His confidence in the entire membership of 
 the family was manifest from the first, and he spent his time in 
 clearing the house of flies and spiders, except what was devoted 
 to bathing and pruning his plumage, or taking a bit of accept 
 ble food ofE from my own plate, or preferably from my lips 
 while perching upon my left shoulder. A small quantity satis 
 fied him, when he would return to his bracket and dress his bill 
 until the last particle of adhering food was removed, when he 
 would invariably relight on my shoulder, from which he would 
 hop onto the rim of my glass of water, and after taking what 
 he desired, returned to his perch, where he remained quietly 
 until our meal was finished. Afterwards his search for spiders 
 and flies was resumed, in the pursuit for which he availed him- 
 self of any open door leading to cellar or garret, or out and 
 under the piazza. All the care required was t& lay a piece of 
 paper on the mantel under his perch, and leave some water in 
 a dish to supply him with drink when the family were absent. 
 Several distinguished ornithologists dined with me at different 
 times, and were greatly pleased as well as surprised at his per- 
 formances. He never showed the slightest desire to migrate 
 in autumn. Unfortunately, one Sabbath the supply of water 
 was forgotten, and a tall pitcher half filled was left standing 
 upon the table, to which doubtless, he resorted, and slipped in 
 without the power to get out, and was there drowned most in- 
 gloriously. Notwithstanding his penchant for berries and 
 cherries, he abuiidantly proved to me that his species is worth 
 more to the pomolbgist than almost any other in the destruc- 
 tion of worms, larvae and insects of nearly all kinds. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 359 
 
 Mr. F. L. Washburn, whose observations in the Eed river 
 valley have been of great value to me, says: "About the mid- 
 dle of August there is present, flying over the sloughs and 
 ponds, (in the region of the Thief river, &c), a small gauze-like, 
 transparent, white fly, a species of coleoptera, of which the 
 Cedar Bird is apparently very fond. For almost half an hour 
 I watched six of these birds, constantly on the wing, hovering 
 over a slough and catching quantities of these insects. They 
 seemed never to grow tired, but flew slowly against the wind, 
 deviating now a little to this side, now to that, until they reached 
 the end of the slough, when back they came to repeat the same 
 maneuvre and go over the same ground again and again. Oc- 
 casionally they uttered the characteristic note of the species, 
 but for the most part flew silently. During the time I stood 
 watching them they did not once rest. These birds are also 
 partial to the black currants which are found in the woods at 
 this season." 
 
 They arrive in considerable flocks about the 1st of April, 
 some years a month earlier in the lower counties, and not very 
 infrequently two weeks later than the average date first men- 
 tioned. Occasions are not wanting where a few individuals 
 have lingered all winter. Soon after the 1st of May the larger 
 flocks are subdivided, until only pairs remain together, and 
 they build their nests on a horizontal limb of different species 
 of trees in the pasture, about the house or in the timber. It 
 consists of stalks of weeds, strips of bark, leaves, grass, fine 
 roots, etc. Deeply hollowed, it is lined with fine grass, roots 
 and horse hairs. They usually lay five light bluish eggs with 
 a shade of purple or brown, and marked somewhat with black 
 spots and obscure spots of brown. They raise two broods. 
 
 I have found them in considerable numbers as late as the 
 l6th of December, but they usually leave this latitude by the 
 1st of November in considerable parties, skirting the timber 
 belts in the direction they take. No bird without a song 
 should be more welcome to the general or special agriculturist 
 than the beautiful Cedar Bird. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head crested; general color reddish-olive, passing on the 
 neck, head and breast, into purplish-cinnamon, posteriorly on 
 the upper parts, into ash, and on the lower into yellow; under 
 tail coverts white; chin dark sooty-black, fading ins en sibly 
 into the ground color on the throat; forehead, loral region, 
 space below the eye and a line above it, intense black; quills 
 24 z 
 
360 NOTES ON THE 
 
 and tail dark plumbeous, passing behind into dusky; tail 
 tipped with yellow; primaries; except the first, margined with 
 hpary; a short maxillary stripe, a narrow crescent on the 
 Infero-posterior quarter of the eye, white; secondaries with 
 horny tips like red sealing wax. 
 
 Length, 7.25; wing, 4.05; tail, 2.60. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 Family LAKIID^. 
 
 LANIUS BOREAIIS Vieillot. (621.) 
 NORTHERN SHRIKE. 
 
 This is by no means a very common visitor in migration, 
 reaching Minnesota about the middle of October, and remain- 
 ing variously in the latitude of Minneapolis from four to six 
 weeks, but not very infrequently far into December. It occa- 
 sionally remains during the entire winter in the lower or 
 southern tier of counties, as has been reliably reported, to me 
 by Dr. Hvoslef . He has sent me the following data of its 
 observation in his locality: — March 26th and December 31st, 
 1883; December 7th, 1884; January 31st, 1885; February 3d, 
 1886. 
 
 Prof. C. L. Herrick found them "very common at Lake 
 Shatek in October, 1877." December 18th, 1870, and April 
 5th, 1876, are the two extremes in my own records of 29 years. 
 Mr. Washburn did not see this species in the northern part of 
 the State. At the latest above date of my own observations, 
 I saw one feeding upon a mouse which he fixed in the crotch 
 of a tree upon which he perched. 
 
 In hunting for mice it hovers in the same manner as the 
 Sparrow Hawk tloes, but I have never seen it in the act of im- 
 paling its victim on a thorn bush or a sliver projecting from a 
 stub or fence rail, as I have seen the White-Rumped Shrike do 
 many times. 
 
 They have all gone further north before the 1st of May, so 
 far as I have been able to learn. They have become less and 
 less observed in the settled sections of the State from year to 
 year of late, as with several other species which were formerly 
 common. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above, light bluish-ash, obscurely soiled wilii reddish-brown; 
 sides of the crown, scapulars, and upper tail coverts, hoary 
 white; beneath white; the breast with traverse lines; wings 
 
BIKDS OF MINNESOTA. 361 
 
 and tail black, former with a white patch at base of primaries 
 and tips of small quills, the lateral feathers of which are 
 tipped with white; bill blackish-brown, considerably lighter at 
 the base; black stripe from the bill through and behind the 
 eye, beneath the latter inte;rrupted by a whitish-crescent. 
 
 Length, 9.85; wing, 4.50; tail, 4.80; its graduation, 0.90. 
 
 Habitat, northern North America. 
 
 I ANUS LUDOVICIANTTS EXCUBIT0KIDE8 (Swainson). 
 
 (622a. ) 
 
 WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE. 
 
 The White-Rumped Shrike is a very common summer resi- 
 dent of the State, reaching this latitude about the 1st of April. 
 It is occasionally seen still earlier when the season opens early 
 enough to afford it the proper food. Mr. Washburn found it 
 at Otter Tail lake "common late in October," and said by the 
 people living in the vicinity, to remain all winter. While this 
 may be to an exceptional extent true, for it is certainly so in 
 respect to a number of species, I am confident it cannot be so 
 as a rule with the White-Rumped Shrike. Prof. Herrick 
 found it abundant for its species, as late as October 18th, at 
 Lake Shatek. I am inclined to think that considerable num- 
 bers spend the winter in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. 
 Wherever trees have been planted along the highways of the 
 prairies that have formed top enough to conceal the nest, the 
 observer may count safely upon finding it. 
 
 In sections where there is timber enough to give this bird 
 its choice, the nest will usually be found in a rather small tree 
 standing a little way into a pasture field, if not in the one that 
 is the sole representative of the field. I have never met either 
 bird or nest in the forest proper. It is constructed of sticks 
 interlaced with shreds of bark, coarse weeds, fibers of wood, 
 roots, grass, strings, wool and a fair supply of feathers. It is 
 a rude, bulky structure, but, well lined with feathers, serves 
 its purpose perfectly in bringing out the early brood, for 
 which five or six eggs are laid about the 25th of April. They 
 are of a dull, white color, spotted with varying shades of 
 brown. Two broods are reared. Their principal food consists 
 of beetles, but includes also various insects, and not infre 
 quently mice and small birds. Not specially attractive in re- 
 pose, it will instantly arrest the observer's attention when it 
 flies, for then are revealed the remarkable contrasts of its 
 blueish ash, black and white colors, in a manner entirely its 
 
362 NOTES ON THE 
 
 own. Once identified, it is never again forgotten. As has 
 already been intimated, they only leave us in late October and 
 early November, individuals, occasionally much later, when the 
 severest frosts are materially delayed. The flight of this bird 
 is quite characteristic. Sitting quietly upon a conspicuous 
 post or stake of a fence, or in the top of a small tree, he drops 
 down to within half a yard of the ground, and with a strong, 
 even flight, follows the fence, where there is one, some little 
 distance, as if destined to light on the grass, when he suddenly 
 rises and perches upon another similar place, where he will 
 remain almost motionless until another impulse sends him 
 back to the first position in which we found him. 
 
 The only note I have ever heard him utter was "peemp, 
 peemp, " in a rather subdued manner. The food of this species 
 is mostly grasshoppers and beetles, considerable of which is 
 often impaled on thorns, or slivers in the fence. It will often 
 seize mice, if small or quite young, and will take the young or 
 the eggs of other species of birds, if not vigorously defended. 
 They seem to remain in families in their autumnal movements, 
 but return in spring in pairs, so far as I have observed them. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above, rather light, pure blueish ash. Forehead, sides of 
 crown, scapulars and upper tail coverts, hoary whitish; be- 
 neath, plain whitish; wings and tail black; the former with a 
 white patch at base of primaries and tips of small quills, the 
 latter with the lateral feathers tipped with white, extending 
 broadly at the base. Bill throughout, pitch black; a contin- 
 uous black stripe from the bill through and behind the eye. 
 
 Length, 8.75; wing, 3.95; tail, 4.35. 
 
 Habitat, United States, except the South. 
 
 Family YIKEOKID^. 
 
 TIREO OLIVACEUS (L.). (624.) 
 RED-EYED VIREO. 
 
 No one interested in bird life, and fond of the quiet groves 
 of lofty forest trees in spring and summer, can fail to appre- 
 ciate this abundant summer resident of the woods of Minnesota. 
 His song is almost unceasing from the dawn of day until the 
 groves are drowsy with the last gloamings of twilight. 
 
 For many years I have had a cottage on the shores of Lake 
 Minne tonka, (now famous as a resort, fourteen miles distant 
 from this city) beautifully enveloped in primeval woods of oak. 
 
» BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 363 
 
 ash, maple, ironwood and basswood, where the birds abound 
 as almost nowhere else in the country. During the latter part of 
 May, the Red-Eyed Vireos invariably have vied with the Robins 
 in opening the daily bird-concert from half -past four o'clock, 
 gradually earlier and earlier, until in the latter part of June it 
 was no more than half -past three o'clock when these two song- 
 sters poured forth their fullest measures. By eight, in the 
 warmer days, the Robin would have retired from the concert, 
 but with only the briefest intervals, the Vireo would keep up 
 an even, clear, strong and sweetly monotonous song, which 
 seemed a mere incident of his existence, costing the songster 
 little effort, and a delight, though it were everlasting. There 
 is comparatively little variety in the notes, but they are the 
 very expression of cheerfulness and entire satisfaction. They 
 are described best by the words — vireo-vireo-viriee-vir-'a-viree, 
 uttered energetically, but without any appearance of hurry. 
 
 They reach their summer destination about the first of May, 
 some times a little later, and at once enter upon their singing. 
 Concealed by the leaves of the lofty trees, he flits amongst the 
 more elevated branches where the casual observer will scarcely 
 see him, but he will hear him beyond a question. They build 
 their nests from about the 25th of May to the 10th of June. I 
 have frequently found them no more than three feet from the 
 ground, suspended from the horizontal forks of a limb of the 
 s ize of my finger, and I have still of tener met with it from ten 
 to twenty feet above my head, but never very much more ele- 
 vated. Always typically pensile, it is outwardly composed of 
 fine strips of inner bark of the slippery elm, and basswood of 
 the previous year, and therefore bleached nearly white, with 
 which are mingled fragments of hornets' or wasps' nests, vege- 
 table down, etc.; and inside with fine thread-like roots and 
 shreds of fine bark. The eggs are a glossy white, slightly 
 speckled on the larger end with dark brown. Occasionally 
 there are a few blotches scattered over the same part, of a 
 brickdust red. They are generally four in number, yet not in- 
 frequently there are only three. They are abundant in every 
 wooded section of the State which I have visited, and are fre- 
 quently found about the elms and other shade trees of the city 
 and farm houses. They mostly leave us in September, although 
 a few individuals remain still later. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found it in August, and early in September, 
 in the Red river valley^ — "the most abundant of its family." 
 
 Every correspondent of mine has reported its presence in 
 timbered sections. 
 
364 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second and third quills about equal and longest; first a little 
 shorter than fourth, but considerably longer than fifth; back, 
 rump, edges of wing and tail feathers, bright olivaceous green: 
 side of head and neck paler; crown dark ash sharply defined; a 
 well defined whitish line from the bill, over the eye nearly to the 
 occiput; a dark line separating it above, from the ashy crown; 
 a dusky line throu:gh the eye; beneath white; under tail coverts 
 pale sulphur-yellow; iris red. 
 
 Length, 6.50; wing, 3.50; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 TIREO PHILADELPHICUS (Cassin). (626.) 
 PHILADELPHIA VIREO. 
 
 I had observed the vireos in this section for many years be- 
 fore I had the opportunity to see this one, when on the 18th of 
 May, 1876, Mr. T. S. Roberts obtained one in the immediate 
 vicinity of the city, to which he called my attention. It was 
 an excellent specimen of the male in good plumage. Since 
 then many have been collected not only in this immediate vi- 
 cinity, but most parts of the State; observed in the "season of 
 migration from Fillmore county, where Dr. Hvoslef obtained it, 
 to Clay county, on the Red river, where Mr. Lewis found it 
 common, but obtained no nests. That it breeds throughout 
 the State I have little doubt, especially along the Red river 
 where it has been most commonly met. It retires from the 
 State early in September. 
 
 Its general habits are so much like V. gilvus that it is next 
 to impossible to distinguish them by their appearance until in 
 the hand, but when their note is heard the identity is no longer 
 doubtful. Its song has been represented to greatly resemble 
 that of V. olivaceus and I may have heard it when I attributed 
 it to that bird, but if the latter is singing at the same time, 
 there is no dif&culty in distinguishing this one. 
 
 specific CHARACTERS. 
 
 Without any spurious primary; second and third quills 
 longest; fourth a little shorter; first about .20 of an inch 
 shorter than second, and about equal to fifth. Above dark 
 olive-green, slightly inclining to ashy on the crown; beneath 
 ' pale sulphur-yellow, brightest on the throat and breast. A 
 white line from the bill over the eye, and an obscure white spot 
 below it. A dusky line through and behind the eye from the 
 commissure. 
 
 Length, 5 inches; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.10; tarsus, .65. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to Hudson's Bay; south in 
 winter to Costa Rica. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 365 
 
 YIREO (JILTUS (ViEiLLOT). (627.) 
 WARBLING VIRBO. 
 
 Excepting the Red-eyed, this is the most abundantly repre- 
 sented species of the genus. It arrives about the 10th of May, 
 remaining until late in September, and occasionally October. 
 
 Its habits in common with the others of its genus, are such 
 that its presence might escape the attention of the casual ob- 
 server but for its beautiful warblings which there is no mistak- 
 ing for any other. It is emphatically the domestic representa- 
 tive of the vireos, notably preferring the poplars in which to 
 build its nest, and rear its young. Rather than occupy the 
 other common trees in the vicinity of dwellings, it will go to 
 the small groves and borders of the forest, but is almost never 
 found in the denser timber. It is not a whit behind the Red- 
 eyed Vireo as an insecticide, leaving nothing of the kind living 
 on the trees it specially inhabits and few anywhere very 
 near. 
 
 Its song is liquid, fluent, exhilarating, undulating, smooth 
 and melodious as a flute, and remarkably prolonged for a bird 
 of its size and genus. The nearest approximation to any de- 
 scription which I can conceive of is a fairly strong, sweet trill, 
 modulated into symmetrical undulations, with just interruptions 
 enough to keep the vocal cords always up to their best. It 
 sings while skipping from twig to twig amongst the topmost 
 branches of the tree in which its form remains essentially in- 
 visible while searching for its special food. The nest is sus- 
 pended in a very delicate manner from small horizontal twigs 
 where they unite with a larger perpendicular one, around which 
 fibres of bark are wound with much skill to amply secure it. 
 It consists of fine strips of bark and fibres of wood, dried grass, 
 vegetable down, shreds of larval cocoons and fragments of 
 wasp's nests, and is lined with fine bark. It is usually about 
 two inches in depth, but occasionally much more shallow. The 
 characteristics of the vireos are in nothing more marked than 
 in the slim, white eggs sparingly spotted with reddish-black 
 at the larger end. They are generally limited to five in num- 
 ber, and are laid about the first week in June. The nest is 
 placed usually well toward the top of the tree, however tall it 
 may be. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third, fpurth and fifth quills nearly equal; second and sixth 
 usually about equal, and about .25 of an inch shorter than the 
 third; exposed portion of the spurious "quill about one-fourth 
 
366 NOTES ON THE 
 
 that of the third; above greenish-olive, the head and hind neck 
 ashy, the back slightly tinged with the same; lores dusky, a 
 white streak from the base tff the upper mandible above, and a 
 little behind the eye; beneath the eye whitish; sides of head 
 pale yellowish-brown; beneath white, tinged with very pale 
 yellow on the breast and sides; no light margins whatever on 
 the outer webs of the wings or the tail; the spurious primary 
 one-fourth the length of the second. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 3; tail, 1.80. 
 
 Habitat, North America in general. 
 
 TIREO FLATIFRONS (Vieillot). (628.), 
 YELLOW-THROATED VIREO. 
 
 Somewhat rare, the Yellow-throated Vireo is still regularly 
 a summer resident, breeding in its characteristic localities in 
 the forests of the middle and southern sections, and without 
 doubt as commonly in the northern. It arrives about May 
 10th, and builds its nest about the 20th in forks of small 
 branches some distance from the main trunk, and about twenty 
 feet from the ground. This does not differ from that of the 
 Red-eyed Vireo, being perhaps a little more artistic in its 
 external finish, and employing a little more material. Of the 
 general distribution of this species over the State I have been 
 able to learn comparatively little. Dr. Hvoslef has identified 
 him in Fillmore county; once as early as May 10th, and Mr. 
 Lewis, in Hennepin, a little later, and a few have been 
 obtained in the fall migration, early in September. 
 
 No writer has ever given the male any fiattering credit for 
 his powers of song, indeed rather the opposite, but I must be 
 permitted a different view of his vesper song at least. 
 
 It was very near sunset, after a charming day, and I was 
 about to leave the field and return home with my basket well 
 filled with forms embracing several then new to me, when I 
 caught the notes of a new songster, and paused in the growing 
 shadows of the forest long enough to become enchanted by 
 them. Was it the evening song of some familiar species I had 
 failed to hear before, or had I been surprised by the revela- 
 tions of a new candidate for my vote of admiration? He 
 seemed entirely unconscious of my presence, indeed he was so 
 far above me that I would scarcely expect him to be otherwise, 
 and I therefore had all the opportunity I could desire to assure 
 myself that he was unquestionably the source of the melody 
 so new to me. My field glass enabled me to get an excellent 
 view of him, and after giving him every moment I dared, lest 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 367 
 
 he might escape me, I asked him in "collector's dialect" to 
 come down, and he responded so quickly that his throat must 
 have been full of notes on his coming. 
 
 Any attempt to describe his song by letter, syllables or by 
 words would be idle, but it was a most exquisite, clear, liquid 
 utterance of a rather brief strain, often repeated, the very soul 
 of bird- song. Little pellets of sound transformed into a 
 mystery of song. In every instance in which I have heard it, 
 I have more deeply regretted the impossibility of fixing it in 
 expressible characters. It is eminently a bird of the forest, 
 and so far as I have been able to ascertain, seldom if ever 
 sings except quite early in the mprnmg, or very near sunset 
 at evening. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 No spurious quill; the first and fourth equal. From bill to 
 middle of back, sides of head, neck and fore part of breast 
 olive green; beneath from bill to middle of belly, with a ring 
 around the eye, sulphur yellow, lores dusky; rest of under 
 parts white; of upper ashy blue, tinged with green. Two 
 white bands on the wing; tertiaries edged with white, other 
 quills with greenish; outer tail feathers edged with yellowish 
 white; the outer web of first feather entirely of this color, ex- 
 cept near the end. 
 
 Length, 6.00; wing, 3.20. 
 
 Habitat, eastern . United States, south in winter to Costa 
 Rica. 
 
 YIREO S01.ITABIUS (Wilson). (629.) 
 BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 
 
 Some years the Solitary Vireo is quite common in migration, 
 but there have been others when none were observed after the 
 most careful scrutiny of its favorite migratory haunts. 
 
 The first individual that evei^ fell under my notice was ob- 
 tained by Mr. George McMullen of Minneapolis, on the 11th 
 of May, 1876. Within five days following I met with many 
 and secured several skins. They remained but a short time 
 when they seemed to move further northward, yet I cannot 
 help thinking a few remained in the forests near by, or did not 
 go much farther northward to breed. I am led to this impres- 
 sion by their conjugal manners while under my observation. 
 They were far from shy or solitary in their habits, indeed were 
 exceptionally tame and unsuspicious. I have found them 
 usually in the tamarack groves near the streams or lakes, 
 and actively engaged in feeding. I know nothing of their 
 
368 NOTES ON THE 
 
 distinctive habits in their summer abiding places. They are 
 said to be exceedingly solitary and retiring, building an 
 elegant, pensile nest hung about seven feet from the ground. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Spurious primary very small, not one-fourth the second, 
 ■which is longer than the sixth. Top and sides of the head and 
 upper part of the neck dark bluish ash; rest of upper parts 
 clear olive green. A white ring around the eye, interrupted 
 in the interior canthus by a dusky lore, but the white color 
 extending above this spot to the base of the bill. Under parts 
 white, the sides under the wings greenish yellow. Two bands 
 on the wing coverts, with the edges of the secondaries, green 
 ish white. Outer tail feather with its edge all round, including 
 the whole outer web, whitish. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Plains. In winter, 
 south to Mexico and Guatemala. 
 
 VIREO NOVEBORACENSIS (Gmelin). (631.) 
 WHITE-EYED VIREO. 
 
 Not an abundant species, arrives about the 25th of April 
 and remains until about the first of October. It is not often 
 seen, and only in low brush, along the borders of swamps, 
 where it builds its nest in June, of much the same material as 
 the other Vireos employ, hung by the edge to the forks of the 
 limb of a bush not far above the ground. The eggs are indis- 
 tinguishable from those of the Red-eyed Vireo, and are four or 
 five in number. The note has been fairly spelled into "chip 
 che'weeo, chip, chip, che'weeo" so far as my own observation has 
 extended, but others have given startling descriptions of its 
 powers of song in other provinces which I have utterly failed 
 to obtain in this. Mr. Burroughs endows him with habits of 
 imitation only second to the Mocking Bird, and a "rari avis" 
 indeed on general considerations. It certainly has not been 
 my fortune to witness such exhibitions of his "unique tones." 
 While rejecting the more enthusiastic claims for the melody of 
 its song, Langille is quite as emphatic over the variety and 
 says in his "Birds in their Haunts," pp. 254-56: "But in July or 
 August if you are On good terms with the sylvan deities, you may 
 listen to a far more rare and artistic performance. Your first im- 
 pression will be that that cluster of azaleas, or that clump of 
 swamp huckle-berry, conceals three or four different songsters, 
 each vying with the others to lead the chorus. Such a medley of 
 notes, snatched from half the songsters of the field and forest, 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 369 
 
 and uttered with the utmost clearness and rapidity, I am sure 
 you cannot hear short of the haunts of the genuine Mocking 
 Bird. If not fully and accurately represented, there are at 
 least suggested the notes of the Robin, Wren, Catbird, High- 
 hole, Goldfinch and Song-sparrow." 
 
 SPKCIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Spurious primary about half the second, which is about 
 equal to the eighth quill. Entire upper parts bright olivaceous- 
 green; space around the eyes and extending to the bill, green- 
 ish-yellow, interrupted by a dusky spot from the anterior 
 can thus to the base of the gape; beneath white; sides of breast 
 and body well defined almost gamboge yellow; edges of greater 
 and middle wing coverts (forming two bands) and of inner 
 tprtiaries, greenish-yellow-white; iris white. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States, west of the Rqcky mountains. 
 
 YIREO BELLII (Audubon). (633.) 
 BELL'S VIREO, 
 
 I cannot quite understand how a bird which has been fairly 
 common for many years now, could have escaped my collecting 
 basket so effectually for nearly ten years after I became a resi- 
 dent here, yet so it did; but I have in late years found them 
 relatively common during the seasons when the other members 
 of the genus were. They arrive about the 10th of May, and 
 build their nests from the 25th to the 30th of that month in low 
 bushes in the woodlands. The vicinities of our beautiful, syl- 
 van lakes are favorite breeding localities. The nest is much 
 like that of the other vireos, pensile and extremely well built, 
 of strips of bark by which it is secured in the forks of a hori- 
 zontal limb, and further composed of caterpillars' silk, wasps' 
 nests, spiders' neSts, with bits of bark from milkweeds, &c. , &c. 
 The structure is basket-form, very firmly woven, embracing in 
 its inaterials, bits of almost any pliable substances, and is lined 
 with grass, fine strips of grape vine, and bits of leaves. White 
 birch, which abounds about our lakes, is very often prominent. 
 The eggs are pure white, slightly spotted with specks of brown- 
 ish-black, mostly at the larger end, and four in number. Nb 
 bird of song is habitually more hidden in its habits of conceal- 
 ment amongst low brush. 
 
 The song is not obtrusive like the Red-eyed, but is sweet and 
 very plaintive while far from languid in the earnestness of its 
 delivery. They are not an overly shy bird by any means, for 
 
370 NOTES ON THE 
 
 I have known them to rear their brood within twenty yards of 
 a lake cottage and within a yard of a c ommon pathway. The 
 early frosts hasten them away from our latitudes so unostenta- 
 tiously, that no one can tell just when they go. Mr. Chas. R. 
 Keyes and H. B. "Williams, M. D., of Davenport, Iowa, report 
 this species common in that state. (Annotated Catalogue of 
 the Birds of Iowa, p. 39. ) 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Olive-green above, tinged with ashy on the top and sides of 
 the head; a short line from the bill over the eye, and the region 
 around the lower eyelid, white; lores dusky; beneath yellowish- 
 white; sides of the body posteriorly, sulphur-yellow; two faint 
 bars of whitish across the win^ coverts; inner tertiaries edged 
 broadly with whitish; third quill longest, the rest successively 
 shorter except the second, which is a little shorter than the 
 seventh; spurious primary about two-fifths the second, and 
 more than one-third of the third. 
 
 Length, 4.25; wing, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, middle United States. 
 
 Family MIS^IOTILTID^. 
 
 MNIOTILTA VARIA (L.). (686.) 
 BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER. 
 
 The Black and White Warbler, or Creeper, as it has been so 
 long called, is an abundant species in migration, and is fairly 
 common in nidiflcation in restricted localities. It reaches the 
 extreme southern limits of the State, in the last days of April* 
 and this locality by the 3d to the 5th of May. A large island 
 in the Mississippi, in the centre of our city, has long been a 
 favorite resort of birds in migration, and specially so of this 
 beautiful species, which may be seen at such times as common 
 as Woodpeckers. After ten to twelve days, they move on 
 northward, . but not without leaving at least a representation 
 behind, for they have not only been seen occasionally during 
 the summer, but the nest has been found. I have little doubt 
 that it will be found to be fairly common in its favorite haunts 
 during the breeding season when requisite observations have 
 been employed long enough to ascertain with certainty. -. Its 
 proclivities for the dark forests and shady ravines, and to 
 spend its time principally near the ground, renders its detec- 
 tion somewhat difilcult to the hasty investigator, who will 
 scarcely be able to decide just where to look for its nest, as 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 371 
 
 descriptions vary extremely from on the ground near the root 
 of a decaying tree to a hole in a tree, or a niche in projecting 
 rocks, the drain of a house, and elevated all the way from the 
 first mentioned position, to several feet from the ground. Its 
 composition certainly does not vary so remarkably, for all 
 reports corroborate my own observation that it is formed of 
 coarse fibres of different barks and leaves, with grasses. My 
 specimen embraces little or no grass, but a few bits of thread 
 or strings. The note of this Warbler is very pleasing 
 although humble, and may be described as somewhat resembl- 
 ing the formulation — -pits-ee, pits-ee, pits-ee, pitsee, rather mo- 
 notonously repeated, with brief interruptions while flitting from 
 the trunk or lower limbs of one tree to the roots of another. 
 
 They commence to build about the 15th of May, as indicated 
 by the nest obtained on the island alluded to, as observations 
 were maintained from the first, and bring out their brood in 13 
 days after the female takes finally to her nest. The eggs were 
 four in number, and of a creamy white, speckled irregularly 
 with fine dots of reddish-brown, thickest near the larger end. 
 
 They breed extensively in the forests bordering the northern 
 lakes, as Mr. Lewis and others have found. In common with 
 its family, it migrates southward very soon after the earlier 
 frosts. Breeds at Vermilion lake, St. Louis county. (Mr. U. 
 S. Grant's Eeport.) 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill with the upper mandible considerably decurved; the 
 lower one straight, general color of the male black, the feathers 
 broadly edged with white; the head all round black, with a 
 median stripe in the crown and neck above, a superciliary and 
 maxillary stripe of white. Middle of belly, two conspicuous 
 bands on the wings, outer edges of tertials, and inner of all the 
 wing and tail feathers, and a spot on the inner webs of the 
 outer two tail feathers, white. Rump and upper tail coverts 
 black, edged externally with white. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.85; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Plains, 
 
 HELMINTHOPHILA PINUS (L.). (641.) 
 BLUE-WINGED WARBLER. 
 What this little warbler has denied it in the force, and 
 melody of its song, is made up to it in the beauty of its colors. 
 It is a thing of beauty and therefore "a joy forever." The 
 eye that having seen it in its freshness of vernal plumage, 
 does not feel a thrill of joy at its return after the long months 
 
372 NOTES ON THE 
 
 of a northern winter have passed away, and permitted the 
 great bird-wave to roll over the resurrected land once more, 
 has no right to see, nor the soul to feel the joy of a thing of 
 beauty. 
 
 Notwithstanding this bird has been considered too southern 
 for the latitude, it is annually a Minnesota visitor, coming in 
 sufficient numbers to assure us that it has by no means reached 
 the most northern limits of its migration. About the 10th or 
 12th of May, it comes with the great bird-throng of the spring, 
 and remains in sufficient numbers for about ten days to make 
 the collection of several for the cabinet in the course of half a 
 day's hunt, a pretty sure thing to the experienced collector. 
 
 Although no nests have come under my own eye, nor have 
 any been reported to me as yet, I confidently believe it breeds 
 throughout the State as well as in the British possessions. 
 One individual was obtained about the 3d of September, in its 
 southern migration, and in mature plumage. Since writing 
 the above Mr. Treganowan writes: "I have the nest and eggs 
 of the Blue-winged Warbler, obtained May 22nd, (1877) in Big 
 Stone. It was on the ground in a cluster of hazel brush, in the 
 borders of a grove of forest trees. The locality was near a 
 dwelling, and the nest consisted of strips of bark from dead 
 poplars, and was lined with fine grasses quite artistically ad- 
 justed and interwoven. There were five white eggs spattered 
 with dirty brown, darker colored and more numerous at the 
 larger end." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts and cheeks olive-green, brightest on the rump; 
 wings, tail and upper coverts in part, bluish-gray; an intensly 
 black patch from the blue-black bill to the eye, continued a 
 short distance behind it; crown, except behind, and the under 
 parts generally rich orange-yellow. Wing with two white bands; 
 two outer tail feathers, with most of the inner web, and third 
 one with a spot at the end, white. 
 
 Length, 4.50; wing, 2.40; tail, 2,10. 
 
 Habitate, eastern United States. 
 
 HELMINTHOPHILA CHRTSOPTERA (L.). (642.) 
 GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER. 
 
 So far as I have been able to ascertain, this Warbler is not 
 by any means common. Indeed I had lived here seventeen 
 years before I saw one, and that was collected by Mr. T. S. 
 Roberts of this city. Since then few springs have come and gone 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 373 
 
 without my meeting a few. If any breed here, I have failed to 
 learn the fact. Rumor amongst amateur ornithologists claims 
 that it has been seen in its autumnal migrations; but with warb- 
 lers on the wing in fall plumage, seeing is not always sufftcient 
 reason for believing. This very pretty species, is seen asso- 
 ciated with other warblers about the 10th of May. It has 
 been obtained late in August on its southern migration. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts uniform bluish-gray; head above and a large 
 patch on the wings, yellow; a broad streak from the bill 
 through and behind the eye, with the chin, throat, and fore 
 part of breast, black; the external edge of the yellow crown 
 continuous with' a broad patch on the side of the occiput above 
 the auriculars, a broad maxillary stripe widening on the side 
 of the neck, the under parts generally, with most of the inner 
 webs of the outer three tail feathers, white; sides of body pale 
 ash color. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.65; tail. 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States. 
 
 HELMINTHOPHILA BITPICAPILLA (Wilson). (645.) 
 NASHVILLE WARBLER. 
 
 The Nashville Warbler is abundant in the spring migrations 
 from about the 8th to the 15th of May, after which very few 
 are seen until perhaps the 10th to the 15th of September, when 
 although less numerous, they may be said to be fairly common 
 for the season. A remarkable fact concerning this species, which 
 is also true of several others of its family, is that their num- 
 bers have steadily increased from year to year for at least two 
 decades. In the case of those birds whose habits associate 
 them with agriculture, a reason for their increase is at once 
 suggested in the development of the country, bat that would 
 scarcely be applicable for the wood-warblers. This species 
 undoubtedly breeds here, as it is known to do so in the im- 
 mediate vicinity south of us, and in the section of the Kandi- 
 yohi lakes, it is met with so frequently during the summer as 
 to leave no question of its breeding there at least. A single 
 nest containing four white eggs was found by a little boy on 
 the ground, constructed mostly of dried grass, fine roots, and 
 lined with the finest bits of the same, to which were added a 
 few pine needles and a few horse hairs The outside was over- 
 laid with green moss, and the whole well concealed in a bunch 
 of brush. The eggs were spattered over with reddish-brown, 
 which formed a sort of ring around the larger end by their 
 multiplication there. 
 
374 NOTES ON THS 
 
 I have never heard its notes under circumstances possible to 
 approximate it in a formula of syllables, but a gentleman per- 
 fectly competent to do so informs me that he cannot distinguish 
 the opening notes from these of a Black and White Warbler, but 
 it soon changes into one that suggests the syllables cMp-ee, 
 ehip-ee, cMp-ee, and Mt-see, kit-see, kit-see, with the accent on the 
 last syllable, which is somewhat prolonged. I trust we shall 
 know more of the local history of this bird in the near future, 
 as the number of observers are increasing very rapidly. 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef met with them as, early as April 29th in 1881, 
 and May 2d 1884. Mr. Washburn reports them common in the 
 Red river valley, in August 1885. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head and neck above, and on the sides, ashy-gray; the crown 
 with a patch of concealed dark brownish-orange, hidden by 
 ashy tips to the feathers; upper parts olive-green, brightest on 
 the rump; under parts generally, and the edges of the wing, 
 deep yellow; the anal region paler; sides tinged with olive; a 
 broad yellowish-white ring round the eye; lores yellowish; no 
 superciliary stripe; inner edges of the tail feathers margined 
 with dull white. 
 
 Length, 4.65; wing, 2.40; tail, 2.05. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
 HEIMINTHOPHILA CELATA (Say). (646.) 
 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. 
 
 This beautiful member of the Warbler family, arrives in the 
 regions where it comes under my personal observation annually 
 about the 5th of May. Its song is exceedingly delightful, 
 being for its race copious, varied, pianoforte, and considerably 
 prolonged. I can never forget the first time I heard it sing 
 from the topmost branch of one of the loftiest elms of the 
 dense, dark, deciduous forest on the quiet banks of Lake Har- 
 riet, now included within the ambitious limits of the corpora 
 tion of Minneapolis. The sun of a cloudless day in early May 
 was within an hour of its setting, when the song suddenly 
 burst forth in a strain of melody that floated down through 
 the leafy canopy upon the ear, like distillations of fragrance 
 upon the sense of smell. Intoxication only expresses the effect 
 upon the ear, "till pleasure, turning to pain" under the over- 
 whelming conviction that terrible as the sacrifice to sentiment 
 and song must inevitably be, the author of such celestial 
 melody must die in the interests of science. And in a great 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 375 
 
 deal less time than it takes to write one of these lines, the 
 beautiful, delightful warble lay at my feet. I hear that it has 
 been seen late in August by those who sought to know the bird 
 thoroughly. Mr. Grant did not meet with it at Vermilion lake, 
 but Mr. Lewis did, under circumstances which justify the pre- 
 sumption that it breeds there, in company with so many of the 
 warblers. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above olive green, rather brighter on the rump; beneath 
 entirely greenish yellow, except a little whitish about the vent; 
 the sides tinged with olivaceous; a concealed patch of brown- 
 ish-orange on the crown, hidden by the olivaceous tips to the 
 feathers; eyelids and an obscure superciliary line, yellowish, 
 and a dusky, obscure streak, through the eye. 
 
 Length, 4.70; wing, 2.25; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 HBLttlNTHOPHILA PEREGRINA (Wilson). (647.) 
 TENNESSEE WAKBLEE. 
 
 Abundant in the season of its migration, the Tennessee 
 Warbler is a fairly represented summer resident, arriving 
 from the 5th to the 10th of May, and remaining until about the 
 second week in September. They build their nests in, or in 
 the vicinity of forests, on the ground, well concealed by brush 
 and dead leaves. It is composed entirely of fibrous strips of 
 bark outwardly, and of fine grasses interiorly. Five eggs, 
 more or less speckled with brown, especially about the larger 
 end, were found in a nest at Lake Minnetonka, June 5th, 1881. 
 They are a very nervous, active and energetic species, exceed- 
 ingly difficult to follow with the best eyes or a field-glass, flit- 
 ting constantly to and fro through the boughs in searching for 
 their food, keeping up a short chirp. 
 
 This has been accounted a Somewhat northerly species, and 
 not without reason on account of the disproportionate number 
 seen during their migration, but I am satisfied it should not be 
 specialized as such. In the fall, and after the earlier frosts, it 
 is not a very uncommon thing to meet scattering parties of 
 them mingled with other species, making their way towards 
 the south. It is not abundant for its species, except during 
 migration when few other of the warblers are more so. At 
 St. Vincent, Mr. Washburn recorded it in the latter part of 
 July, 1885, as very frequently seen "in scrub willows and trees 
 bordering the Eed river. " I ^et similar records from different 
 25 z 
 
376 NOTES ON THE 
 
 representative sections of the province of my survey. I have 
 personally met the bird but once during the summer months, 
 but that they breed within our borders extensively there can 
 be no doubt. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Top and sides of head and neck ash gray; rest of upper parts 
 olive green, brightest on the rump; beneath dull white, faintly 
 tinged in places, especially on the sides with yellowish olive; 
 eyelids and a stripe over the eye, whitish; a dusky line from 
 the eye to the bill; outer tail feathers with a white spot along 
 the inner edge near the tip. 
 
 Length, 4.50; wing, 2.75; tail, 1.85. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 COMPSOTHLTPIS AMERICANA (L. ). (648. ) 
 PARULA WARBLER. 
 This is a somewhat common summer resident, but so small 
 and unobtrusive that it eluded my notice for many years after 
 I became a resident of the state except in the season of migra- 
 tion, when a victim found its way into my collecting basket 
 very frequently. It arrives about the 10th of May in this lati- 
 tude, and builds its nest in the last days of that month. This 
 consists of a common form of lichen ingeniously woven into a 
 sort of ball, with the entrance generally on one side, but some- 
 times in the top. It is usually on the limbs of maples or iron- 
 woods about twenty to thirty feet from the ground, and contains 
 four white eggs, speckled with reddish-brown, especially around 
 the larger end. Notably this bird mostly avoids damp, dark, 
 swampy localities, and is found on high, dry, and even hilly 
 places in the forest. The song is humble, but finds a most 
 welcome place in the choristry of the woodlands. In the heat 
 of the day, at a time when a majority of the songsters have 
 ceased to sing, this humblest and smallest of all, begins with 
 its low, feeble note, which resembles, cheweech, cheweech, cheweech, 
 cheweech, repeating it several times with increasing force and 
 volume till it suddenly ceases, to be repeated presently again 
 in the same manner. As above suggested, the breeding habits 
 of this bird are easily overlooked, and, as a consequence, few 
 of those who have been collecting observations which are of 
 value to the survey, have been able to give any valiiable addi- 
 tions to my knowledge of the local habits of this warbler. By 
 the 10th, and often the 5th, of September they have turned 
 their beautiful little blue and yellow backs upon oar latitudes 
 for the sunnier South. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 377 
 
 I am credibly informed that the bird has been found nesting 
 in St. Louis county, a statement I am ready to believe from my 
 own knowledge of the habits of the species. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTURS. 
 
 Above blue, the middle of the back with a patch of yellowish 
 green; beneath yellow anteriorly, white behind; a reddish 
 brown tinge across the breast; lores and space around the eye 
 dusky; a small white spot on either eyelid; sides of head and 
 neck like the crown; two conspicuous white bands on the wings; 
 ' outer two tail feathers with a conspicuous spot of white. 
 
 Length, 4.75; wing, 2.35; tail, 1.90. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States, west to the Plains. 
 
 BENDROICA TIGBINA. (Gmelin). (650.) 
 CAPE MAY WARBLEE. 
 
 This is another species of warbler that is occasionally seen 
 in its autumnal migration, and is quite common for a short 
 time, beginning about the 10th of May and sometimes nearly a 
 week earlier. With so many observations of its migrating 
 habits in this longitude, it is a matter of regret that my notes 
 include no discoveries of its nest up to the present time. 
 
 It was somewhat singular that it should have escaped my 
 notice so long as it did, and subsequently have been met with 
 so many times, but such has been the case with many other 
 species. It was first obtained in this locality — Minneapolis— 
 on the 15th of May, 1875, by T. S. Roberts, and in the follow- 
 ing year. May 11th, by several collectors. Correspondents 
 from widely severed portions of the State have reported the 
 Cape May Warbler in spring migrations. I have never obtained 
 the nest, but have found this warbler considerably further 
 south than Minneapolis during the month of June, and it has 
 been reported nearly as late in the spring at Lanesboro, thus 
 rendering it assured that they breed with us, notwithstanding 
 the fact that no nests have been discovered. 
 
 specific CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill very acute, conicial and decidedly curved; bill and feet 
 black, upper part of head dull black, some of the feathers 
 faintly margined with light yellowish brown; collar scarcely 
 meeting behind; rump and under parts generally rich yellow; 
 throat, fore part of breast and sides streaked with black; 
 abdomen and lower tail coverts pale yellow, brighter about the 
 vent; ear coverts light reddish chestnut; back part of a yellow 
 ^ne from nostrils over the eye, of this same color; chin and 
 throat also tinged with it; a black line from commissure through 
 
378 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the eye and running into the chestnut of the ear coverts; back, 
 shoulder, edges of the wing and tail yellowish olive, the 
 former spotted with dusky; one row of small coverts and outer 
 bases of the secondary coverts form a large patch of white 
 tinged with pale yellow; tertials rather broadly edged with 
 brownish white; quills and tail dark brown, the three outer 
 feathers of the latter largely marked with white on the inner 
 web; edge of the outer web of the outer feathers white, more 
 perceptible towards the base. 
 
 Length, 5.25; wing, 2.85; tail, 2.15. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, north to Hudson Bay, west 
 to the Plains. 
 
 DENDROICA JISTIYA (Gmelin). (652.) 
 YELLOW WARBLER. 
 
 Not for its beautiful colors, for they are certainly unonsten- 
 tatious; not for its melodies, for they are not conspicuous in 
 the grand choristry of bird song; nor for its rariety, for its 
 numbers exceed any other species of the warblers, but after 
 the combination of all expressible reasons comes the inexpres- 
 sible one of its remarkable, inseparable association with the 
 return of full grown, voluptuous spring and summer embraced 
 in one living, throbbing resurrection. Until the unsympathetic, 
 desouled systematologists robbed it of its rightful heritage, it 
 bore the appropriate and expressive name Summer Warbler. 
 With this name were inseparably associated the fra- 
 grance of flowers, the earlier butterflies, the new born ver- 
 dure of forest and field, "the smiles and frowns of April show- 
 ers," with all their golden memories of childhood, youth, and 
 riper, rounder years. Yellow Warbler? How little it means. 
 Where is the ring of spring in it? It has nothing sweet nor 
 green in all of its ripened October sought significance. 
 
 Late in April this warbler comes amongst us as unheralded 
 as the gentle shower that patters on the roof at daybreak. By 
 the 12th to the 15th of May, they construct one of the most 
 artistic, and substantial nests known as belonging to the war- 
 blers. It is either placed in the forks of a bush, or so as to 
 embrace several small branches, about four or five feet above 
 the ground, and consists of bark from weeds, strips of the liber 
 of grapevines, with which the woods abound, into which are 
 ingeniously woven various materials, the special character of 
 which is determined by the immediate surroundings of the lo- 
 cality, embracing bits of wool, down from dead wood and 
 weedstalks, dry grass, and the long hairs from horses and cat- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 379 
 
 tie from the pastures. The walls are exceedingly thick, being 
 bound firmly together with fine roots, dry grass, into which are 
 woven the catkins of different willow kinds of timber, and is 
 delicately lined with down of various kinds of vegetation. The 
 location may be in the garden, field, swamp, lawn, forest, or 
 orchard. 
 
 The eggs are greenish white, heavily spotted with brown 
 and lilac that occasionally spreads into splotches. The young 
 are often out of the nest by the twenty-fifth of June. I have 
 not yet decided that they do not rear the second brood occas- 
 ionally. They are common victims of the Cowbird's audacious 
 occupation of their nests with its own larger eggs, over which 
 the Yellow Warbler will sometimes build another, and second 
 story nest. 
 
 The distribution of this species in the State, is almost univer- 
 sal, except on the marshes and open prairies. Mr. Grant does 
 not list them for the three counties in which his observations 
 were made, but directly west of them in Cass, Becker and Clay 
 counties they are registered as common. A few only remain 
 later than early September, but isolated instances have occur- 
 red when they have lingered into October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill, lead color; head, all around and under parts generally, 
 bright yellow; rest of upper parts yellow olivaceous, brightest 
 on the rump; back, with obsolete streaks of dusky reddish 
 brown; fore breast and sides of body streaked with brownish 
 red; tail feathers bright yellow; outer webs and tips, with the 
 whole upper surfaces of the innermost one, brown; extreme 
 outer edges of wing and tail feathers olivaceous like the back; 
 the middle and greater coverts and tertials, edged witn yellow, 
 forming two bands on the wings. 
 
 Length, 5.25; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.25, 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 DENDROICA CiERULESCENS (Gmelin.) (654.) 
 BLACK-THROATED BLUE WAEBLER. 
 
 On the 10th, 11th, or 12th of May, there comes a sort of 
 Wood-warbler wave, like an unseen tide setting in from the 
 sun, and not the invisible moon. It seems as if every branch 
 of lofty tree or brush, or shrub, was tremulous with fiittings of 
 song-bird life half suppressed, half revealed, moving leisurely 
 toward the waiting northland. One catches a glimpse of some 
 ravishing form of varied colors to be instantly changed for an- 
 
380 ^ NOTES ON THE 
 
 other, till the individual is lost in the maze of ceaseless change. 
 He must clothe his heart in armor of remorseless steel, and 
 listening to no siren song of sentiment, see only forms, and 
 hear only the rapidly repeated roar of his own artillery until 
 his receptacle is filled with bloody sacrifices to the altar of sci- 
 ence, or the golden opportunities are gone for a whole year at 
 least. Amid the trophies of his unwelcome victories, that em- 
 brace seven- tenths of all the warblers, appears the beautiful 
 form and colors of the Black-throated Blue Warbler. If in his 
 zeal he has ceased his warfare for a moment's rest, while in the 
 field, he may have heard some preoccupied insect rubbing his 
 chitinous wings against his harder legs in insect melody, with- 
 out suspecting the author was a warbler of such proportions, 
 yet it was this same, and no other. Although but few have 
 been seen after the month of May has passed, enough have 
 been brought to basket to make it presumably certain that the 
 Black- throated Blue Warbler breeds in Minnesota, notwith- 
 standing no nests have been secured. Its habits lead it to the 
 uplands of the forests, where it may be seen energetically flit- 
 ting from the very tip of one lofty tree to that of another close 
 at hand, occasionally dashing out after an insect on the wing, 
 after the manner of the fly-catchers; or descending quietly to 
 the lower portions of the trunk, industriously scanning every 
 crack and crevice in the bark in search of larvss, and wingless 
 forms. Careful observations along the borders of forests in 
 early September will usually be rewarded by the sight of this 
 beautiful bird, in somewhat more sombre plumage. It is on its 
 way to the land where the frosts do not deprive it of its indis- 
 pensable supplies of insect food during our prolonged and 
 rigorous winter. Mr. Lewis found it fairly common at the 
 Vermilion lakes in June, but discovered no nests, as his stay 
 afforded little opportunity to search for them. From several 
 descriptions of the nests and eggs as found in other localities, 
 it seems that for the most part the location chosen is quite 
 variable, some being ' 'on the horizontal branch of a fir tree^ 
 seven or eight feet from the ground," and others "about five 
 inches." Eggs four, white and spotted with brown. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAEACTEBS. 
 
 Above uniform continuous grayish-blue, including the outer 
 edges of the quill and tail feathers; a narrow frontal line, en- 
 tire sides of head and neck, chin and throat, lustrous black, 
 which color extends in a broad lateral stripe to the tail; rest of 
 under parts including the axillary region white; wings and 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 381 
 
 tail black above, the former with a conspicuous white patch 
 formed by the bases of all the primaries except the first; inner 
 webs of the secondaries and tertials with similar patches to 
 wards the base, and along the inner margin; all the tail feath- 
 ers except the innermost, with a white patch on the inner web 
 near the end 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
 DENDKOICA COEONATA (L.). (655.) 
 MYRTLE WARBLER. 
 
 During their migrations, either in spring or autumn, this is 
 by far the most numerous species of its family, arriving in the 
 southern sections of the State as early as the 5th of April, and 
 reaching Minneapolis and vicinity, by the 15th. At first seen 
 often only in comparatively small parties, they soon increase 
 until they seem to be in loose hordes, in search of insects of 
 all kinds found on the trees, or in the air, for no genuine fly- 
 catcher can exceed them in taking insects on the wing. 
 
 Their movements are more dignified than those of the other 
 warblers, exhibiting little of the nervous manners character- 
 istic of the family, while tireless in their industry. They pass 
 us entirely by the middle of May, breeding still further to the 
 north. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found the young birds at Thief river, one of 
 the tributaries of Red Lake river in Polk county, in August, 
 and Mr. Lewis reports the youne common in Itasca and St. 
 Louis counties earlier in the season, from which there can be 
 no further doubt of its local nidification. The autumnal migra- 
 tion has fairly begun from the 15th to the 20th of September, 
 but it is not terminated until the first of November. Their 
 lines of movement, both before and after their breeding, are 
 somewhat restricted, and follow the course of the larger 
 streams and lakes bordered with timber. In the springs of my 
 earliest residence here, I was somewhat of a duck hunter, and 
 visited the principal localities in the vicinity of my residence 
 very frequently, where such game abounded. I think I met 
 with the present species several years the very day they first 
 came, and one of these was on the 31st of March, and another 
 the 2d day of April. On these occasions I was very much in- 
 terested to observe their feeding. They were not at all shy, 
 but would prosecute their explorations. of every limb, branch, 
 twig, and dead leaf of the very tree under and behind which I 
 
382 NOTES ON THE- 
 
 was watching the movements of the ducks, thus affording me 
 the amplest opportunities for seeing them, some of them coming 
 within a yard of me at such times. Some of these flocks would 
 amount to more than two hundred, and the least one I ever un- 
 dertook to estimate, was somewhat more than twenty. The 
 quantities of minute insects and larv3e destroyed by this 
 species alone, must be something simply marvelous. Any 
 winged forms at this early season could scarcely escape them, 
 for while not so nervously active as some of the later warblers, 
 they were unerring in their fly-catcher-like seizure of them in 
 the air. Their movements whether climbing about for larvae 
 and insects, or flitting out after a winged form, are easy, grace- 
 ful, and always restful to witness, which is more than can be 
 said of most other warblers and fly-catchers. 
 
 Note. Since the most of the foregoing was written I have 
 found some nests of the Myrtle Warblers in the northern and 
 northwestern sections of the State, and more of the young, in 
 early August, leaving the question of their breeding within the 
 limits of the area of my inquiries at rest in my own mind. The 
 nest is in a small tree or large bush, about six or seven feet 
 from the ground, and the structure consists of fine roots, 
 grasses, stalks of weeds, and the fibrous bark of different kinds 
 of woods and coarse weeds, and is lined very neatly with fine 
 roots, hair and feathers. It is not quite as bulky as the nests 
 of some other warblers, but is very firm and well built. The 
 eggs are four in number, ashy white, dotted all over with two 
 shades of brown, darkest about the larger end. I cannot think 
 they bring out a second brood. The young of this species were 
 found by Mr. Washburn at the Thief river in August. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above, blueish ash, streaked with black; under parts white; 
 forepart of breast and sides black, the feathers mostly edged 
 with white; crown, rump and sides of breast y-^llow; cheeks 
 and lores black; eyelids and a superciliary stripe, two bands 
 on the wing, and spots on the outer three tail feathers, white. 
 
 Length, 5.65; wing, 3; tail, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 DENDROICA MACULOSA (Gmelin). (657.) 
 MAGNOLIA WAEBLER. 
 
 It has always been difficult to explain the circumstance of my 
 obtaining this species in 1869, on the 27th day of April, the 
 habit of the species being almost unexceptionally rather on the 
 other extreme of arrivals. It varies also extremely in the 
 numerical character of its migrations, some years being very 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 383 
 
 common, while in others it is very rare. I have no positive 
 assurance that it breeds within the State, yet from what I 
 know of the history of this bird, I cannot divest myself of the 
 expectation that before very long we shall find the nests. It 
 is occasionally seen in the last days of August or the first days 
 of September, associated with other species, apparently on its 
 way southward, from which I conclude the breeding localities 
 are not for removed. It has long been observed that the notes 
 of this species very strongly resemble those of the Chestnut- 
 sided Warbler {D. pensylvanica (Linn.).) and my own observa- 
 tion accords with it, for I am not entirely sure that I have ever 
 been able to quite distinguish them, if I have really heard 
 those of this finely plumaged species. While with us for 
 about ten days (arriving commonly about the 10th or 12th of 
 May) they are not very diflcult to distinguish by their plum- 
 age, and have received attention from many observers. Their 
 habits of feeding are very much like those of creepers follow 
 ing the trunks and lower branches of large trees to their 
 extremeties in search of insects and larvae. They invariably 
 visit Nicollet island, in the center of Minneapolis, in their 
 migrations, and as they are not at all timid, I have had re- 
 peated opportunities to observe them there for many years at 
 such times. Remarkably gentle, and quietly pre-occupied, 
 they take little notice of the presence of "interviewers," or 
 the impertinence of the police of science or sentiment. Their 
 busy satisfied manners, and soft utterances of their e-e-a-e-e-a, as 
 they trace their sinuous way up the trunk and out along the 
 sturdy limb, impress themselves indelibly upon the memory of 
 anyone interested in the life-history of birds. Their nest and 
 eggs have been best described by the great field ornithologist, 
 Mr. C. J. Maynard, as follows:' "It was placed on the forked 
 branch of a low spruce, about three feet from the ground on a 
 rising piece of land, leading from a wood path. The nest, 
 which contained four eggs, was constructed of dry grass, 
 spruce twigs, roots, etc. , and was lined with fine black roots, 
 the whole being a coarse structure for so dainty looking a 
 warbler. The eggs were more spherical than any other 
 warbler's I have ever seen. The ground color is a cream 
 white, blotched sparingly over with large spots of lilkc and 
 umber.'' 
 
 Note. In one spring I recall the pleasure I had in frequent 
 interviews enjoyed with Mrs. Sara A. Hubbard of Chicago, 
 who was visiting her brother. Col. David Blakely, then editor 
 
384 NOTES ON THE 
 
 and proprietor of The Minneapolis Tribune, and residing on 
 the Island, so that her opportunities were supreme for the 
 observation of many species of the warblers at the full tide of 
 their emigration, not a possible moment of which was neg- 
 lected. This one in particular she watched for hours at a 
 time, glass in hand, sitting in the shade of the magnificent 
 maples, elms, and lofty oaks abounding there, and capturing 
 alike every note and gesture for her record, which she kindly 
 made as my own in our almost daily interviews about the 
 teeming birds. Her ear for the characteristic notes of species, 
 could never be excelled, and her powers of reproducing them 
 by imitation were not a whit behind the other. I had long 
 practiced writing them upon the musical staff, that I might to 
 a small extent at least, recall them after the singer had gone, 
 but when I listened to her, and realized my own deficiencies, I 
 abandoned all such attempts at once. Since those days she 
 has earned fame as a teacher of ornithology, having before 
 been known in its literature as a writer on The Hummingbirds 
 of the Americas. Why are there so few ladies of such culture 
 interested in the systematic study of this fascinating science, 
 
 SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS. 
 
 Bill dark bluish black, rather lighter beneath; tail dusky, 
 top of head light grayish-blue; front, lore, cheek, and a stripe 
 under the eye, black, running into a large triangular patch on 
 the back, between the -wings, which is also black; eyelids and 
 a stripe from the eye along the head, white; upper tail coverts 
 black, some of the feather's tipped with grayish; abdomen and 
 lower tail coverts, white; rump and under parts, except as 
 described, yellow; lower throat, breast, and sides streaked 
 with black, the streaks closer on the lower throat and fore- 
 breast; lesser wing coverts and edges of the wing and tail, 
 bluish-gray, the former spotted with black; quills and tail 
 almost black, the latter with . a square patch of white on the 
 inner of all the bands across the wings, (sometimes coalesced 
 into one) formed by the small coverts and secondaries; part of 
 the edge of the inner webs of the quills white; feathers mar- 
 gining the black patch on the back behind, and on the sides 
 tinged with greenish; second and third quill longest, first 
 shorter than fourth; tail rounded, emarginate. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the base of the Rocky 
 mountains. 
 
 DENDROICA C^RULEA (Wilson). (658.) 
 
 CEEULEAN WARBLER. 
 
 On the 19th of May, 1869, I obtained this warbler amongst 
 
 several others, since which time few seasons of their vernal 
 
 migration have passed without seeing them in rather limited 
 
 numbers. They come with the warbler wave from the 10th to 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 385 
 
 the 12th of May, and remain, or rather the species remains 
 represented, some twelve to fifteen days. In some respects it 
 is the counterpart of the last species described, one of which 
 is manifest in its habit of feeding almost exclusively in the 
 tops of the trees. I might enumerate others, but Langille has 
 described them so well that a quotation from his "Birds in 
 their Haunts, " pages 25 and 26, serves me quite as well. He 
 says: — "I have had every opportunity of observing its habits; 
 and, as no writer has given it a full record, I bear it a special 
 accountability. It is a bird of the woods, everywhere asso- 
 ciated with the beautiful, tall forests of the northern counties 
 of western New York, sometimes found in the open woods of 
 pasture lands and quite partial to hardwood trees. In its 
 flittering motion in search of insect prey, and in the jerking 
 curves of its more prolonged flight, as also in structure, it is a 
 genuine wood warbler, and keeps for the most part to what 
 Thoreau calls 'the upper story' of its sylvan domain. Its 
 song, which is frequent and can be heard some distance, may 
 be imitated by the syllables rheet, rJieet, rheet, rheet, ridi, idi-e-e- 
 e-ee, beginning with several soft, warbling notes and ending in 
 a rather prolonged but quite musical squeak. The latter 
 and more rapid part of the strain, which is given in the 
 upward slide, approaches an insect quality of tone, which is 
 more or less common to all blue warblers. This song is so 
 common here as to be a universal characteristic of our tall 
 forests. The bird is shy when startled from its nest, and has 
 the sharp, chirping alarm note of the family. The nest is 
 saddled on a horizontal limb of considerable size, some dis- 
 tance from the tree, and some forty or fifty feet from the 
 ground. Small and very neatly and compactly built, some- 
 what after the style of the redstart, it consists outwardly of 
 fine, dried grasses, bits of wasps' nest, gray lichen, and more 
 especially of old and weathered wood fibers, making it look 
 quite gray and waspy. 
 
 " The lining is of fine, dried grasses, or of fine shreds of the 
 wild grapevine, thus giving the inside a rich brown appear- 
 ance in contrast with the gray exterior. The eggs, four or 
 five, some .60 by .47, are grayish or greenish- white, pretty 
 well spotted or specked, or even blotched, especially aoout the 
 large end, with brown and deep lilac. They do not possess 
 that delicate appearance common to the eggs of most of the 
 warblers." 
 
386 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above bright blue, darkest on the crown, tinged with ashy 
 on the rump; middle of back, scapulars, upper tail coverts and 
 sides of the crown streaked with black; beneath white, a 
 collar across the breast and streaks on the sides, dusky blue; 
 lores and a line through and behind the eye, (where it is bor- 
 dered above by whitish) dusky-blue; paler on the cheeks; two 
 white bands on the wings; all the tail feathers except the 
 innermost, with a white patch on the inner web near the end. 
 
 Length, 4.25; wing, 2.65; tail, 1.90. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and southern Canada west to 
 the Plains. 
 
 DENDROICA PENSTLTANICA (L.). (659) 
 
 CHESTNUT-SIDED WAEBLER. 
 
 In writing Of the warblers there is a great deal of monotony 
 of description, as there are so many species whose habits 
 closely resemble each other, and in none more than the Chest- 
 nut-sided, in its time of migration, notes, and even its nesting, 
 but to the loving, attentive student of the birds each species 
 comes to have a decided individuality, as dear to sentiment as 
 valuable to science. 
 
 With all that is common to the family this bird is sui generis 
 ' 'itself" and no other. The very type of sprightliness, joy and 
 contentment, it floats along on the great bird-billow which 
 reaches Minnesota in the second week of May, to be recognized 
 instantly upon its arrival. Its favorite localities are thickets 
 bordering rather scattering large trees, and not very far above 
 the ground, where about the 25th of May it builds a nest con- 
 sisting of strips of bark and rather fine grasses, which are 
 woven into compact form with much architectural instinct, and 
 overlaid externally with a sort of stucco with caterpillars' nest- 
 silk and cobwebs, which give the structure considerable firm- 
 ness. Deeply hollowed it is lined with fine strips of bark and 
 horsehairs, and receives usually four creamy- white eggs, with 
 confluent spots of brown about the larger end. But a single 
 brood has been observed in a season. It is very generally dis- 
 tributed over the State in localities favorable to its distinctive 
 habits, and abundantly represented. I do not notice any 
 special increase in their numbers after 30 years. 
 
 Prof. C. L. Herrick, formerly much devoted to the local his- 
 tory of the birds in different parts of the State, found it com- 
 mon in the summer wherever he was. Kennicot found it at the 
 Lake of the Woods, May 31st, and there can be no question of 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 387 
 
 its breeding quite far to the north of the national line. Asso- 
 ciated in families of two generations it is met with frequently 
 in early autumn, but not often later than the 1st of October, 
 indeed that is exceptionally late for them. 
 
 Mr. Grant, who accompanied Professor Winchell to Ver- 
 milipn lake in St. Louis county, on his Greological Survey of 
 that region in 1887, found this species breeding there, appar- 
 ently fairly represented. Nearly all of my correspondents re- 
 port it as common in their localities. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts streaked with black and pale bluish -gray, which 
 becomes nearly white on fore part of back; middle of back 
 glossed with greenish-yellow; crown continuous yellow, bor- 
 dered by a frontal and superciliary band, and behind by a 
 square spot of white. Loral region black, sending off a line 
 over the eye, and another below it; ear coverts, lower eyelid 
 and entire under parts pure white, a purplish- chestnut stripe 
 starting on each side in a line with the black mustache, and 
 extending back to the thighs. Wing and tail feathers dark- 
 brown edged with bluish-gray, except the secondaries and ter- 
 tials, which are bordered with light yellowish-green, the 
 shoulders with two greenish- white bands; three outer tail 
 feathers with white patches near the end of the inner webs. 
 
 Length. 5; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.20. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and southern Canada west to 
 the Plains. 
 
 BENDROICA CA8TANEA (Wilson). (660.) 
 
 BAY-BEE A.STED WAEBLER. 
 
 This warbler is by no means a common species. Arriving 
 about the beginning of the second week in May it is frequently 
 seen until about the 20th, when those individuals destined to 
 remain and breed in the State seem to disappear with the 
 others, but to build their nests, presumably, for they are seen 
 at intervals in the forests all summer, and with the young with 
 them in the latter part of July and August, but disappear en- 
 tirely by the 25th of September. It has never been my fortune 
 to secure the nest, but I have several carefully prepared 
 descriptions of it which essentially agree in its construction of 
 fine twigs, stems of grass, or moss, lined with fibrous roots, 
 moss and bits of fur of animals. Three to four blue-green 
 eggs, all over spattered with brown, which becomes confluent 
 at the larger end. Its presence at Red Lake, Mille Lacs and 
 in St. Louis county in several localities, rests on the testimony 
 
388 NOTES ON THE 
 
 of Mr. Lewis. Mr. Washburn mentions seeing but one of them 
 among his identifications in the Red river valley. They may 
 have begun to change localities at that time, and thus have 
 eluded him. Their return to winter habitations is somewhat 
 less precipitous than many others of its genus, as I have found 
 them in the forests along the Mississippi and surrounding some 
 of our lakes as late as the 20th of September, and even into the 
 earliest days of October on one occasion. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTEKS. 
 
 Crown dark reddish-chestnut; forehead and cheeks, including 
 a space above the eye, black; a patch of buff-yellow laehind the 
 cheeks; rest of upper parts bluish-gray streaked with black; 
 edges of interscapulars tinged with yellowish, scapulars with 
 olivaceous. Primaries and tail feathers edged externally with 
 bluish-gray, extreme outer one with white; secondaries edged 
 with olivaceous. Two bands on the wing and edges of the ter- 
 tials, whjte; under parts whitish, tinged with buff; chin, throat, 
 fore part of breast and sides, chestnut-brown, lighter than the 
 crown; outer tail feathers with a patch of white on the inner 
 web near the end, the others edged internally with the same. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 3.05; tail, 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 DENDROICA STRIATA (Forstek). (661.) 
 BLACK-POLL WARBLER. 
 
 Although a regularly returning species in considerable num- 
 bers during the two migrations, the Black-poll Warbler pro- 
 bably goes beyond our lines to breed. Possibly, when all the 
 corner lots have been sold, and this portion of the new north- 
 west has been effectively plowed and fenced in, some of our 
 aesthetic millionaires may give such a measure of his time to 
 the critical study of the habits of the birds, as here and there 
 a lord or duke has done in Great Britain of the ants, when, 
 amongst the other unfinished labors of love, the breeding hab- 
 its of this bird shall be definitely settled. Till then we must 
 wait. 
 
 The Black-polls ride the very crest of the wave of migration 
 both in spring and in autumn. But they do not remain very 
 long, passing on to the north by the 20th of May, and return- 
 ing in marked numbers by the 10th to the 15th of September — 
 sometimes a little earlier, and sometimes a little later, according 
 to the special character of the season. Some years they spend 
 a good share of October here, but only exceptionally. They 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 389 
 
 follow the course of the principal streams, lakes or swamps, 
 along which they may be seen only in the tops of the tallest 
 trees, with no special proclivity towards the conifers, as is the 
 case with some of the warblers. The kind of insects they 
 prefer for food doubtless determines their haunts, as they are 
 disposed to get as much of their repast upon the wing (like 
 the true fly-catchers), as they can. The nest is most likely 
 to be found in the summit branches of the lofty trees they are 
 known to haunt. This it has not been my fortune to have ever 
 yet seen, yet from a recent communication from a gentleman 
 residing at Duluth, (Mr. J. H. De Voe), I feel inclined to think 
 it probable that he has the nest and eggs of this species, 
 obtained near that city on the 30th of May of the present year, 
 (1889). It was found snug up to the trunk, on the lowest 
 limb of a fir balsam, within easy reach of the ground, and con- 
 tained four eggs, of an ashy-white color, lightly sprayed all 
 over with brown of several shades, more abundantly in a loose 
 band around the bulge of the egg. The nest was built of 
 moss, weeds, dry grass, bits of the flr branches, etc. , and was 
 rather loose and bulky. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Crown, nape and upper half of the head, black; lower half 
 including ear coverts, white, the separating line passing 
 through the middle of the eye; rest of upper parts grayish- 
 ash, tinged with brown and conspicuously streaked with black; 
 wing and tail feathers brown, edged externally (except the 
 inner tail feathers), with dull olive-green; two conspicuous 
 bars of white on the wing coverts, the tertials edged with the 
 same; under parts white, with a narrow line on each side of 
 the throat from the chin to the side of the neck, where it runs 
 into a close patch of black streaks, continued along the breast 
 and side to the root of the tail; outer two tail feathers with an 
 oblique patch on the inner web near the end; the others edged 
 internally with white. 
 
 Length, 5.75; wing, 3; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 DENDROICA BLACKBURNMl (Gmelin). (662.) 
 BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER. 
 
 Who would see the most beautiful of the whole family of the 
 wood warblers, need not look for him in the common brush 
 and thickets when working his way northward in spring, but 
 must keep to the tall trees of the forest, in shady woods, and 
 preferably along the uplands and ridges. He comes with the 
 
390 NOTES ON THE 
 
 tide, on the 10th, 11th, or 12th of May, in considerable num- 
 bers, and should be looked for, neither in the lowest, nor the 
 topmost branches of the trees through which he industriously 
 feeds and flits, but between them. His bright, boldly con- 
 trasted colors make him comparatively easy to identify even 
 when on the wing, but he manifests no disposition to extend 
 any special confidence to the good homo who may be earnestly 
 looking for him, even for the brief period of mutual recogni- 
 tion. For many years after I came to know of the annual 
 presence of this bird in migration, I believed they all passed 
 much further to the north to breed, for the reason that their 
 stay seemed so very short, but it has been seen too many 
 times since, in the deep, dense woods, in different localities 
 during summer, for doubt of its breeding in many places in the 
 forest portions of the State . It is almost universally distribu- 
 ted in its migrations, and presumably during the summer, but 
 returns southward early in September, when less frequently, 
 it is seen amongst other species of its family. 
 
 They maintain a very pleasant warble while feeding, often 
 changing places in their search for ' ' the food prepared for 
 them," flitting spiritedly through the thicket, or amongst the 
 branches of the forest trees, when glimpses of Lheir unique 
 plumage, like the twilight flashing of the fire-flies in the 
 shadows of the woodlands arrest the eye. They did not 
 pass us without interesting many eyes and ears, the most 
 enthusiastic, and devoted of which were those of my co-orni- 
 thologist, so favorably located as she was while visiting her 
 friends on that marvellously beauiful, metropolitan island of 
 our city. Not a note of the resolute song escaped her keen 
 ear, nor a flexion of its beautiful body her eye, but each was 
 seized and treasured to be coined into ' ' apples of gold and 
 pictures of silver" for the instruction and delight of her friends 
 who were thus transformed into grateful pupils who could 
 never forget her or her instructions. Long and familiarly as 
 I had known the bird, I knew more from listning to her 
 thrilling and enthusiastic descriptions. It was born in her, and 
 never acquired. 
 
 Note. I have found the nest and eggs of this warbler on 
 that very island since the foregoing was written. It was in the 
 fork of a sapling growing in the side of the elevated bank, very 
 near the waters of the Mississippi, near which hundreds of 
 people passed daily. I have been told of the nests of this 
 species having been found in several localities in the Big 
 Woods, but have had no opportunity to very reliably assure 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 391 
 
 myself of the certainty of the identification. Audubon's de- 
 • scription of the Blackburnian "Warbler's nest and eggs meet my 
 own observations so perfectly that I quote it. It is as follows: 
 "It was composed externally of different textures, and lined 
 with silky fibers, and then delicate strips of fine bark, over 
 which lay a thick bed of feathers and horsehair. The eggs 
 were small, very conical towards the smaller end; pure white, 
 with a few spots of light red towards the larger end. It was 
 found in a small fork of a tree, five or six feet from the ground, 
 near a brook." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts nearly uniform black, with a whitish scapular 
 stripe and a large white patch in the middle of the wing cov- 
 erts; an oblong patch in the middle of the crown, and the en- 
 tire side of the head and neck, including a superciliary stripe 
 from the nostrils, the chin, throat, and forepart of the breast, 
 bright orange red; a black stripe from the commissure passing 
 over the lower half of the eye, and including the ear coverts, with, 
 however, an orange crescent in it just below the eye, the extreme 
 lid being black; rest of under parts white, strongly tinged with 
 yellowish-orange on the breast and belly, and streaked with 
 black on the sides; outer three tail feathers and quills almost 
 black. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.33; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
 DENDROICA VIRENS (Gmelin). f667.) 
 BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. 
 
 There was general rejoicing when this beautiful bird was 
 first obtained. I found him in a thicket of poplars some four 
 miles out in the country, and near a strip of heavy forest 
 timber. He arrives not very unfrequently as early as the 30th 
 of April, once on the 25th of that month, but commonly before 
 the 5th of May. On one or two occasions it has been collected 
 as late as the 5th of October, but as a rule they are gone by 
 the 25th of September. This warbler comes to stay, and breeds 
 in almost every section of the State, but is never represented 
 by large numbers. The earliest nests I have seen have been 
 built after the 5th of June, and they bring out but one brood so 
 far as I have observed. It is generally placed iii a small tree, 
 about ten or twelve feet from the ground, and consists of fine 
 strings of bark of some flexible kind, disposed very artistically 
 in circles, and woven in with the flaxen fiber of some kinds of 
 weeds for the main structure, which is lined with feathers, and a 
 
 36 - 
 
392 NOTES ON THE 
 
 little quantity of horsehairs. Some nests have fine grass in 
 their lining. They lay four flesh-tinted white eggs, spotted at 
 the large end with brown, and dotted with pale-brown and lav- 
 ender. 
 
 Mr. Washburn obtained a beautiful specimen at St. Vincent, 
 in the Red river valley late in August. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts exclusive of wing and tail, clear yellow, olive 
 green, the feathers of the back with hidden streaks of black; 
 forehead, sides of head and neck, including a superciliary 
 stripe, bright yellow; a dusky olive line from the bill through 
 the eye, and another below it; chin, throat and fore part of 
 breast, extending some distance along the sides, continuous 
 black; rest of under parts white, tinged with yellow on the 
 breast and flanks; wings and tail feathers dark brown, edged 
 with bluish gray; two white bands on the wing; the greater 
 part of the three outer tail feathers white. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.30. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
 DENDEOICA VltlORSII (Audubon). (671.) 
 PINE "WARBLER. 
 
 This seems to be a rather uncommon species, first obtained 
 by Mr. Geo. McMullen of Minneapolis, on May 10th, 1876, 
 since which time it has been collected by several different per- 
 sons who have submitted them to me for examination. 
 
 I have found that they arrive much earlier than the date 
 mentioned, having brought them to the basket as early as the 
 10th of April, although the average should be placed about 
 the 20th. 
 
 They breed in the quiet pine forests, their nests being 
 usually on small sized pines, and about twenty feet from the 
 ground. It is not strange that they seem quite rare even 
 though there may be a good many in the country, when their 
 solitary habits in breeding exclude them so effectually from 
 observation, The nests might escape the most vigorous 
 scrutiny, so well is it and both of the birds concealed in the 
 dense evergreen foliage. They consist of strips of bark prob- 
 ably from off the cedar trees, and pine leaves, or needles in- 
 geniously woven, or twisted into each other so as to effect a 
 firm, compact, and tasteful structure. It is delicately lined 
 with mosses and different kinds of hair. Amongst a pretty 
 large collection of nests, those of this species are character- 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA 393 
 
 istic for their architecture and neatness. The e^gs, four to 
 five in number, are white with a bluish tinge, dotted with two 
 shades of brown and reddish-pink, with splashes of purple. 
 
 A visit to their legitimate haunts in summer, will find them 
 actively searching the limbs and branches of different species 
 of trees for their special food, after the manner of the creep- 
 ers, ever and anon dashing out after an insect on the wing, like 
 the flycatchers. They leave all parts of the State about the 
 25th of October. Each successive year brings me additional 
 testimony respecting its numbers and distribution. They breed 
 at Brainerd, where I can find them in June of almost any year. 
 In every instance when I have collected birds of this species in 
 migration, they have been associated with the Palm Warbler. 
 [ D. palmar um ( Gmelin) ]. 
 
 □ SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts nearly uniform clear olive- green, the feathers of 
 the crown with rather darker shafts; under parts generally, 
 except the middle of the belly behind, and under tail . coverts 
 (which are white), bright gamboge-yellow, with obsolete 
 streaks of dusky on the sides of the breast and body; sides of 
 head and neck olive green like the back, with a broad super- 
 ciliary stripe; the eyelids and a spot beneath the eye very 
 obscurely yellow; wings and tail brown; the feathers edged 
 with dirty white, and two bands of the same across the coverts; 
 inner web of the first tail feather with nearly the terminal half 
 of the second with nearly the terminal third, dull inconspicious 
 white. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 3; tail, 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
 DENDROICA PALMARUK (Gmelin). (672.) 
 
 PALM WARBLER. 
 When, and where to look for the Palm Warblers, are not dif- 
 ficult questions to answer to one who has watched the move- 
 ments of birds in migration for many years. We shall need 
 our rubber boots to prepare us for circumnavigating thickets 
 in swampy sections, and we shall need to be warmly clothed, 
 for the winter has gone too recently for dry turf, or for the air 
 to have become specially balmy. Although we may commence 
 our search a few days too soon, we cannot afford to have him 
 occupy our territory unobserved, and so on the 10th of April, 
 we go forth. He may have been there already five days 
 according to notes embracing that date, but somehow a natural 
 born ornithologist will seem to know by his actions how long 
 
394 NOTES ON THE 
 
 he has been on the ground. Birds of all species, seem to 
 ' 'give themselves away" by a kind of nervousness in their manner 
 when they have just now arrived. But it is soon at work, 
 busily searching for insects, on the ground, on the bushes, 
 and in the air where it seizes them readily in short excursions 
 on the wing. It clings closely to the vicinity of moist 
 places bordering thickets of low trees, or tall brush. It 
 breeds limitedly in the northern sections of the State. 
 
 The nest is quite' uniform in structure and in the materials of 
 which it is composed. Always on the ground, and fairly con- 
 cealed by a bush, or a tussock of grass, with dry leaves to com- 
 plete the protection, the rest is constructed of weeds and 
 grasses at the bottom, on which are imposed layers of fine 
 roots and finer grass, over which are down, caterpillar's silk, 
 hairs, fine grasses and moss. It is then lined with fine roots, 
 thus constituting a deep nest in which are deposited three eggs 
 of roseate -white color, spotted and blotched at the larger end 
 with brown and reddish. 
 
 The young are out of the nest by the 25th of June. Indivi- 
 duals of this species are seen in the autumn late in October 
 occasionally, but it is so secluded in its habits that it is diffi 
 cult to determine its time of departure very accurately. For 
 the same reason, I have obtained less notes from correspond- 
 ents in different parts of the country embraced in the survey. 
 They are principally found during summer in the northern 
 counties, at least I have had a larger number of reports from 
 that section. I met them in their characteristic haunts late in 
 May in the vicinity of Minneapolis, and Mr. Lewis reports 
 them in Becker county a month later. Others have given 
 them, associated with the young in August in various localities. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above chestnut red; rest of upper parts brownish 
 olive-gray, the feathers with darker centers, the color brighten- 
 ing on the rump, upper tail coverts and outer margins of 
 wing and tail feathers, to greenish-yellow; a streak from nos- 
 trils over the eye, and under parts generally, including the 
 tail coverts, bright yellow, paler on the body; maxillary 
 line, breast and sides finely but rather obsoletely streaked 
 with reddish brown; checks brownish, (in highest spring 
 plumage, chestnut like the head) ; eyelids and a spot under the 
 eye, olive-brown; lores dusky; a white spot on the inner web 
 of the outer two tail feathers at the end. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.40; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Mississippi river. 
 
BIBDS OF MINNESOTA. 395 
 
 SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS (L). (674.) 
 OVEN-BIRD. 
 
 For the relative numbers of its species generally, the Oven- 
 bird is very common throughout the State from the 1st of May 
 to the 20th of September, with occasional instances of in- 
 dividuals remaining until far into October. It is only found as 
 a general thing, in the most unfrequented places, near swamps, 
 although I have met them in autumn in dry, densely wooded 
 localites where it appeared very little disturbed by my pres- 
 ence, keeping about its search for insects among the fallen 
 leaves. However, its breeding habits confine it to the moist 
 vicinity of swamps in or near the forests. Why this bird is 
 dubbed with the unsentimental name "Oven-bird," is more 
 than I can understand, for if from the form of its nest, we 
 ought to have Oven-birds in several different genera of widely 
 different families. I am sure that the Golden-Crowned Thrush 
 is far more appropriate, the colors, habits and form of the 
 bird being so beautifully recognized by the name. 
 
 The first nests of the season are begun by both birds about 
 the 15th of May, others following into the first days of June. 
 It is made of grasses and dry leaves into a very compact mass, 
 with its entrance on the side, and so small as to render it a sur- 
 prise that the bird can enter it. It is lined with fine, . soft 
 grasses and hairs of different kinds; They lay six creamy- 
 white eggs, irregularly spotted or blotched with several shades 
 of reddish-brown. As with so many other species, the larger 
 end of the egg has the markings thickest, running into con- 
 fluent patches in some instances. The song of the bird is easily 
 recognized by any one who has heard it, especially by its cres- 
 cendo, beginning at a low pitch and increasing to remarkable 
 fullness at its close. It is more nearly expressed by the formula 
 written, queecha, queecha, queecha, queecha, queecha, increasing 
 in force and volume to the end. * Samuels says : ' 'I have heard 
 this song in the mating and incubating seasons, at all hours oj 
 the night. The bird seems, at that time, to ascend into the aii 
 to a considerable height, and utters its notes while hovering 
 and slowly descending. I have noticed the same habit in the 
 Maryland Yellow-throat, and some other birds." I have never 
 had the pleasure of hearing either of these species under such 
 circumstances. 
 
 *Birds of New Eogland, p. 219. 
 
396 NOTES ON THE 
 
 t 
 
 The Golden-crowned Thrush lingers as late as the frost leaves 
 it sufficient food, which in 1885 was late in October, but does 
 not generally extend beyond the 25th of September. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above, uniform olive-green with a tinge of yellow. Grown 
 with two narrow streaks of black from the bill, enclosing a 
 median and much broader one of brownish- orange. Beneath, 
 white; breast, sides of body, and a maxillary line streaked with 
 black. Wings moderate, about three-quarters of an inch longer 
 than the tail; first quill scarcely shorter than the second. Tail 
 slightly rounded, feathers acuminate. Tarsi about as long as 
 the skull, considerably exceeding the middle toe. Under taiL 
 coverts reaching within about half an inch of the end of the 
 tail. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 3; tail, 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 SEIURUS NOVEBOBACENSIS (Gmelin). (675.) 
 WATER THRUSH. 
 
 The Water Thrush is a rather common resident of most 
 wooded portions of the State, arriving usually between the 25th 
 and 30th of April. 
 
 Their song is not very often heard, and when it is, it is diffi- 
 cult to describe it. But having been heard by an interested 
 ear, it will never be forgotten beyond recognition. The notes 
 are clear, strong and impressively sweet, the strain beginning 
 in a high, spirited pitch, and gradually gliding downward in 
 key and volume to the softest before lost to the ear. They 
 are paired when they come, and the song is warbled thereafter 
 at intervals all the day, as long as the female is setting on the 
 nest, but immediately afterwards we hear no more from them 
 during the summer ordinarily. They hide their nests so 
 effectually that I have never been able to find one, but by the 
 aid of an exceedingly persistent lad who is an adept at bird's 
 nest hunting, I am prepared to "speak by the book" in de- 
 scribing it. It was placed by the side of, and well under a 
 very old, decayed ""log, lying in a dense thicket in a swamp. 
 It consisted entirely of grass, leaves and moss, in such a quan- 
 tity as to give it quite a bulky appearance after getting down 
 to it. 
 
 The entrance was porched over much like the Oven-bird's 
 nest, and the eggs were four in number, flesh colored, spotted 
 over with pale reddish brown, emphasized somewhat about the 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 397 
 
 , larger end. Their habits preclude much familiarity with them, 
 and little more is known of them than when first identified and 
 described. They remain here until about the first week in 
 October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill from rictus, about the length of the skull. Above olive 
 brown, with a shade of green; beneath pale, sulphur yellow, 
 brightest on the abdomen. Region about the base of the lower 
 mandible, and a superciliary line from the base of the bill to 
 the nape, brownish yellow. A dusky line from the bill through 
 the eye; chin and throat, finely spotted. All the remaining 
 under parts and sides of body except the abdomen, and includ- 
 ing the under tail coverts, conspicuously and thickly streaked 
 with olivaceous brown, almost black on the breast. 
 
 Length, 6.15; wing, 3.12; tail, 2.40. 
 
 Habitat, eastern to arctic America. 
 
 Note. Neither Mr. Washburn nor Mr. Lewis in the north, 
 nor Dr. Hvoslef in the south part of the State have referred 
 to this species in their correspondence. I have, however, 
 found it to be resident in many localities by the specimens 
 sent me fcr identification. 
 
 GEOTHLYPIS A.GILIS (Wilson). (678.) 
 
 CONNECTICUT WARBLER. 
 
 In June, 1869, in a thicket by the wayside in the suburbs of 
 the city, I collected two birds from the same bush, one of 
 which proved to be of this species and the other was the 
 Mourning Warbler {G. Philadelphia). Both were then new to 
 Minnesota ornithology, and of course it was a great find. 
 Since that time I have seen them in both migrations nearly 
 every year, but have only occasionally met with them during 
 the summer, as on that first discovery of them, and then along 
 the Red river near Pargo and Moorhead. Agilis seems to be 
 the rarer of the two species, the nest of which I have never 
 yet seen, nor have I been apprised of its discovery by anyone 
 else. Mr. U. S. Grant found several of these warblers in St. 
 Louis county in July, which not only corroborates its breeding 
 habits affirmed, but shows that they are by no means confined 
 to the vicinage of the Red river. Soon after the frosts begin 
 to intefere with their food supply, the migration southward 
 commences, which is not closed for fifteen to twenty days or- 
 dinarily. At such times they frequent thickets along con- 
 tinued banks, and sides of the hills, much after the manner of 
 sparrows, but are driven into trees more readily. 
 
398 NOTES ON THE 
 
 They have a simple note which is almost constantly repeated 
 in a subdued tone, which sounds somewhat like keet. I am 
 informed that quite a number of local collectors have obtained 
 the species form time to time. Dr. Hvoslef reports them pre- 
 sent at Lanesboro, June 1st, 1882. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts and sides of the body uniform olive-green, very 
 slightly tinged with ash on the crown, sides of the head ash, 
 tinged with dusky beneath the eye. Chin and throat gray- 
 ish ash, becoming darker gradually to the upper part of the 
 breast, where it becomes tinged with dark-ash. Sides .of the 
 neck, breast, and body, olive like the back; rest of under parts 
 light-yellow. A broad continuous white ring round the eye; 
 wings and tail feathers olive, without any trace of bars or 
 spots. Bill brown above; feet yellow. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 3; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Mississippi river and 
 Red river. 
 
 GEOTHLYPIS PHIL4DELPHIA (Wilson). (679.) 
 MOURNING WARBLER. 
 
 This is another species of the tardy genus Geothlypis, that 
 has been identified, but whose habits have remained quite 
 obscure. I obtained a single individual in typical plumage, on 
 the first day of June, 1869, very nearly within the city limits. 
 Since then I have met occasionally migrants in autumn, and 
 have a few reports from competent correspondents. Dr. Hvos- 
 lef obtained one in high plumage on the 25th of May, 1884. 
 Several local collectors claim to have obtained specimens sev- 
 eral years earlier. Mr. Washburn searched but did not find it 
 where Coues found it previously, ' ' breeding abundantly along 
 the Red river. " Their early southern movement may explain its 
 absence at the time the former was in that locality. Mr. Trippe 
 had, somewhat earlier, found it breeding prolifically inMinnesota, 
 but failed to find the nest. He "repeatedly saw the old birds 
 feeding the young in the latter part of June and early in July," 
 which makes its local breeding assured. He further says: — 
 "They are similar in their habits to the Maryland Yellow- 
 throat, but are not so exclusively devoted to thickets and un- 
 derbrush, frequently ascending to the tops of the tamaracks, 
 for which they show a great predilection." It is to be hoped 
 that more facts regarding its local history may ere long be 
 obtained. Coues says: — "The nest is rather slight, but a neat 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 399 
 
 structure, placed on the ground, composed of various soft, 
 fibrous materials and fine grasses, mostly circularly arranged, 
 lined with, fine rootlets. " 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Wing but little longer than the tail, reaching but little be- 
 yond its base, fiead and necls: and all around, with throat and 
 forepart of breast ash-gray, paler beneath; feathers of chin, 
 throat, and f orebreast in reality black but with narrow ashy 
 margins, more or less concealing the black except on the 
 breast. Lores, and region round the eye, dusky, without any 
 trace of a pale ring; upper parts and sides of the body clear 
 olive-green; under parts bright-yellow; tail feathers uniform 
 olive; first primary, with the outer half of the outer web, 
 nearly white. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.45; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Plains. 
 
 GEOTHLTPIS TRICHAS (L.). (681.) 
 MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT. 
 
 It took a long time to learn all the "ins and outs" of this 
 little warbler. If there are any remaining unlearned, they 
 must be hard to find out indeed, for there does not seem to be 
 many places circumstantially adapted to the habits of the 
 species not already occupied by a pair of representatives in 
 their season. 
 
 It reaches the vicinity of Minneapolis about the 27th of 
 April, and is reported from nearly every part of the State by 
 the 5th of May. The nests are built and occupied by about 
 the last days of that month. They are constructed of leaves 
 mixed with grasses, and lined with finer grass and hairs. They 
 are placed on the ground close to a bush and are quite bulky. 
 They often have their entrance provided for in one side, after 
 the manner of the Golden-crowned Thrush. They rear two 
 broods, and are gone by the 20th of September usually. Its 
 song is quite strikingly rendered into words by Rev. J. H. 
 Langille in the formula, weech-a-tee, weech-a-tee, weech-a-tee, 
 weech-a-tee, in distinct, whistling notes, never to be confounded 
 with those of any other songster. It is delivered rather delib- 
 erately, with the accent strongly on the first syllable. Under 
 some circumstancess, the note is abbreviated by one syllable, 
 leaving it weech-ee, weech-ee, weech-ee, weech-ee, with only a faint 
 touch upon the last, when it somewhat resembles the song of 
 another warbler. When they first arrive they must be sought 
 
400 . NOTES ON THE 
 
 in the thickets, when they are mostly silent and somewhat 
 suspicious. It is not long, however, before their familiar 
 notes are heard about our houses, in the currant bushes, and 
 in the orchard. In the time of nesting they retire from such 
 familiar places to the borders of woods, near damp, swampy 
 localities, in dense thickets. Contrary to their reputed pro- 
 clivity to the vicinity of farm houses, in the eastern states, 
 they avoid them during incubation nearly if not quite uni- 
 formly. The earliest nests I have discovered were occupied 
 by the 17th of May, although as a general rule, it is a little 
 later. They frequently linger till late in September, and an 
 instance has occurred when a few of them were seen in Octo- 
 ber. Dr. Hvoslef rfeports them abundant in his section on the 
 5th of May. Mr. Washburn found them common in the Red 
 river valley. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts olive-green, tinged with brown towards the 
 middle of the crown; chin, throat and breast as far as the mid^ 
 die of the body, and under tail coverts, bright yellow; belly 
 dull whitish buff; sides of body strongly tinged with liglit 
 olive-brown; under coverts glossed with the same; a band of 
 black on the forehead, (about 0.20 of an inch wide in the mid- 
 dle) passing backward so as to cover the cheek and ear coverts, 
 and extending a little above the eye; this band bordered behind 
 by a suffusion of hoary ash, forming a distinct line above the 
 eye, and widening behind the ear coverts into a large patch 
 with a yellow tinge. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.40; tail, 2.20. * 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Mississippi rirer. 
 
 ICTERIA TIRENS. (L.). (683.) 
 YELLOW- BREASTED CHAT. 
 
 This species is a regular summer resident of the southwest- 
 ern portion of the State, reaching those sections early in May. 
 They are not common, and rarely extend their incursions be- 
 yond the lower tier of counties, one or two individuals having 
 been obtained in the valley of the St. Peter's river, and a like 
 number observed in Traverse county. I am familiar with them 
 in their western haunts, and have long hoped to have an op- 
 portunity to note their habits here, but I have never met with 
 them personally in my locality. They are reported by Mr. 
 Chas. R. Keyes and Dr. H. S. Williams, of Davenport, la., as 
 rather common summer residents of that state. In their cata- 
 logue of the Birds of Iowa, they say: "Summer resident, 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 401 
 
 rather common; arriving the first week in May. Haunts the 
 low, open woodlands and thickets along the streams. Nidifi- 
 cation commences about the first week in June. The nest is 
 usually placed four or five feet from the ground, in a thickly 
 foliaged bush. It is composed of dry grasses and leaves, and 
 lined with fine grasses and fibers of bark. The eggs number 
 three to five." 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third and fourth quills the longest; second and fifth little 
 shorter; first nearly equal to sixth. Tail graduated. Upper 
 parts uniform olive green; under parts, including the inside of 
 wing, gamboge yellow as far as nearly half way from the point 
 of the bill to the tip of the tail; rest of under parts white, 
 tinged with brown on the sides; outer side of tibia plumbeous; 
 a slight tinge of orange across the breast. Forehead, and sides 
 , of head ash, the lores and region below the eyes, blackish. A 
 white stripe from the nostrils over the eye and involving the 
 upper eyelid; a patch on the lower lid, and a short stripe from 
 the side of the lower mandible, running to a point opposite the 
 hinder border of the eye, white. Bill, black; feet, brown. 
 
 Length, 7.40; wing, 3.25; tail, 3.30. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Plains. 
 
 Note. The above has been written some years, and I take 
 pleasure in stating that Dr. T. S. Roberts verbally reported a 
 specimen he had received from some one within our borders 
 ^ obtained in 1890. P. L. H. 
 
 SYLVANIA MITRATA. (Gmelin.) (684.) 
 
 HOODED WARBLER. 
 
 It has only been made evident that this species is fairly well 
 represented in restricted localities after many years of careful 
 inquiry. The first individual that came into my hands I se- 
 cured May 12th, 1869, since which time at different times per- 
 haps a half dozen or more have been received. It has been a 
 surprise to me that my correspondents have not reported it; 
 still its habits of concealment are such that one must be able 
 to give it much time to obtain specimens even where previously 
 known to be moderately well represented. Even the song, 
 though simple and often quite continuously maintained, differs 
 so very much under a change of the time of the day, and the 
 weather that it is only after repeated and the most careful no- 
 tings that its presence becomes assured by it alone. In western 
 New York where I once lived, it was a common summer resi- 
 dent, but almost as unknown to casual observation as it is in 
 Minnesota. Its habits of eating are like those of the flycatch- 
 
402 NOTES ON THE 
 
 ers. Remaining almost constantly concealed from view in the 
 leaves and fine branches of the undergrowth of border land to 
 denser forests, it flips suddenly up into the air of the open 
 places above the undergrowth, and seizing its insect, disap- 
 pears as quickly in the thicket again. They come with the 
 great influx of warblers from the 10th to the 12th of May, and 
 are found building their nests from about the 20th to the end 
 of the flrst week in June, and sometimes bring out two broods. 
 The structure consists of dry leaves and fibrous barks, and is 
 lined with grass and hairs in addition to the fibres mentioned. 
 It 4s almost proverbially bulky, and placed in the forks of a 
 bush near the ground and usually contains from three to four 
 white eggs, variously speckled with reddish brown. They all 
 disappear during the last week in August. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill black; feet pale yellow. Head and neck all around, a^d 
 fore part of the breast black; a broad patch on the for 
 head extending around on the entire cheeks and ear coverto- 
 and the under parts bright yellow; upper parts and sides of 
 the body olive-green; greater portion of inner web of the three 
 outer tail feathers, white. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.75; tail, 2.55. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States, and west to the Plains. 
 
 SYLTANIA CANIDENSIS (L.). (686.) 
 CANADIAN WAEBLER. 
 
 When this warbler first came under my notice, in 1875, 1 was 
 confident it was a straggler, but without any resource for 
 information as to the ultimate limits of its migratorial distri- 
 bution, I did not have to wait very long before his local history 
 began to unfold in fine style, for in a few weeks I bagged his 
 nest, companion, self, eggs and all. 
 
 It reaches the lower limits of my province about May 15th, 
 and the larger portion of them pass still further north, never- 
 theless may remain and breed with us. The nest has been 
 found by Mr. Treganowan and Mr. Lewis, and reputedly by- 
 some one else, and always on the ground. (The location has been 
 occasionally given from Audubon to date, as in low trees and 
 bushes). It consists of leaves, roots, and grasses, its lining 
 generally of the same with some hairs and considerable lichens 
 included. Although quite bulky, it is rather shallow, and 
 generally contains four gray-white eggs, tinted with a slight 
 blush of rose and spotted or blotched with lilac and brown 
 especially about the larger end. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 403 
 
 I am not a little surprised at the differences in the descrip- 
 tions of the different writers as to its song. It is quite certain 
 that not only do eyes see differently, but ears hear very much 
 so. To my ear, or rather, to my imagination, Langille has 
 given the best form of words to help recall the song of this 
 bird in the following syllables: chi-reach-a-dee, reach-a-dee, 
 reach- a-dee-cM, nervously and spiritedly delivered. 
 
 He speaks of a characteristic ventriloquism in the utterance 
 'of its song by which one is often misled as to its nearness, 
 which has often attracted my attention, and used to lead me 
 away on a fool's chase to locate the singer. They raise one 
 brood, and retire from the country by the 15th of September. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Upper parts bluish-ash; a ring round the eye, with a line 
 running to the nostrils, and the whole under parts (except the 
 tail coverts which are white) bright yellow; centres of the 
 feathers in the anterior half of the crown, the checks, con- 
 tinuous with a line on the side of the neck to the breast, and a 
 series of spots across the fore part of the breast, black; tail 
 feathers unspotted. 
 
 Length, 5.35; wing, 2.65; tail, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States westward to the Plains. 
 
 SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA (L.). (687.) 
 AMERICAN REDSTAET. 
 
 A bird of the trees and bushes to such an emphatic degree, 
 that persons of considerable observation have failed to see 
 them altogether for several years in succession. Their habits 
 are eminently calculated to keep them from the eye of the 
 casual observer, for when pursuing their insect food on the 
 wing, he is confident he has caught a glimpse of a flycatcher, 
 and when searching the bark of the trunks and branches of 
 the trees for eggs and larvae, he calls it a warbler. Much of 
 its time is spent upon the ground, amongst decayed logs and 
 brush, in search of forms of insect life abounding in those 
 localities, where it is a difficult matter to see them. 
 
 However, the strongly contrasted colors of the male, and 
 its dashing enthusiasm during the mating time, singing vigor- 
 ously, and changing its perch from tree to tree in the woods, 
 leads to its identity by those familiar with its habits and song. 
 
 Rev. J. H. Langille describes its humble song as resembling 
 the notes of a tin whistle, and says: — "There is not a little 
 variety in its whistling tones, and the theme is always well 
 
404 NOTES ON THE 
 
 modulated. Like all bird songs, it contains immeasurably 
 more than anything to which it can be likened." It is a com- 
 mon summer resident in its favorite localities everywhere with- 
 in the State. 
 
 The collector of skins for his cabinet, finds he has more of 
 that species than he wants to skin, and if a man of true senti 
 ment, enters upon his next slumbers with the 'shadows of a 
 degree of remorse flittering through his latest memories like 
 bats through the open casement upon a hot night in August. 
 
 They arrive in spring with great regularity about the 10th 
 of May, remainmg until about the 20th of September. The 
 nest is found usually on a limb all the way from five to twenty 
 feet from the ground, and on a sapling in the larger timber. 
 It consists of strips of different kinds of bark, fine grass and 
 delicate weeds. 
 
 These are very artistically arranged into a snug structure, 
 which is made very firm by a secretion from the bird's mouth 
 that glues it solidly together. Down, from vegetable sources, 
 silk from caterpillars' nests, and dry, soft lichens, are glued to 
 the exterior exceedingly neatly, while the nest is lined 
 throughout its deeply hollowed cavity with fine strips of 
 different barks, fine fibrous roots, vegeiable down and hairs. 
 They lay four eggs of a cream-white, spattered with spots of 
 reddish-brown and lilac. 
 
 They are very common about Otter Tail, Mille Lacs and Big 
 Stone lake, according to reports from different correspondents, 
 and Dr. Hvoslef embraces them in his notes kindly furnished 
 me from Fillmore county. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTEUS. 
 
 Prevailing color black; a central line on the breast, abdomen 
 and under tail coverts, white; some feathers in the latter 
 strongly tinged with dark brown. Bases of all the quills, ex- 
 cept the inner and outer, and basal half of all the tail feathers, 
 except the middle one, a patch on each side of the breast, and 
 the axillary region, orange-red, of a vermilion shade, on the 
 breast. 
 
 Length, 5.25; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.45. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 405 
 
 Family MOTACILLID^. 
 
 ANTHUS PENSTLVANICUS (Latham). (697.) 
 
 AMERICAN PIPIT. 
 
 To any interested observer of the birds the characteristics of 
 the Titlark would become especially so. Only seen in migra- 
 tions it can scarcely fail of instantaneous recognition. They are 
 very irregular in their distribution in migration, sometimes ap- 
 pearing for two or three successive springs in nearly the same 
 localities, and then absenting themselves several years to re- 
 turn in the same or greater numbers. And I have often ob- 
 served that a full representation in the spring migration was 
 more likely to be followed by a light one in the autumn. They 
 return by some other route. 
 
 I should say, that as a rule, they are more numerous in fall 
 than in spring, yet this rule will have some marked exceptions. 
 
 They arrive in the southern part of the State about the 20th 
 of May, and after remaining only a short time, pass on to the 
 further north to breed. About the second week of September 
 they return, and may be seen daily on the plowed fields in large 
 flocks until after the middle of October. It is not unusual to find 
 them associated with the Lapland Longspurs. Their flight is 
 graceful in the extreme, and so characteristic as to point out 
 their identity at considerable distance. Eumor asserts that 
 they breed in the islands of the Lake of the Woods, but it is 
 not yet sufficiently authenticated. They are reported as 
 abundant in their fall migrations in the St. Peter's and Red 
 river valleys, and on the level prairies of Grant and Douglas 
 counties. Dr. Hvoslef gives them full recognition in Fillmore 
 county in their migrations. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above olive-brown, each feather slightly darker towards the 
 central portion; beneath pale dull buff, or yellowish-brown, 
 with a maxillary series of dark brown spots and streaks across 
 the breast and along the sides. Ring round the eye and super- 
 ciliary stripe, yellowish; central tail feathers like the back, 
 the others dark blackish-brown; the external one white, ex- 
 cept at the base within; a white spot at the end of the second; 
 primaries edged with whitish; other quills with pale brownish. 
 
 Length, 6.50; wing, 3.45; tail, 2,95. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
406 NOTES ON THE - 
 
 ANTHUS SPRAGUEII (Audubon). (700.) 
 SPRAGUE'S PIPIT.* 
 
 It has been a matter of question whether we could give this 
 bird a just place amongst the bird fauna of this State, 
 notwithstanding its occasional capture near the Red river, but 
 it has been so often seen and carefully identified that all doubts 
 are forever removed. 
 
 While by no means to be accounted common summer residents, 
 they are sufficiently numerous to be considered more than rare, 
 in the northei-n portions of the State to the British Possesions. 
 
 I have found them more frequently in Pembina county than 
 otherwheres, but only so, I think it is probable, because my 
 opportunities have been greater to observe them there. In 
 traversing those sections I have employed a buckboard which 
 has made it possible to get a few specimens, and to observe a 
 couple of nests which were occupied by the second brood, 
 presumptively, as it was in June, and Mr. Lewis has since 
 found them as early as April 23d in Clay county. 
 
 Occasionally individuals have been secured in the lower belt 
 of counties, yet no nests have been reported from that section. 
 But I have had the pleasure of identifying Sprague's Lark 
 several times in the county in which I live, once within the 
 territory since included in the limits of the city corporation, 
 and breeding here as early as the 25th of March (1870). In 
 June I had the repeated exceptional pleasure of hearing its 
 song while mounting to an altitude of not less than seven, and 
 I think considerably more than eight hundred feet. ^ The first 
 time that this transpired I was riding in company with a friend, 
 and on my way to collect birds, so that I was on the alert. I 
 had an excellent field glass with me, and at the moment in my 
 hand, as I saw the bird spring from the grass within a few 
 feet of my horse, and a little to the left of me. It flew a 
 hundred feet away with a succession of flits of the wings, 
 which lifted it about twenty feet into the air, when it turned 
 and with the same movements of the wings, came indirectly 
 towards me, rising another twenty feet, or thereabouts, when 
 it again turned and began to sing with great enthusiasm, and 
 thus back and forth, each time a little increasing the length of 
 its zigzag undulations, it climbed upward, upward, upward, 
 
 * When I wrote the abore account of this species, I did not know that Captain 
 Blaikiston had observed it as early as May 4th, 185D, a fact which reached me at page 
 176 of North American Birds. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 407 
 
 until it disappeared from my unaided vision, when I brought 
 the glass to my eye and followed him still, all the while sing- 
 ing, singing, singing as he swung right and left, vaulting into 
 the very blue of the heavens, when suddenly he closed his 
 wings and his song, and head downward came down like an 
 arrow, opening his closed wings only when within a yard of 
 the ground, and within the same distance of the very spot 
 firom which he ascended. My desire to make sure of his 
 identity had brought my eye to the barrel of my ready gun, 
 when the thought of hearing the song again, and of securing 
 the nest deterred me. As much time as I could possibly spare 
 on that still, beautiful morning having gone, I drove away 
 with a delightful memory and a good resolution to see the bird 
 again. 
 
 That nest, as afterward proved, was near enough to my 
 carriage to have tossed a marble into it, or more probably 
 upon the back of the faithful, devoted female occupying it. 
 The ground had been excavated to the depth of two inches and 
 the cavity lined with a little fine grass, and contained four 
 dull-white, finely speckled eggs which were quite pointed at 
 one . end. I cruelly purposed to appropriate both of the 
 parents of the two remaining eggs (after I had taken two) 
 when the young should be old enough to fly, but I only 
 obtained the male. 
 
 I have seen no more of this species in this section where I 
 live, but met with them once or twice in Grant county. 
 
 A description of its song would be difficult, but it consisted 
 of a succession of notes, beginning at a high pitch and warbled 
 with a deflected "diminuendo," very pleasingly melodious 
 indeed. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above wood-brown, all the feathers edged with paler espec 
 ially on the neck, where there is a brownish-yellow tinge; 
 under parts dull white, with a collar of sharply defined narrow 
 brown streaks across the forepart and along the sides of the 
 hreast; lores, and a superciliary line, whitish; tail feathers, 
 except the middle ones, dark brown; outer one white, second 
 white with the inner margin brown; outer primary edged with 
 white, and two dull whitish bands across the wings; bill and 
 feet yellow, the former brown above. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 3.85; tail. 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, interior plains of North Aijierica. 
 
 37 
 
408 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Family TROGLODYTID^. 
 
 GALEOSCOPTES CAROLINENSIS (L.). (704.) 
 CATBIRD. 
 
 in a ride of fifteen miles to Lake Minnetonka, I have counted 
 very nearly one hundred birds of this species in a mornings' 
 hour and a half, many a time in the years gone by. And those 
 singly, not exceeding two, or at most three, being in any ong 
 locality. The males arrive in parties of five or six, (never 
 many more), about the 25th of April, and are followed in from 
 three to five days by the females similarly associated, after 
 which they are constantly seen, but not much heard for nearly 
 "two weeks, when the sexes begin to be moved towards each 
 other by the instincts of reproduction, which arouses the 
 highest energies and activities of their natures to a new meas- 
 ure of bird life. At that season their harsh calls are heard 
 from every thicket along the way, or down by the creek at the 
 border of the woods, through all the hours of the lengthening 
 days. When the building of the nests begins, the conjugal 
 relationships having become settled, a brief period of reticence 
 intervenes, during which they are seldom heard but constantly 
 seen carrying materials for the construction of the nest. How- 
 ever even at this time, the really early riser will hear the 
 almost matchless song of the males as they pour it forth from 
 the topmost twig of some large bush or sapling. Wilson must 
 have been unfortunate in the hours chosen in which to listen 
 to its exquisite notes, for he says: "His notes are more 
 remarkable for singularity than for melody. -They consist of 
 short imitations of other birds, and other sounds; but, his pipe 
 being rather deficient in clearness and strength of tone, his 
 imitations fail where these are requisite. Yet he is not easily 
 discouraged, but seems to study certain passages with greater 
 perseverance; uttering them at first low, and as he succeeds, 
 higher and more free, nowise embarrassed by the presence of 
 a spectator, even within a few yards of him. On ^attentively 
 listening to him for some time, one can perceive considerable 
 variety in his performance, in which he seems to introduce all 
 the old sounds and quaint passages he has been able to collect. 
 Upon the whole, though, we cannot arrange him with the 
 grand leaders of our vernal choristers, he well merits a place 
 among the most agreeable of general performers. " 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 409 
 
 Now, I am coascious of, and credited with having, a v;ery 
 critical ear for sound and melody of all sorts of descriptions; 
 and I do not hesitate to say that for clearness, sweetness, 
 richness of tone, and inexpressible variety of modulation, from 
 piano to forte in volume, he is peerless among American birds. 
 But I thought myself perfectly acquainted with the Catbird 
 for at least twenty-five years before I was permitted to know 
 his full powers of song, and then by the accident of an early 
 ride through his most favored haunts while the female was 
 sitting on her eggs. The famous Brown Thrush can be heard 
 further, and I have once detected as many as twenty- two differ- 
 ent modifications in a single outpouring of his melodies, yet 
 the other excels him in everything except his volume of sound. 
 Wilson is "away off" in his descriptions and interpretations of 
 this unique songster. There is indisputably a bitter prejudice 
 against the Catbird, originating in his disfavor among farm- 
 ers, or perhaps I should say gardeners, and unfortunately 
 aggravated by the harshness of his ordinary call and caution 
 note, to which I must add the infelicity of his vernacular 
 name. "There is a great deal in the name." They continue 
 their songs in the early morning, sometimes until after sun- 
 rise, and at sunset in the evening, during the entire summer 
 except in a brief period of moulting following the period of 
 nidiflcation. 
 
 They build their nests about the 20th of May, unless the sea- 
 son is exceptionally late, although I have found pairs doing so 
 as late as the first week in June occasionally. They are lo- 
 cated in bushes, and generally about five feet from the ground, 
 The platform consisting of sticks and twigs. Upon this sub- 
 structure, firmly secured, rests the somewhat bulky nest proper 
 consisting of bark, twigs, leaves and straws or dried grass, and 
 lined with hairs and fibrous roots, sometimes with fine grass. 
 It is deeply hollowed. There are usually four, occasionally 
 five eggs of a deep emerald-green of a very symmetrical ovate 
 form. The Catbird may thankfully rest on the generous 
 verdict of his true friend Dr. Coues as to his merits and demer- 
 its, as .given in his Birds of the Colorado Valley, pages 56-60. I 
 cannot refrain from repeating a few of the closing paragraphs 
 in his amusing defence of this bird. ' 'Explain him as we may, 
 the Catbird is inseperable from home and homely things. He 
 refiects as he is reflected in domestic life. The associations, it 
 is true, are of an humble sort, but they are just as strong as 
 those which link us with the trusty Eobin, the social Swallow, 
 
410 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the. delicious Blue Bird' or the elegant Oriole. Let it be the 
 humble country home of toil or the luxurious mansion where 
 wealth is lavished on the garden, in either case the Catbird 
 claims the rights of squatter sovereignty. He flirts saucily 
 across the well-worn path that leads to the well and sips the 
 water that collects in the shallow depression upon the flag- 
 stone. Down in the tangle of the moist dell, where stands the 
 spring-house with its cool, crisp atmosphere, redolent of but- 
 tery savor, where the trickling water is perpetual, he loiters 
 at ease and from the hearts of the greenbrier makes bold ad- 
 vances to the milk-maid who brings the brimming bowls. 
 
 ' 'In thepasture beyond he waits for the boy who comes whist- 
 ling after the cows, and follows him home by the blackberry 
 road that lies along the zigzag fence, challenging the carelessly 
 thrown stone he has learned to dodge with ease. He joins the 
 berrying party fresh from school, soliciting a game of hide-and- 
 seek, and laughs at the mishap that never fails when children 
 try the brier patch. Along the hedgerow he glides with short 
 easy flights to gain the evergreen coppice that shades a comer 
 of the lawn, where he pauses to watch the old gardener trim- 
 ming the boxwood, or rolling the gravel walk, or making the 
 flower bed, wondering why some people will take so much 
 trouble when everything is nice enough already. 
 
 ' 'Ever restless and inquisitive he makes for the well known 
 arbor to see what may be going on there. What he discovers 
 is certainly none of his business. The rustic seat is ocdupied ; 
 the old, old play is in rehearsal, and at the sight of the blush- 
 ing cheeks that respond to passionate words the very roses on 
 the trellis hang their envious heads. The spectacle tickles his 
 fancy. Always ripe for mischief he startles the loving pair 
 with his quick, shrill cry, like a burlesque of the kiss just 
 heard, and chuckles at their little consternation. 'It is only a 
 Catbird' they reassuringly say, yet there are times when the 
 slightest jar is a shock, and pledges that hang in a trembling 
 balance may never be redeemed. 'Only a Catbird' meanwhile 
 remembers business of his own and is off. The practical ques- 
 tion of dining recurs. He means to dine sumptuously, and so 
 like the French philosopher place himself beyond the reach of 
 fate, but nature in the month of May is full of combustible 
 material, and the very atmosphere is quick to carry the torch 
 that was kindled in the arbor. His fate meets him in the only 
 shape that could so far restrain masculine instincts as to post- 
 pone a dinner. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 411 
 
 "The rest is soon told, or rather it would be could the secrets 
 of the impenetrable dark-green mass of smilax, whither the 
 pair betake themselves, be unclad. The next we see of the 
 bird he is perched upon the topmost spray of yonder pear tree, 
 with quivering wings, brim full of song. He is inspired. For 
 a time, at least, he is lifted above the commonpldce. His 
 kinship with the prince of song — with the Mocking Bird him- 
 self, is vindicated. He has discovered the poetry of every-day 
 life." 
 
 The Catbird is among the earliest of our morning songsters. 
 Often his notes may be distinctly heard before the dawn is 
 appreciable to human eyes, and if watched afterward he may 
 be seen flitting noiselessly from bush to bush, with a nervous 
 energy that expresses more than almost anything else the de- 
 liciousness of the summer morning hours. His melody is 
 scarcely inferior to that of any other member of his melodious 
 family, notwithstanding so great an authority as the careful, 
 attentive Wilson says: "His notes are more remarkable for sin- 
 gularity than for melody." Perhaps the distinguished ornithol- 
 ogist's penchant for playing practical jokes upon this very 
 excitable and demonstrative bird deprived him of his best op- 
 portunities for taking in the fullest capacities of his song. Hq 
 says that he sometimes amused himself, in passing through the 
 woods, with imitating the violent chirping or squeaking of 
 young birds, in order to observe what different species were 
 around him, and says, ' 'for such sounds at such a season in the 
 woods are no less alarming to the feathered tenants of the 
 bushes than the cry of lire or murder in the streets is to the 
 inhabitants of a large and prosperous city. 
 
 "On such occasions of alarm and consternation, the Catbird 
 is the first to make his appearance, not singly but sometimes half 
 a dozen at a time flying from different quarters to the spot. 
 At this time those who are disposed to play with his feelings 
 may almost throw him into fits, his emotion and agitation are 
 so great at the distressful cry of what he supposes to be his 
 suffering young. Other birds are variously affected, but none 
 show symptoms of such extreme suffering. He hurries back- 
 Wards and forwards with hanging wings and open mouth, call- 
 ing out louder and faster, and actually screaming with distress, 
 till he appears hoarse with his exertions. He attempts hO 
 offensive means, but bewails, implores, in the most pathetic 
 terms with which nature has supplied him, and with an agony 
 of feeling which is truly affecting. Every feathered neighbor 
 
412 NOTES ON THE 
 
 within hearing hastens to the place, to learn the cause of the 
 alarm, pressing about with looks of consternation and sympa- 
 thy. At any other season the most perfect imitations have no 
 effect upon him." 
 
 His mocking powers are considerable, but I think them over- 
 rated, or rather, their intentional employment is less than gen- 
 erally claimed by writers. This variety involves fragments of 
 what a lively imagination may so interpret, but closer observa- 
 tion will find them to be legitimately his own by inheritance, 
 and strung with approximate regularity upon the rosary of his 
 exquisitely varied and beautiful song. If I am unduly preju-^ 
 diced in his favor I shall be pardoned when I say that after a 
 long life of enthusiastic observations of the birds, I have met 
 no species thought to be so well-known that appears to me to 
 be so little known. His life is a perpetual testimony, tested by 
 a practical experience of his own, that "a little (ornithological?) 
 knowledge is a dangerous thing. " He is the victim of a ruth - 
 less, unreasonable prejudice that appears to have sprung from 
 his overweening attachment to man which makes him most com- 
 mon, especially in his rural habitations. To this add the fact 
 that generations have slept away the ante-auroral hours of his, 
 choicest melodies, and gone to their final rest declaring him 
 devoid of song because, forsooth, they have only heard his 
 harsh calls of warning and caution to his young and recently 
 enlarged family in the proximity of possible danger, or his 
 unassuming, fatherly mew, which has doomed him to his name 
 of Catbird. 
 
 His notes from the top of some bush, ten to twenty feet in 
 hight, rolled out into the air of the fresh dewy gray dawn, are 
 not as loud, nor his strains quite as systematically varied as 
 those of the Thrasher, but they are in individual cases at least, 
 much sweeter and astonishingly refined in every quality. I 
 have never yet engaged the companionship of a connoisseur in 
 listening to this despised bird who has not shared to the utmost 
 my rapturous delight while acknowledging his patent prejudice. 
 
 I do not quite agree with Wilson in his explanation of the 
 causes which have generated so much dislike to this species, 
 yet accept them as sharing in them. 
 
 The Catbirds mostly disappear about the first week in Octo - 
 ber, although I have occasionally seen stragglers as late as 
 November. There is no considerable portion of the timbered, 
 or the brushland regions of the State but what harbor them in 
 considerable numbers. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 413 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third quill longest; first shorter than the sixth; the pre- 
 vailing color dark plumbeous; tail greenish-black; the lateral 
 feathers obscurely tipped with plumbeous; the under tail cov- 
 erts dark brownish-chestnut. 
 
 Length, 8.85; wing, 3.65; tail, 4; tarsus, 1.05. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and British Provinces, includ- 
 ing Rocky Mountains. 
 
 HARPORHTNCHUS RUFUS (L.). (705.) 
 BROWN THRASHER. 
 
 The Brown Thrush like the Robin, must have arrived during 
 exceedingly rough weather if he escapes the instantaneous 
 recognition of the waiting, vigilant observer of the migration 
 of the birds. Under all ordinary circumstances, he will 
 announce his presence unmistakably by mounting the top-most 
 limb of some isolated tree, and pouring forth his clear, strong, 
 liquid song in a prolonged strain, embracing twenty or more 
 elementary modulations, rearranging their order at each voluble 
 repetition. The air seems literally burdened with his melody. 
 
 All creation is summoned to witness his joy that he has once 
 more reached the very spot in all the earth wherein he would 
 spend the golden summer in rearing a new family of his own. 
 There is however considerable difference in the strength and 
 sweetness of different birds of the species, a fact as patent to 
 other species of wild bird warblers as to domestic songsters. 
 This delightful bird is one of the most welcome of all the hosts 
 which return to us in spring, but he is seldom heard after 
 incubation has been completed, except by those whose ears are 
 earliest open to the songs of birds in the mornings. About the 
 third week in May they build their nests of twigs, leaves, 
 strips of bark, and fibrous roots, and line them with fine roots 
 and hair. The nests are deeply hollowed, and variously 
 placed on the ground, or in a bush, a low evergreen, a brier 
 patch, &c, but usually not more than four feet above the ground. 
 
 They lay five eggs, of a pale-bluish color, thickly spattered 
 with fine dots of reddish-brown. Two broods are successively 
 brought out in a season as a rule, th.e latter of which is the 
 first to leave us in the autumn. 
 
 I'he parent birds are the last to depart, about the first week 
 in October, yet a resolute few linger in occasional years a week 
 or two later. 
 
414 NOTES ON TH3 
 
 Their food consists chiefly of worms, caterpillars, beetles, 
 spiders, and various species of fruit and berries. Their more 
 characteristic haunts are thick, low brush along the fences, 
 which embrace an occasional isolated tree or sapling, brier 
 patches, thickets of alders, sumach, &c, in flying from one to 
 another of which, we catch glimpses of their long, ferruginous 
 tails, spread broadly as they dash nervously out of sight, like 
 culprits just escaped from some merited punishment. The 
 note of caution, and of alarm in the presence of supposed 
 danger, is a short, staccato chuck, repeated more or less fre- 
 quently according to the measure of apprehensions awakened 
 
 They are popularly known in different sections of the coun- 
 try by various names amongst which are; Thrasher, Brown 
 Thrasher, Brown thrush, and the French Mocking Bird, which 
 readily suggest the use of scientific names for all natural 
 objects, selected from dead, and therefore uncha,ngable 
 languages, common to all nations for scientific nomenclature., 
 
 Wilson says of this favorite bird: "The Thrasher is a wel- 
 come visitant in spring to every lover of rural scenery and 
 rural song. In the months of April and May, when our woods, 
 hedges, orchards, and cherry trees are one profusion of blos- 
 som; when every object around conveys the sweet sensations of 
 joy, and Heavens' abundance is, as it were, showering about us, 
 the grateful heart beats in unison with the varying, elevated 
 strains of this bird. We listen to its notes with a kind of 
 devotional ecstasy, as a morning hymn to the great, and most 
 adorable Creator of all. The human being who, amidst such 
 scenes, and in such seasons of rural serenity and delight, can 
 pass them with cold indifference, and even contempt, I 
 sincerely pity, for abject must be that heart, and callous those 
 feelings, and depraved that taste, which neither the charms of 
 nature, nor the melody of innocence, nor the voice of gratitude 
 or devotion can reach. " 
 
 The Brown Thrush has a very wide distribution within our 
 boundaries, where the conditions are suitable to their habits, 
 but they have their limitations, so that I have visited consider- 
 able sections in which they were unrepresented. Mr. Wash- 
 burn found them common at Mille Lacs in July and August, 
 but rare in the Red river valley a little later. All of my cor- 
 respondence reports thew essentially common and breeding 
 abundantly. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 415 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Fifth quill longest; third, fourth, and sixth, little shorter; 
 second equal to ninth; exposed portion of the bill shorter than 
 fUe head; outline of lower mandible straight; above, light cin- 
 namon-red; beneath, pale rufous,, white with longitudinal 
 streaks of dark-brown, excepting on the chin, throat, middle 
 of belly, and under tail coverts; these spots anteriorly are 
 reddish-brown in their terminal portion; the inner surface of 
 the wing, and the inner edges of the primaries, cinnamon; con- 
 cealed portions of quills otherwise, dark-brown; median and 
 greater wing coverts, blackish -brown towards the end, followed 
 by white, thus producing two conspicuous'bands; tail feathers 
 all rufous, the external ones obscurely tipped with whitish 
 the shafts Of the same color as the vanes. 
 
 Liength, 11.50; wing, 4.15; tail, 5.20'; tarsus, 1.30. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and west to the Eocky Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 THETOTHORUS LUDOVICIANUS (Latham). (718.) 
 
 CAEOLINA WREN. 
 
 I had no expectation of ever seeing this bird in Minnesota, 
 but it is well identified now, although exceedingly rare. My 
 first was obtained in the immediate vicinity as far back as 1868, 
 since when it has been taken in several remote localities, but 
 I have no knowledge of its breeding here. That it does scar- 
 cely admits of a doubt, for its observation embraces all the 
 months from May to August, arriving about the 12th of the 
 former month and retiring about the 25th of the latter. Mr. 
 • Holsinger reports it as obtained at Dodge Centre, and is in his 
 list of birds of Winona county. Mr; Lewis reports it from 
 Big Stone lake, and several others have been sent to the local 
 taxidermists from different sections for mouhting. Yet it 
 must be still held as very rare, although not quite a straggler. 
 
 . SPECIFIC CHAEACTERS] 
 
 Exposed portion of the bill shorter than the head. Above 
 reddish -brown, most vivid on the rump; a whitish streak over 
 the eye, bordered above with dark-brown; throat whitish, rest 
 of under parts pale-yellow riisty, darkest toward the under 
 tail coverts, which are conspicuously barred with black. Ex- 
 posed surface of the wings and tail (including the upper cov- 
 erts) barred throughout with brown outer edges of the- tail 
 feathers and quills showing series of alternating whitish and 
 dusky spots. Legs flesh colored. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.45. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States, west to the Plains. 
 
416 NOTES ON THE 
 
 THRYOTHORUS BEWICKII (Audubon). (719.) 
 BEWICK'S WREN. 
 
 Arrives in Minnesota generally about the 20th of April, but 
 varies materially with the seasons. It is a very sweet singer, 
 although not equal to the House or the Carolina Wren. 
 
 About the 20th of May, but not infrequently somewhat 
 earlier, they build their nests in stumps, knot- holes in the 
 trees, hollow logs, etc., of the same materials as the other 
 wrens employ, and lay from five to seven white eggs, speckled 
 with light sha&es of brown, which are most numerous about 
 the larger end. While this species occasionally visits our 
 shrubbery and berry bushes of our gardeners, it is essentially 
 a denizen of the forest, especially the brushland borders, in 
 the vicinity of streams of water and lakes. Of the identity of 
 this species there is not the shadow of a question, but of its 
 relative representation there is considerable. As far back as 
 1874, it was not unusual in my experience to bag two or three 
 of them in a few hours general collection, and subsequently in 
 company with Mr. W. L. Tiffany (to whom I have elsewhere 
 referred) spend several hours in extensive comparisons. Pew 
 of my correspondents report this wren, and I cannot regard it 
 as quite as common as I believed it would be found. It is, 
 however, a well represented and fairly distributed species in 
 many of the timbered sections. They retire southward by the, 
 10th of September in ordinary seasons. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill shorter than head; tail longer than wings, much grad- 
 uated; upper parts rufous brown, beneath plumbeous white; a 
 white streak over the eye, the feathers edged above with 
 brown; exposed surface of wings and innermost tail feathers 
 closely barred with dusky; remaining tail feathers mostly 
 black, barred or blotched with white at tips, and on the whole 
 outer web of the exterior feather and under tail coverts. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.25; tail, 2-50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to Plains. 
 
 TROGLODYTES AEDON Vieillot. (721.) 
 HOUSE WREN. 
 
 Notwithstanding the tendency of the systematists in the 
 literature of American Ornithology to keep the typical House 
 Wren restricted to more eastern limits, I am able to assure them 
 that it is a regular summer resident of Minnesota. I have so 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 417 
 
 reported it long since, and am unable to understand the reasons 
 why they persist in thus restricting it. I cheerfully concede 
 that the variety parJcmanii (if well made, which I seriously 
 question) is the more abundant, but judged by all the shades 
 and measurements upon which it is maintained, the two grade 
 completely into each other oftentimes, in a half dozen indiv- 
 iduals comprised in the collections of a morning's basket. 
 Birds, eggs and nests, obtained within a few feet of each 
 other,' and within the present city limits, have thrown all pre- 
 conceived distinctions out, not once only, but repeatedly. 
 Still I have thought best to follow the decrees, and record my 
 observations accordingly. 
 
 The House Wren is first seen in spring about the 25th of 
 April, but he is generally heard first. Having long kept a 
 record of his first appearance, which puts me on the alert for 
 his sudden denouement, he could scarcely escape my notice, for 
 some of them at least never fail to resort to the roof of a dwel- 
 ling which if not my own, is not beyond the reach of my ear, 
 when the matchless little torrent of melody once breaks its 
 resorvoir, and inundates the entire vicinity. I have been 
 favored by its ultimate selection of my own premises, within 
 the boundaries of which to construct its nest, and rear its 
 young. This is begun as early as the 10th of May in favorable 
 seasons. Almost uniformly it is located about the eaves, or 
 gables of the house, or barn, as almost any other situation 
 would expose it to the maraudings of the numberless metropoli- 
 tan cats, that I am sorry to say are making bird rearing in the 
 trees and shrubbery of the city almost impossible. Of the 
 structure of the nests, or the appearance of the eggs, I have 
 no occasion to speak, so very familiar are they to those who 
 will be likely to ever read this report. 
 
 I am sure of their rearing two broods uniformly, and three 
 frequently. Neither variety is found in all parts of the State, 
 but abundant in some. In the larger bodies of timber, and 
 their immediate vicinities, they are common about the dwellings 
 and outhouses. Mr. Washburn found them "abundant at St. 
 Vincent" and other places in the Eed river valley. Dr. Hvoslef 
 also reports them in Fillmore county, during the summer. 
 They are reported common in the region about Duluth. Mr. 
 Grant does not include it amongst the birds observed at Ver- 
 milion lake in St. Louis county, however. 
 
 They do not all leave the State until well on towards October. 
 
418 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Tail and wingsabout equal; bill shorter than head; above 
 reddish brown, darker towards the head, brighter on the rump. 
 Feathers everywhere except on head and neck, barred with 
 dusky; obscurely so on the back and still less on the rump. 
 All the tail feathers barred from the base, the contrast more 
 vivid on the exterior ones; beneath pale fulvous-white, tinged 
 with light brownish across the breast; posterior parts rather 
 dark brown, obscurely banded; under tail coverts whitish with 
 dusky bars; an indistinct line over the eye, eyelids, and loral 
 region, whitish; cheeks brown streaked with whitish. 
 
 Length, 4.90; wing, 2.08; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States and west to Minnesota. 
 
 TROGLODYTES lEDON PAKKMANII (Audubon). (721a.) 
 
 PARKMAN'S WREN. 
 
 Accepting the differential characteristics, this variety is a 
 little the more numerous. At least it is so within my own 
 opportunities to measure fresh subjects. I am very familiar 
 with them as found on the Pacific coast from San Francisco to 
 San Diego, and the colors have apparently about the same rel- 
 ative difference which is found in nearly all species living 
 under like differences of humidity and sunshine. Ours are 
 manifestly darker, and consequently exhibit more rufous on 
 the lower baick and rump. As to measures, I must see more 
 specimens in the flesh than I have yet seen to convince me 
 fully of the permanent and definable differences upon which 
 the variety has been instituted. As to the differences in the 
 songs, I can only say that there might be some which I could 
 not retain in my memory long enough to bring them home, 
 and keep them until the next year to compare them with birds 
 here, although in the case of several other species, 1 have suc- 
 ceeded in doing so because I could write them on a musical staff. 
 My skill never reached the measure of reproducing the song 
 of the House Wren. The dates of their migrations in either 
 spring or fall are the same as those of the other variety. I 
 have seen them still abundant till near the middle of Septem- 
 ber, and then on the advent of a severe frost, disappear en- 
 tirely in a single night.- I think that like many other species, 
 they fiy under such circumstances at night at an elevation 
 above the forests. When passing the electric light mast in 
 our city, 260 feet in height, small birds may be seen in a state 
 of confusion, fiitting back and forth before resuming their 
 course. Indeed birds of all sizes including Pelicans, Geese 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 419 
 
 and Ducks, have done this, but the smaller ones, amongst 
 which are the wrens, occasionally become disabled and have 
 been secured. I have found a few in very open, genial 
 autumns, remaining until after the 15th of October. 
 
 Presumptively, these constitute a considerable portion of 
 those reportod to m6 as belonging to the type species. 
 
 They are reported as abundant in every wooded section 
 heard from and very common in the cities of St. Paul and 
 Minneapolis as I have myself observed them. Mr. Washburn 
 found them abundant everywhere in the Red river valley, as 
 Dr. Hvoslef also gives them at Lanesboro. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Similar in size to T. aedon, with a light line over the eye, &c. ; 
 the colors however grayer, the upper parts dark brown, the 
 lower grayish white, with little or none of the rufous tinge of 
 particular regions, as seen in the other. 
 
 Length, 5; wing 2.10; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, western North America eastward to Manitoba, 
 Minnesota, &c. 
 
 TROGLODYTES HIEMALIS Vieillot. (722.) 
 
 WINTER WREN. 
 
 A regular winter visitant, reaching this latitude where I re- 
 reside variously from the 20th of December to the middle of Jan- 
 uary. It is never abundant, but it is not very unf requently seen 
 in winter. Occasionally obtained in the logging camps during 
 the severest weather, and I have found it within three hours 
 ride of the city on several occasions, one of which was in De- 
 cember, and another in February. It has also been taken by 
 seyeral persons in the southern part of the State, making it 
 presumptive that it extends its migrations much further south. 
 Dr. Hvoslef has seen and obtained it in Fillmore county during 
 successive winters. I believe they all leave by or before the 
 first of March. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill very straight, slender, conical, and shorter than the 
 head. Tail considerably shorter than the wings which reach 
 to its raiddle. Upper parts reddish- brown, becoming brighter 
 to the rump and tail; transverse bars of dusky, and of lighter 
 everywhere except on the head and upper part of the back; 
 scapulars and wing coverts with spots of white; beneath pale 
 reddish-brown, barred on the posterior half of the body with 
 
420 NOTES ON THE 
 
 dusky and whitish, and spotted with white more anteriorly; 
 outer web of primaries simiarly spotted with pale brownish- 
 white. An indistinct pale line over the eye. 
 
 Length, 4; wing, 1.66; tail, 1.26 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 CI8T0TH0RUS STELLARIS (Lichtenstein.) (724.) 
 SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN. 
 
 The meadows and willow swamps to which the Marsh Wrens 
 at once resort upon their arrival, preclude the probabilities of 
 knowing just when that takes place, but from a comparison of 
 observations of several local observers it is not much removed 
 from the first of May. They are so exceedingly shy, and hide 
 in the reeds and grass so effectually that they are apparently 
 rare, yet from personal observations I cannot quite think t*hey 
 are. When I have made special search for them I have gen- 
 erally been unsuccessful, either from too great haste, or from 
 putting myself too directly in their way, but when entirely 
 alone and I have waited in complete ambush for some time, 
 I have generally been rewarded with the sight of several, and 
 the pleasure of obtaining one or two. I have found several 
 nests quite near each other, with eggs in by the 25th of May. 
 They are constructed in such a manner as to look like a loose 
 ball of grass hanging in a tussock of coarser grass or reeds, 
 about a foot above the ground, The whole is usually well 
 within a field of reeds or wild rice, where few persons would 
 be likely to go except to retrieve a duck, unless specially in 
 search of the nest. By the weaving of fine grasses ingeniously 
 in with the coarse, the exterior of the nest is compacted to im- 
 pervipusness, while the inner nest is composed of fine grass, 
 and lined with soft down from the bark and blossoms of vege- 
 tables. The eggs, variously from six to ten, are pure white, 
 and exceedingly thin-shelled. The entrance to the nest is very 
 small and in some scarcely appreciable. They are widely dis- 
 tributed. 
 
 Prof. Herrick found it breeding at Lake Shatek ' 'in consid- 
 erable numbers." 
 
 Mr. Washburn, in his report to me of his explorations in the 
 Red river valley, says of the Short-billed Marsh Wren, it is 
 "common in the marshes throughout the valley; breeding in 
 colonies in the tall grass. A most interesting bird, as bold, 
 saucy and inquisitive as his cousin, the Long-billed Marsh 
 Wren. In a large marsh near Ada, I found a colony of these 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 421 
 
 wrens, which by my presence was thrown into most excitable 
 activity. They are at a disadvantage when on the wing, these 
 appendages seeming scarcely able to support their obese bodies, 
 for they fly as though weighted like a bee returning to a hive 
 heavily laden. Instinctively they fly toward the friendly sup- 
 port of some tall weed where, as if feeling more secure on their 
 feet than in the air, they resume their antics, hanging their 
 heads downward, twirting their tails, jumping from one reed 
 to another, and each bird apparently communicating its rest- 
 lessness to its neighbor until the whole colony is in a state of 
 ferment. They do not alight, gracefully like most birds, but 
 seem to tumble into the weeds." This would seem to indicate 
 that the Short-billed Marsh Wrens are more abundant in the Red 
 river country than almost anywhere else in our special field of 
 investigations. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill very short, scarcely half the head; wings and tail about 
 equal; hinder part of the crown, scapular, and interscapular 
 region of the back and rump, almost black, streaked with 
 white; tail dusky, the feathers barred throughout with brown; 
 upper parts, with the exceptions mentioned, reddish brown. 
 . Length, 4.50; wing, 1.75; tail, 1.75. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States, west to the Plains. 
 
 CISTOTHORUS PALUSTRIS (Wilson). (725.) 
 
 LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN. 
 
 Prom every section of the State not personally visited, I 
 have the uniform testimony of the abundance of this species. 
 The migrations are indeterminately synchronous with the 
 Short- bills, and their haunts and breeding places the same in 
 both species, except that the nests of this is found nearer the 
 edges of the marsh. If anything, it is also a little the larger 
 of the two, and is suspended on the coarse, strong reeds, fairly 
 above all dangers from high waters overflowing the banks of 
 sluggish streams that meander the swamps and marshes. In 
 the exterior construction, rushes and coarse grass are closely 
 interwoven, apd the interstices neatly filled with mud, giving 
 it a very artistic^ compact appearance, in size pearly six inches 
 in diameter. About one- third below the top a small hole for 
 entrance is left, overhung by a projection or canopy to exclude 
 the rain. Internally the nest is lined with fine grass, feathers 
 and vegetable down. They rear two broods in a season, form- 
 ing a new nest for each brood. From six to ten eggs is about 
 
422 NOTES ON THE 
 
 the range of numbers, and they are somewhat variable in the 
 intensity of the color between light ash and brown, being so 
 thickly blotched as to give it those colors, although the general 
 hue without the blotching would be white. Their song is a 
 poor representative of bird-melody, consisting of little more 
 than an indistinct rasping, or grating sounds, not unlike the 
 sound of a sliver on a fence rail vibrating in the wind. They 
 feed principally upon tiny moUusks, and aquatic insects of 
 various kinds. 
 
 It is a very difficult matter to find just the time when they 
 habitually return to the South, but I think that as a general 
 thing it is by the 1st to the 5th of September, with occasibnal 
 exceptions in either direction. 
 
 My .collector Mr. F. L. Washburn, who visited the valley of 
 'the Red river in the interests of the survey, found this species 
 like the other, abundant, breeding in large colonies. He calls 
 it " a noisy chatterer, pre-eminently inquisitive; and as nimble 
 as a mouse. Standing among reeds, up to my waist in water, 
 and watching the movements of a flock of ducks several yards 
 in front of me, the noise of my movements attracted about me 
 countless numbers of these birds. Chaptering angrily at my 
 intrusion, they came toward me from every side, scrambling 
 from reed to reed, head downward and peering at me with the 
 brightest of black eyes, seeming to demand of me by what 
 right I had tresspassed on the lawful territory of the Lilli- 
 putians. Its song is monotonous and squeaky." 
 
 Mr. J. M. Holzinger, Curator of tiie Normal School Museum, 
 at Winona, says it is "abundant around Lake Winona." That 
 it is generally distributed over the entire State there can be no 
 doubt. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill about as long as head; tail and wing nearly equal. 
 Upper parts dull reddish- brbwn, except on the crown, inter- 
 scapular region, outer surface of tertials, and tail feathers, 
 which are almost black; the fir^t with a median patch like the 
 ground color, the second with short streaks of white extending 
 round on the sides of the neck; the third indented with brown; 
 the fourth barred with whitish, decreasing in amount from the 
 outer feather, which is marked from the base to the fifth, 
 where it is confined to the tips; the two middle feathers like 
 the back, and barred throughout with dusky. Beneath rather 
 pure white, the sides and under tail coverts of a lighter shade 
 of brown than the back; a white streak over the eye 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.08; tail, 2. 
 
 Habitat, United States, abundant in reedy swamps. 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 423 
 
 Family CERTHIID^. 
 
 CERTHIA PAMILIARIS AMERICANA (Bonaparte). (726 ) 
 
 BROWN CREEPER. 
 
 The Brown Creeper is a nervous, restless little fellow, who 
 conies so near being a permanent resident, that he only goes 
 barely far enough away in winter to be amongst us again very 
 early in the spring, an occasional individual lingering through 
 that inclement and vigorous season. Recorded observations 
 here give its arrivals in spring, between the first and tenth of 
 April, and the departures between the first and tenth of 
 December, but as already intimated, there are wide exceptidns 
 from these dates and in the more southern counties it has been 
 observed early in March. 
 
 Its habits have been so beautifully described by Wilson, that 
 I repeat some passages referring to them. When describing 
 its proclivity to follow the Hairy Woodpecker, nuthatches, 
 and Chickadee through the woods, ' 'gleaning up those insects 
 which their more powerful bills had alarmed and exposed," he 
 says: "As the party advances from tree to tree our little 
 gleaner seems to observe a good deal of regularity in his .pro- 
 ceedings; for I have almost always observed that he alights on 
 the body near the root of the tree, and directs his course with 
 great nimbleness upward to the higher branches, sometimes 
 spirially, often in a direct line, moving rapidly and uniformly 
 along with his tail bent to the tree, and not in the hopping 
 manner of the Woodpecker, whom he far surpasses in dexter- 
 ity of climbing, running along the lower side of the horizontal 
 branches with surprising ease. If any person be near when he 
 alights, he is sure to take the opposite side of the tree, moving 
 around as he moves, so as to prevent him from getting more 
 than a transient glimpse of him. 
 
 The best method for outwitting him, if you are alone, is, as 
 soon as he alights and disappears behind the trunk, take your 
 stand behind an adjoining one, and keep a sharp lookout, twen- 
 ty or thirty feet up the Dody of the tree he is upon, for he gen- 
 erally mounts very regularly to a considerable hight, examin- 
 ing the whole way as he advances . In a minute or two, hearing 
 all still, he will make his appearance on one side or the other 
 of the tree and give you an opportunity of observing him. " 
 28 z 
 
424 NOTES ON THE 
 
 The food consists chiefly of coleopterous insects, with an oc- 
 casional seed intermixed. He builds his nest much after the 
 manner of the wrens, in any available place like a hollow limb 
 or trunk of a tree — in the hollow of a tall stub — or beneath 
 a depending piece of bark on the side of a dead tree. 
 
 Five or six roseate-white eggs, delicately marked with 
 brown, are laid about the 20th of May. 
 
 This species is rather common a short time during migration, 
 and a few remain all summer, but they mainly go beyond the 
 limits of our territory to breed. In a very carefully prepared 
 list of birds observed at Vermilion lake by U. S. Grant, who 
 accompanied Prof. Winchell in his geological explorations of 
 St. Louis county, he saw but one individual, but at a season 
 which justifies the presumption of its breeding in that region. 
 In most wooded sections an occasional individual has been seen 
 at a time when it is entirely reasonable to suppose them sum- 
 mer residents. 
 
 Mr. Washburn believes it "rare in Otter Tail county." Its 
 habits are such that they may easily be overlooked, and I still 
 cherish the opinion that it has not yet received its proper credit. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill about length of head. Above dark-brown with a slight 
 rufous shade, each feather streaked centrally but not abruptly 
 with whitish; rump rusty; beneath almost silky white; under 
 tail coverts with a faint rusty tinge; a white streak over the 
 eye; ear coverts streaked with whitish. Tail feathers brown 
 centrally, the edges pale yellowish-brown; wings with a trans- 
 verse bar of pale reddish-white across both webs. 
 
 Length, 5.50; wing, 2.60; tail, 2.90. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 Family PARID^. 
 
 SITTA CAR0LINEN8IS Latham. (727.) 
 WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH. 
 The White-bellied Nuthatch is a permanent resident of Min- 
 nesota, breeding, frequently, within the limits of the city as 
 well as in forests remote from dwellings. The nests are 
 usually found in cavities in trees much after the manner of 
 woodpeckers, and consist of fine grasses, feathers, and hairs 
 which are lightly disposed in the bottom of the cavity selected. 
 They almost uniformly lay six eggs which are white with a 
 faint roseate tint, spattered with dots and splashes of pale 
 reddish-brown. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 425 
 
 I After along period of crisping cold days has softened into 
 one less rigorous "Nuttie," and his cousin will put in a joint 
 appearance. Then his monotonous cha-cha-cha-cha will sound 
 as cheery as more varied notes in the sunny season of song 
 would, but his visits are not frequent in winter in this latitude; 
 nor are they prolonged, for when he has dropped, head down- 
 wards, onto the trunk of the leafless tree, and begun his search 
 for larvae and insects, it is not long before every considerable 
 portion of the tree has been searched, and he has bounded 
 away to another. It rarely lights on the ground, and then it 
 remains but a few moments at most. 
 
 In proportion to its size, it is capable of vieing with the 
 woodpeckers in the use of its bill to excavate a hole in a tree 
 for its nest. Which is sometimes sunken 14 to 18 inches below 
 the point of entrance. It lays 5 eggs usually, of a pearly- white 
 color, touched sparingly with dark- greenish, or dirty- yellow. 
 The young are brought out early in June. I have not met with 
 more than one brood to a pair in the same season, and from the 
 uniformity of the development of the young in the early autumn, 
 I believe it to be their local habit to rear but the one, whatever 
 may have been observed otherwheres. Under what circum- 
 stances they brave the severity of the winters in Minnesota can 
 only be conjectured, but, presumably, in holes of trees in the 
 swamps where evergreens afford protection from the winds. 
 
 Ppr the species, they may be regarded as abundant in nearly 
 all wooded portions of the State, and much more frequently 
 seen in spring and fall than during either summer or winter. 
 Mr. G-rant found them in St. Louis county during the summer, 
 Dr. Hvoslef at Lanesboro in March, Kennicott at Lake of the 
 Woods on May Slst, and Mr. Washburn everywhere in the Red 
 river region in both summer and autumn in abundance. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above, ashy-blue; top of head and neck black. Underparts 
 and sides of head to a shorlj distance above the eye, white. 
 Under tail coverts and tibial feathers, brown; concealed pri- 
 maries, white. Bill subulate, acutely pointed, compressed, 
 long as head; tarsi stout. 
 
 Length, 6; wing, 3.75; tail, 0.90. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
426 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SITTA CANADENSIS (L.). (728. ) 
 EED-BKEASTED NUTHATCH. 
 
 This little cousin of the White-bellied Nuthatch, in no way a 
 whit behind his bigger relative in interest, has its history ob- 
 scured by the shadow of the other to such an extent, that his 
 record begins and ends about where Audubon began and ended it 
 
 While quite similar in its habits to the other species, its note 
 is so much higher- keyed, and more rapidly repeated, that there 
 is little danger of the careful observer being misled as to its 
 identity. It feeds precisely like the other in every particular, 
 beginning upon the trunk or a larger branch, it moves forwards 
 or backwards with equal facility, and uniformly in a spiral di- 
 rection. If on the trunk, the prevalent attitude is with the 
 head downward, in which attitude it will frequently pause for 
 a moment, and with the bill at right angles to its perch, listen 
 to other notes and sounds, and then resume its search for in- 
 sects and larvae, constantly repeating its note resembling 
 'each, each, each each, " rapidly repeated until it opens its wings 
 for a short flight to another tree already preoccupied possibly 
 by the large species, the Hairy Woodpecker, and the Chick- 
 adee. In this manner the party proceeds "regularly from tree 
 to tree through the woods like a corps of pioneers. " Mr. Grant 
 reports them as fairly represented about Vermilion lake and 
 vicinity during the summers he was there. 
 
 Messrs. Lewis, Treganowan and Washburn, each report this 
 species fairly represented in all the timbered sections visited 
 by them in the northwestern portions, and the latter mentions 
 them in the following words: "Young and old birds observed 
 at St. Vincent, common, and apparently finding there its 
 southern limit. I did not find it south of that place. One indi- 
 vidual, shot at St. Vincent Aug. 26th, measured 4.25; 2.50; 1.50; 
 andanother, 4.25; 2.75; 1.50." 
 
 There is no doubt that the Red-breasted Nuthatch breeds 
 extensively in the northern portion of Minnesota, but I have 
 never discovered their nests in the others. Mr. Lewis, (who 
 gave the habits of this species as much if not more attention 
 than any other observer whose kindly aid I have received, ) 
 says: "The nest is in an excavation in a stump, or a stub, 
 from three to four feet from the ground, and occasionally 
 somewhat higher, but never as elevated as that of the White- 
 breasted. It consists of moss, bark, hair and down, rather 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 427 
 
 loosely disposed, but with considerable claims to nesting in- 
 genuity. There are four or five pearly- white eggs, with occa- 
 sional touches of dingy-greenish at the larger end. " 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Bill pointed, subulate, compressed, stout, about as long as 
 head; culmen and commissure nearly straight; nostrils cov- 
 ered by a tuft of bristles directed forwards; tarsi stout, tail 
 very short, broad and nearly even; wings reaching nearly to 
 the end of the tail. Above ashy blue; top of head black; a 
 white line above, and a black one through the eye; chin, white 
 rest of under parts brownish rusty. 
 
 Length, 4.50; wing, 2;65; tail, 0.85. 
 
 Habitat, North America at large. 
 
 PARUS BICOLOR (L.). (731.) 
 
 TUFTED TITMOUSE. 
 
 This is rather a rare species in Minnesota. Only occasion- 
 ally obtained, and then only in the extreme southern counties, 
 but at such times as they are presumably breeding. I place 
 them in my records on the assurances of Mr. Lewis who ob- 
 tained the skin and four eggs from a lad in Nobles county. 
 
 I knew the bird very well in his established haunts, and 
 have seen persons who have collected them occasionally in the 
 vicinity of Cedar Palls, Iowa. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above ashy black. A frontal band of dark sooty brown. 
 Bill, black; feet lead color. Beneath dull whitish; sides brown- 
 ish chestnut, of more or less intensity. 
 
 Length, 6.25; wing, 3.20 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to the Plains. 
 
 PARUS ATBICAPILLUS (L.). (735.) 
 
 CHICKADEE. 
 
 The Chickadee is a common, permanent resident of Minne- 
 sota, scarcely any portion of which yet visited, where there is 
 timber found, which does not have a fair representation of 
 them. But they are met with more frequently in the autumn 
 and early spring when t'hey come out from the denser wood- 
 lands and seek the cultivated sections, where the sun has made 
 its food more attainable. At all times during winter, however 
 
428 NOTES ON THE 
 
 severe the weather, it may be seen peering about the freshly 
 fallen pines in the vicinity of the lumber camps and in the 
 evergreen thickets of the same regions. Noisy, restless, 
 cheery, he is soon a favorite of the woodsman. 
 
 The earliest nests I have met were built about the last week 
 in April and were in holes in trees like those of the nuthatches 
 and woodpeckers.' It is somewhat enlarged as it extends 
 down into the decayed tree or stump for eight or ten inches 
 and is lined with soft flexible mosses and animal hairs of dif- 
 ferent kinds. Sometimes it appropriates a few birds', feathers 
 and always weaves them nicely into a smooth warm receptacle 
 for from six to ten nearly pure white eggs with a slightly red- 
 dish tint, and spotted thickly at the larger end with reddish 
 brown. These are nearly spherical and measure about. 62x. 52. 
 They generally have two broods in the season. 
 
 The most noteworthy habit I have recognized in this species 
 which has so many times been omitted in descriptions of it is 
 its almost invariable association with the nuthatches, which if 
 not exactly with it are not far away. Next to this their pro- 
 clivity to approach so near to one when seated in the deep 
 woods. Its notes are too familiar to need description, formu- 
 lating so remarkably the words cJieweek-a-dee-dee-dee, cheweek-a- 
 dee-dee-dee in a clear, distinct and really sweet tone. Its flight 
 is not unlike the woodpecker from tree to tree in its search for 
 food, and like that species is undulating, and gliding when 
 higher in the air. 
 
 As I have been often called upon for my opinion of its habits 
 of destroying the buds of fruit trees in blossom, I am cheerful 
 to say that I believe no buds ever suffer which have not first 
 been made worthless by containing a grub which is destined to 
 destroy it. An examination of these buds afterward uniformly 
 reveals a burrow which his faithful bill has just emptied. This 
 to my mind fully substantiates his claim to friendship and pro- 
 tection. He makes no mistakes which sacrifice the perfect buds. 
 Endowed also in common with birds in general as he is with 
 eyes so constructed as to permit their microscopic as well as 
 telescopic use, he is prepared to examine with unerring cer- 
 tainty not only the buds but the bark where eggs as well as the 
 hatched vermin are hidden. 
 
 "The eggs of the moth of the destructive leaf -rolling cater- 
 pillar — the canker worm, the apple-tree moth, and others of 
 these well-known plagues are greedily eaten by it, and this in 
 the inclement winter when most of our other birds have aban- 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 429 
 
 doned us for a more genial climate. In the summer time the 
 Chick-a-dee's labors are more easily noticed; and as he raises a 
 large brood of young, the female laying six or eight eggs as 
 - a litter, he is very busy through the whole day in capturing 
 vast quantities of caterpillars, flies and grubs. It has been 
 calculated that a single pair of these birds destroy, on the 
 average, not less than five hundred of these pests daily, a labor 
 which could hardly be surpassed by a man, even if he gave his 
 whole time to the task." The author just quoted — E. A. Sam- 
 uels in his Bii'ds of New England, p. 185 — says: "In some ob- 
 servations of this and other birds of Paris, it was found that 
 the Titmouse destroys at the lowest computation, over two 
 hundred thousand eggs of noxious insects annually. Does not 
 this appeal to the good sense of the farmer to protect the 
 luhole class that should not be forgotten?" 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Second quill as long as the secondaries; tail very slightly 
 rounded, lateral feathers about ten one hundredths of an inch 
 shorter than the middle ones; back brownish ashy; top of head 
 and throat, black, sides of head between them white; beneath 
 whitish; brownish- white on the sides; outer tail feathers, 
 some of the primaries and secondaries conspicuously margined 
 with white. 
 
 Length, 5; wing, 2.50; tail, 2.50. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 PARTJS ATRICAPILLUS 8EPTENTRION1LI8 (Harris). 
 
 (735a.) 
 
 LONG TAILED CHICKADEE. 
 
 For several years after my local observation of the birds 
 began, I found considerable variation in the length of the 
 specimens of this species which came under my observation, 
 without believing that I had "septentrionalis" occasionally, 
 but it proved to be that beyond a question, and I reported it in 
 a list published in 1874 as ' 'rare" but it has been seen since that 
 time a good many times. 
 
 Its habits do not differ from the Black-capped except in 
 breeding time, when the "soft, long-drawn note" of Coues is 
 decidedly characteristic. However, the measurements grade 
 into those of the other variety so often as to leave a doubt 
 which we have, except in the case of those of completest 
 characteristics. 
 
* 
 
 430 NOTES ON THE 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Head above and below black, separated by white on the 
 sides of the head; back brownish-ash; beneath white, tinged 
 with pale brownish-white on the sides; outer tail feathers, 
 primaries and secondaries broadly edged with white, involving 
 nearly the whole outer web of the outer tail feathers; tail 
 much graduated; the outer feather about thirty hundredths of 
 an inch shorter than the middle; second quill about as long as 
 the secondaries. 
 
 Length, about 5.50; wing, 2.70; tail, about 3 inches. 
 
 Family SYLYIID^. 
 
 REGULUS SATRAPA Lichtenstei^. (748.) 
 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. 
 
 This species appears simultaneously with the other Kinglet' 
 and differs from it very little in its habits. Not quite as 
 numerous as the other, nor quite as active perhaps, it is not as 
 easily obtained. It rarely sings in migration, and then in a 
 very soft, musing tone which is very monotonous. The near- 
 est description of the note which I can give is expressed in a 
 single word, t'eeet, and a single strain consists of about a half- 
 dozen repetitions. Amid the grand chorus of bird- song it is 
 easy to fail to detect it, but when heard is decidedly pleasing. 
 It leaves for the farther north a little earlier than the Raby- 
 crowned does. I know nothing of its breeding habits within 
 my province, but think it not improbable that its nests may yet 
 be found in the northeastern portions of the State. It is 
 believed to be a more northern bird than its cousin. 
 
 Mr. Herrick found it present still in Southern Minnesota as 
 late as October in the fall migration. 
 
 Their patient industry in gathering their tiny insect food, 
 monotonously repeating their "t'eeet, t'eeet, t'eeet, t'eeet, t'eeet, 
 t'eeet," softly and rather rapidly, interrupted by a frequent 
 poise upon their fluttering wings while feeding upon some 
 dainty forms at the very extremity of the tremulous leaves is a 
 marvellous exhibition of contentment with their lot. They 
 have a habit of exposing their concealed, golden feathers of 
 the crown, by suddenly opening and shutting the overlapping 
 feathers on the parts adjoining them, by which they make 
 good their claims to royalty, and from which they have ob- 
 tained the common name of Golden- crowned Kinglets. Most 
 of them have passed further north by the end of the second 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 431 
 
 week ill April, some of them to breed in the rough, hill country 
 in the vicinity of Lake Superior, where Mr. Lewis found quite 
 a number of them in June and July, but failed to secure any 
 nests of eggs. But they mostly go much beyond us to spend 
 their summers in an alien land. 
 
 ' SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above olive green, brightest on the outer edges of the wing; 
 tail feathers tinged with brownish-gray towards the head; fore- 
 head, a line over the eye, and a space beneath it, white. Ex- 
 terior of the crown before and laterally, black, embracing a 
 central patch of orange red, encircled by gamboge yellow. A 
 dusky space round the eye. Wing coverts with two yellowish 
 white bands, the posterior covering a similar band on the 
 quills, succeeded by a broad dusky one; under parts dull whit- 
 ish. 
 
 Length, under 4; wing, 2.25; tail, 1.80. 
 
 Habitat, North America generally. 
 
 REGULUS CALEXDULA (L.). (749.) 
 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. 
 
 But a little larger than the Hummingbird, this remarkable, 
 vigorous species reaches us the first week in April in parties 
 of twenty to forty perhaps, a minority of which are sometimes 
 found to be Golden-crowns. They follow the wooded banks of 
 the Mississippi and other large streams of water running north 
 and south, ' 'working" each tree over successively if undisturbed, 
 and one at a time, flitting to the next northward. Active to 
 the highest tension, and vigilant in their exhaustive search for 
 the eggs and larvae of insects which are only found in the 
 crevices of the bark of the trees, they are exceedingly difficult 
 to follow. I have hoped that it might be my good fortune to 
 hear them sing, but beyond a soft twitter, or "whistle and work" 
 song, I have failed altogether. 
 
 Dr. Coues says: "One of the most remarkale things about 
 the Ruby-crown is its extraordinary power of song. It is 
 really surprising that such a tiny creature should be capable 
 of the strong and sustained notes it utters when in full song. 
 The lower larynx, the sound producing organ, is not much big- 
 ger than a good sized pin's head, and the muscles that move it 
 are almost microscopic shreds of flesh. If the strength of the 
 human voice were in the same proportion to the size of the 
 larynx, we could converse with ease at a distance of a 
 mile or more. The Kinglets' vocalization defies description; 
 
432 NOTES ON THE 
 
 we can only speak in general terms of the power, purity and 
 volume of the notes, their faultless modulation and long con- 
 tinuance." 
 
 That this species breeds about the head waters of the Miss- 
 issippi and the head of Lake Superior there can be little doubt, 
 as it may be seen there as late as July according to observa- 
 tions of parties visiting those regions who claim to know the 
 bird well. 
 
 The coloration of the sexes is essentially alike, neither hav- 
 ing the concealed patch of scarlet feathers on the crown until 
 the second year. It is common in migration and no species 
 visiting the State has contributed greater numbers to the gun 
 of the collector for scientific purposes, through mistaken iden- 
 tity, yet each individual which escapes is too busy to recognize 
 the disaster further than to get away for the moment from the 
 noise of the gun that has slain his equally industrious comrade. 
 
 Their autumnal migration brings them to us about the last 
 week in September, when they are somewhat promiscuously 
 mixed with Satrapa and several other species, remaining some- 
 times until the latter part of October. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTEES. 
 
 Above dark greenish-olive, passing into bright olive-green 
 on the rump and outer edges of the wings and tail; crown 
 with a large concealed patch of scarlet feathers wWch are 
 white at the base; the under parts are grayish -white tinged 
 with pale olive yellow, especially behind; a ring round the eye, 
 two bands on the wing coverts, and the exterior of the inner 
 tertials, white. 
 
 Length, 4.50; wing, 2.35; tail, 1.85. 
 
 Habitat, North America. 
 
 POLIOPTILA CERULEA (L.). (751.) 
 
 BLUE- GRAY GNATCATCHER. 
 
 Long believed to be a summer resident, no bird has been 
 more diligently sought after here than this. My friend W. L. 
 Tiffany, a collector with large experience at Cape May, and 
 otherwheres, called my attention to the general history of this 
 species in 1874. In all the many most delightful explorations 
 about the vicinity of Minneapolis which we had together we 
 both kept it constantly in mind, and not in vain, although at 
 that time unsuccessful, for since then several have been ob- 
 tained by different collectors. Dr. Coues says in his ' 'Birds of 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 433 
 
 the Colorado Valley," that it does not visit this State, in which 
 at this date, he is almost but not quite right. My collections 
 embrace the months of May, June and July. 
 
 At what precise time it has been observed to arrive in Min- 
 nesota I cannot state except that two have been obtained be- 
 fore the 20th of May. If any nests have been collected, the 
 fact has not been communicated to me up to this time. It is 
 a species with which I became quite familiar in California 
 when collecting in the southern portion of that state. The P. 
 melanura or Black-tail was a more common species, resembling 
 it so much in appearance and manners that with difficulty I 
 learned to separate them without shooting them first, unless 
 near enough to distinguish the dark tail and black crown of the 
 latter. 
 
 Mr. K. S. Williams of this city obtained the first specimen 
 of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on the 19th of May, 1877. It was 
 a male. Quite remarkably this bird was also first observed in 
 in Massachusetts, November, 1876. (Bulletin Nuttall Club, 
 Vol. 3, No. 1, p. 46). 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above grayish-blue, gradually becoming bright blue on bhe 
 crown; a narrow frontal band of black extending backward over 
 the eye; under parts and lores bluish- white, tinged with lead 
 color on the sides; first and second tail feathers white except 
 at the extreme base which is black, the color extending ob- 
 liquely forward on the inner web; third and fourth black with 
 ' white tips, very slight on the latter; fifth and sixth entirely 
 black; upper tail coverts blackish- plumbeous; quills edged ex- 
 ternally with pale bluish-gray, which is much broader, and 
 nearly white on the tertials. 
 
 Length, 4.30; wing, 2.15; tail, 2.25. 
 
 Habitat, middle and southern portions of the United States. 
 
 FamUy TURDTD^. 
 
 TURDUS MUSTELINUS Gmelin. (755.) 
 WOOD THRUSH. 
 
 This peerless songster arrives about the 5th to the 10th of 
 May, the latest record I have of my own, or any of my corres- 
 pondents for many years being May 12th. The males arrive a 
 little in advance of the females, but only a little, for they are 
 'silent until the arrival of the others, and not more than three 
 or four days after the earliest are known to have come, their 
 songs begin to be heard. 
 
434 NOTES ON THE 
 
 The first noticed are either single or in small, loose parties, 
 but so silent and unobstrusive, as to elude all but practiced 
 observation. Its favorite haunts, so well known to be the low, 
 thickly shaded borders of the forest, along the banks of running 
 waters, overhung with wild vines, are now exchanged for those 
 less secluded places, seeking its food in the open fields, or 
 wherever it is most plentiful, which is quite near barns, sheds, 
 and dwellings in many instances. In bright days this range is 
 likely to be confined to the early morning, but when the sky is 
 clouded, he will often remain about the garden all day, partic- 
 larly when a little rainy also. My residence is very centrally 
 located, and beside an arboreal lawn of my own, I have neigh- 
 bors who have them also on either side of me, in any and all of 
 which the Wood Thrush may often be seen at this season, under 
 the conditions mentioned 
 
 A lady friend* of rare culture, who is a critical observer of 
 the habits of birds, has a rear yard, or garden, only twenty- 
 four by sixty feet, surrounded by a high fence, along which are 
 planted bushes and shrubs, and in the centre, one or two fruit 
 trees. 
 
 The buildings are built in solid blocks from street to street, 
 with no lawns, but she counts upon the visits of many species 
 of the birds regularly in their migrations, and this one in par- 
 ticular in which she is seldom dissapointed. Being perfectly 
 familiar with the habits of all' the common thrushes, and 
 emploj'ing a field-glass at such short range, she could not con- 
 found the species. 
 
 Immediately upon the arrival of the closely following females 
 unless the weather is exceptionally bad, the males will be 
 heard early in the morning warbling their liquid, bell-toned 
 notes from the top-most limb of a tree, surrounded by others 
 inferior in height, and all embraced in a compact thicket in 
 the woodlands. 
 
 * Mrs. Sarab A. Hubbard author of the most charming Monograph on "The Hum- 
 ming Birds of the two Americas" published a few years since in Harper's Monthly. In 
 one of her warbling letters, written May 5th. 1883, she says, when speaking of birds;— 
 "And they have come, * * * Day before yesterday, a Wood Thrush, a Hermit 
 Thrush, and a Swainson's Thrush, spent the morning with me. I sit in a window look- 
 ing right down upon them, and with my opera-glass It is almost as good as having 
 them In my hand. The Wood Thrush, with his tawny head and erect crest, flapping 
 its wings and keeping a fierce, truculent demanor; The Hermit Thrush with olive 
 head and back, and tawny tail; and the Swainson's with pure olive on the upper 
 parts, were easily distinguished at a glance. The Hermit came first, April 4th, and 
 has been here ever since, sometimes visiting me in companies of three and four, but 
 more often in solitary state. 
 
 I notice that when a bird comes, it IS apt to stay all day, owing I think to the 
 quiet seclusion of the place, with its high walls and abundant vines and shrubbery." 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 435 
 
 About the 20th of May they begin to build their nests in a 
 rather low bush, in their secluded haunts in deeply shaded 
 hollows in the wooilands near either a lake, or stream of run- 
 ning water. I have found them occupying the northern slope 
 of dry, , brushy hillsides, yet this is exceptional. It is construc- 
 ted of weeds, grass, leaves, &c, compactly, and somewhat 
 artistically arranged outwardly with mud and grass, and lined 
 with moss, fibrous roots and flexible, soft, fine grass. The 
 eggs are usually four in number of a uniforn light blue color, 
 without spots and have a faint shade of green. They are 
 credited with but one brood in New England, but they do bet- 
 ter in Minnesota, bringing out two as a rule. Their food 
 varies somewhat with the season, but embraces various kinds 
 of berries, beetles^ spiders, caterpillars, and a few varieties 
 of lichens. They retire southward about the middle of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 Less observed than most birds of striking song because of 
 its secluded breeding habits, it is nevertheless a common sum- 
 mer resident in its wonted localities throughout the entire 
 State yet explored. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Above clear cinnamon brown, on the top of the head becom- 
 ing more rufous, on the rump and tail, olivaceous. Under 
 parts clear white, sometimes tinged with buff on the breast or 
 anteriorly, and thickly marked beneath, except on the chin 
 and throat, and about the vent and tail coverts, with subtri- 
 angular, sharply defined spots of blackish. Sides of head 
 dark brown, streaked with white, and there is also a maxillary 
 series of streaks on each side of the throat, the central portion 
 of which sometimes has indications of small spots. 
 
 Length, 8.10; wing, 4.25; tail, 3.05; tarsus, 1.26. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to Plains. 
 
 TUKDUS FUSCESCENS Stephens. (756.) 
 WILSON'S THRUSK. 
 
 Wilson's Thrush makes its appearance in the State about the 
 beginning of the second week in May; the males preceding the 
 females only a few da,ys. Pairing follows in due time, but not 
 until "many a knight has drawn his sword" and some fierce 
 battles have been fought in the presence of the most indifferent 
 of dulcinas. 
 
 It builds its nest about the last week in May, occasionally 
 somewhat earlier. In speaking of this charming thrush I will 
 not deny myself the privilege of quoting from the inimitable 
 
486 NOTES ON THE 
 
 pen of that master of words in the expression of science or 
 sentiment, Dr. Elliott Coues in his Birds of the Colorado 
 Valley, page 41 : ' 'The heavy growth of timber that fringes 
 the streams including many nooks and dells, and broken 
 ravines overgrown with thick shrubbery from out the masses 
 of which the tall trees tower as if stretching forth their strong 
 arms in kindly caressing of the humbler and weaker vegetation, 
 their offspring. 
 
 "In such safe retreats, where the sombre shade is brightened 
 here and there with stray beams of sunlight, in the warmth of 
 which myriads of insects bathe their wings and flutter away 
 their little span of life, humming a quaint refrain to the 
 gurgle of the rivulet, the Veery meets its mate — the song rises 
 — the wooed is won — the honie is made. Should we force our 
 unwelcome presence upon the bird who is brooding her newly- , 
 found treasures with the tenderest solicitude, she will nestle 
 closer still, in hope of our passing by, till we might almost 
 touch her, when, without a word of remonstrance or reproach, 
 shfe takes a little flight, and settles a few yards away in silent 
 appeal. If the time, the place, the scene, suffice not for our 
 forbearance, with what poor words of hers may we then be 
 moved ?" 
 
 Whoever would try it after seeking such a spot as the above 
 picture points out, as true to science as it is to sentiment, will 
 find the nest either resting directly upon the ground amongst 
 leaves, or a little above it. There is no remarkable exhibition 
 of skill manifested in its structure, but on the other hand, it 
 looks rather clumsy and bulky, yet it is fairly well finished 
 within. It consists outwardly of leaves, and bark, weeds and 
 grasses within, with no special lining. The cavity is slight 
 compared with the excavation of some of the other Thrushes. 
 The eggs are greenish blue without any markings usually, 
 and four to five in number. Occasiohally obsolete specks may 
 be detected on the larger end. The song of this interesting 
 species is quite remarkable, the notes being metallic and bell- 
 like, very distinct and resonant. The quivering Vrill, frill, 
 frill, frill graduated from a high key downward, increasing in 
 volume with each frill in the four repetitions, giving it a wild 
 and delicious sadness, impossible to describe, but always felt 
 when heard. The song is not unfrequently prolonged until 
 between eleven and twelve o'clock in the evenings of warm, 
 cloudy weather. Often when delayed, I have been riding 
 through the dark woodlands bordering the lake, at that late 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 437, 
 
 hour, when several in different directions could be heard in 
 successive responses, and more weird melody I never heard. 
 Sometimes seemingly almost over my head, and sometimes so 
 far away as to seem to come from another world. 
 
 Nothing in bird life ever so appealed to what hovers upon the 
 borderland of superstition in my own experience. The Great 
 Horned Owl's melancholic hootings awaken other sensations, 
 perhaps a little cowardice withal, for they suggest memories 
 of fallen Babylon and spirits lost, while these delightful, 
 though mystic melodies seemed more like the vesper bells of 
 invisible wood nymphs summoning one to prayer." 
 
 The Veery Bird, as this is often called, is a fairly common 
 species here, and is apparently widely distributed over the 
 State. My correspondents have uniformly given it as common 
 in th,eir locality. 
 
 Mr. Washburn found it so in the valley of the Red river, and 
 and at Mille Lacs, as did Dr. Hvoslef in southern Minnesota. 
 Mr. Grant makes no mention of this, or any other of the 
 Thrushes in his list of birds observed in northern Minnesota. 
 
 Note. Few, if any other of the Thrushes, have elicited 
 more popular interest than this so far as my own observation 
 extends. One of my early friends, who was a close observer 
 of nature, used to tell me much about a bird whose SQng had 
 made.a deep impression on his memory in his boyhood while 
 residing in Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y., which he had not 
 heard sing in forty years. While visiting me at Minneapolis, 
 we were riding near Lake Calhoun, when upon hearing this 
 bird he exclaimed: "There is the Wilderness Bird again!" He 
 had never known it but by its song, but had heard it called by 
 that local name. As far back as 1865, Colonel J. B. Clough 
 (afterwards assistant engineer who located much of the North- 
 ern Pacific railroad) used to describe, or, try to describe, the 
 song of a bird familiar to him (by its song only) in Massachu- 
 setts, desiring me to find it here, as he had heard it himself in 
 this locality. Descriptions by their songs is a very uncertain 
 method of extending the knowledge of ornithology. Bat I 
 found several years later that this was the bird, to his own and 
 my delight. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third quill longest; fourth a little shorter; second nearly a 
 quarter of an inch longer than fifth. Above and on side of 
 head and neck, nearly uniform light reddish-brown, with a 
 faint tendency to orange on the crown and tail. Beneath white; 
 forepart of throat and breast (paler on chin) tinged pale brown- 
 ish yellow; sides of throat and forepart of breast marked with 
 small triangular spots of light brownish; a few obsolete blotches 
 
438 NOTES ON THE 
 
 on sides of breast pale olivaceous; sides of body tinged same; 
 tibiae white; lower mandibile brownish at tip; lores ashy. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 4.25; tail, 3.20; tarsus, 1.20. 
 
 Habitat, eastern United States to Plains. 
 
 TURDUS ALICI.J: (Baird). (757.) 
 GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH. 
 
 This comparatively new species, or newly individualized 
 species, is occasionally metwJthin migration, and may possibly 
 yet be proved to be a summer resident in some localities.* It 
 arrives about the 10th of May and apparently disappears by the 
 20th, at least that is the latest record I have of one obtained 
 almost within the city limits during May of the present year. 
 It may be much more common than my opportunities for know- 
 ing indicate, for it is an exceedingly shy bird, confining itself 
 while here to thickets, along the borders of groves, and forests 
 of hardwood. I have never been able to assure myself that I 
 have heard its song, notwithstanding its unmistakable charac- 
 ter as given by modern writers. The downwardness of the 
 scale of its song as described by those who are familiar with 
 the species in New England as contrasted with that of T. Pal- 
 lasi, has met my ear on several occasions without being confi- 
 dent of its source. Its observation at so many proximate 
 places in adjoining states seems to justify the expectation that 
 the species will yet be found to be fairly represented in portions 
 of Minnesota. I have had only a single individual in my hands 
 by my own gun yet. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third quill longest; fourth nearly equal; second slightly 
 longer than fifth. Above nearly pure dark olive-green; sides 
 of head, ashy-gray; chin, throat, under parts and ring around 
 eye, white, purest behind. Sides of throat and across the 
 breast with arrow-shaped spots of dark plumbeous-brown; sides 
 of body and axillaries, dull grayish-olivaceous; tibias, plumb- 
 eous; legs brown. 
 
 Length, 8; wing, 4.20; tail, 3.20; tarsus, 1.15. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America west to the Plains. 
 
 *Mr. T. S. Koberts, Mr. J. Angstrum, and a promising young naturalist by the nam» 
 ol H. McOoy, o( Merriam Park, hUTe each given me verbal reports of having collected 
 this species in this vicinity. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 439 
 
 TIIRDUS U8TULATUS SWAINSONII (Cabanis). (758a.) 
 OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH. 
 
 The uniform shade of the upper parts, somewhat emphasized 
 on the rump and tail, distinguishes this species amongst the 
 Thrushes. 
 
 Arriving here late in April, or in the early part of May, it is 
 abundant for a short time, but moves northward then, only a 
 few comparatively remaining to breed, and those principally 
 in the northern counties of the State. Its favorite places for 
 nesting here seem to be the edges of heavy timbered tracts, 
 which are bordered with brushland, or thickets of oaks. They 
 build their nests about the 20th to the 25th of May, on a hori- 
 zontal limb, which is usually five to seven feet from the ground. 
 It is very compactly built of such material as the locality af- 
 fords including strips of bark, leaves, lichens, moss, &c. The 
 eggs, usually four or five in number, are light greenish-blue, 
 speckled with several shades of reddish-brown. 
 
 The song of this species does honor to its melodious group, 
 having about as much variety as those of the other thrushes, 
 and more nearly resembles that of the Hermit. For many years 
 Swainson's Thrush was seldom seen except in migration, but 
 since the country has been more extensively settled, and fires 
 have ceased to destroy the brushlands and timber, it has been 
 increasing in the numbers of individuals that remain during 
 the summer. I have seldom found it feeding on the ground 
 after the manner of most of the same genus but on the trees 
 and brush, and unlike any of them, dashing out after insects 
 essentially like a warbler or a flycatcher. 
 
 One specimen of this species obtained in July was building a 
 new nest, which must be exceptional, for although rearing two 
 broods they appear usually to build but one. Perhaps it had 
 been molested. The autumnal migration takes place simulta- 
 neously with that of most of the other thrushes, except the 
 Robin. 
 
 As to their distribution throughout the State during migra- 
 tion, there seems to be great uniformity where the conditions 
 for its food are present. Lists for May are sent me annually 
 from nearly every characteristic section of the survey, and a 
 gQod number for the entire summer. They wander to consider- 
 able distance from the forests for food, but only in the thickety, 
 brushland localities. 
 
 29 z 
 
440 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Dr. Hvoslef , Mr. Washburn, and Mr. Liewis, each cor ■ 
 roborate my former estimate of its distribution as being less 
 frequently seen in the northern portions of the State, which is 
 further negatively endorsed by its notable absence from Mr. 
 Grant's northeastern list. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third quill longest; second and fourth but little shorter, and 
 much longer than the fifth, (0.35). Upper parts uniform 
 .olivaceous with a decided shade of green. Fore parts of 
 breast, throat and chin, pale brownish- yellow; rest of lower 
 parts white; sides washed with brownish olive. Sides of 
 throat and fore part of breast with subrounded spots of well 
 defined brown, darker than the back; rest of breast, except 
 medially, with rather less distinct spots that are more oliva-. 
 cious. Tibiae yellowish- brown; broad ring around the eye; 
 loral region, and a general tinge on the side of the head, clear 
 reddish-buff. 
 
 Length, 7.00; wing, 4.15; tail, 3.10; tarsus, 1.10. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America, westward to Columbia. 
 
 TUKDUS AONALASCHK.E PALLASII (Cabanis). (7596.) 
 HERMIT THRUSH. 
 
 The plumage of the Hermit Thrush in spring has long con- 
 founded it with Swainson's, or perhaps better, Swainson's with 
 the Hermit, but their feeding habits, as well as the song, 
 separate them widely as species. While the former is mostly 
 confined to the branches of the trees for its food, the latter 
 feeds almost exclusively on the ground. The notes of the 
 former are more prolonged, regular, and ascend more gradu- 
 ally, while the latter beginning low, rises rapidly into its 
 highest tinkling melodies, and terminates the strain abruptly. 
 A number of the Hermits may often be found within a short 
 distance of each other, but still not together when feeding. 
 Silently they search amongst the half-decayed leaves in the 
 thickets bordering swampy, partially overflowed tracts, not 
 infrequently venturing into the open fields where larvae and 
 insects abound, with little of the shyness of the Olive-backed 
 Thrush. 
 
 My earliest personal observation of the time of its arrival in 
 the vicinity of where I reside was April 5, 1875. This is a 
 little earlier than any which has been reported to me. Other 
 observers corroborate my own records in making the general 
 date from the 15th to the 20th of April. It seldom sings im- 
 mediately after its arrival, but in due time those which remain 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 441 
 
 to build nests overflow with the ebullition of fervid melodies. 
 I have often listened to the delicious notes which to my ear are 
 in no way inferior to those of the Wood Thrush. I am not 
 surprised that those who have heard him for the first time 
 should be ready to exalt him higher than the other in the scale 
 « of song, when I remember the associations amid which they 
 found him. The silence, the delicious solitude of his choristry 
 underneath the shadows of the grand, leaf-canopied forest, 
 awaken feelings, sentiments and inspirations eminently calcu- 
 lated to lend enchantment to his liquid, silvery, bell-toned notes 
 which as <they cease are instantly repeated by another, 
 responding from the uncertain shadows in the distances 
 beyond. His beautiful crescendo, begun so low and soft as to 
 seem far away, and swelling upward progressively and evenly 
 into its rounded sweetness and fullness, till he seems to be 
 near enough to touch, yet all the time unseen, may well secure 
 an appreciation of his powers to one for comparisons. This, 
 characteristic is a keynote to his identity while yet undis- 
 covered, as the song of the Wood Thrush is diametrically 
 opposite in being an equally perfect diminuendo. 
 
 This thrush cannot be said to be common in the middle and 
 southern portions of the State except in its migrations, yet 
 numbers enough remain through the summer to make it no 
 difficult matter to find a nest with due patience, when its habits 
 are well understood. 
 
 I have found them within the limits of the corporation of 
 Minneapolis and in the vicinity of Minnetonka in the "Big 
 Woods, " a large belt of deciduous forest stretching diagonally 
 from northeast to southwest through the State. I recall the 
 discovery of one in the dark forest about a mile west of the 
 Falls of Minnehaha. The Rev. J. A. Laurie, formerly residing 
 at Duluth, informed me many years since of its presence near 
 that city. He was a careful observer and has on many* oc- 
 casions contributed to me facts of interest in this department 
 of natural history. It does not build its nest till near the first 
 of June, which is uniformly directly on the ground, and under 
 low thick brushes bordering, but not in the dense woods. 
 
 It is generally quite near swampy localities. It is composed 
 of coarse grass, twiggs, moss and leaves externally, without 
 mud, and internally of soft, pliable grasses, fine roots, and a 
 few lichens quite artistically arranged. It is rather deeply 
 hollowed. 
 
442 NOTES ON THE 
 
 The eggs, from three to four in number, are a light-blue, 
 with a faint shade of green, one of which is occasionally 
 thinly spotted with rusty-brown. I do not know of their hav- 
 ing more than one brood in a season. They become quite 
 common again during September, by the general migration 
 southward, individuals not infrequently being seen as late as 
 the first of November in open autumns. 
 
 Note. When conversing with Prafessor S. F. Peckham, 
 formerly on the faculty of the Minnesota State University, and 
 of late connected with the Smithsonian Institution, he spoke of 
 the nest of this species having come under his notice once in 
 Rhode Island, in open ground, and subsequently gave me a 
 written statement as follows: "The nest was on the ground 
 without protection, in a piece of old chestnut woods without 
 underbrush. Eggs, four in number, about two-thirds the size 
 of the Robin's, somewhat thicker in shape, and of a darker 
 green color. " 
 
 I had the pleasure of learning from him that he had given 
 the birds of New England much study in the years gone by, 
 and was therefore speaking by the book. It was certainly a 
 very remarkable freak for the Hermit Thrush to build in such 
 a place. But most rules have their remarkable exceptions, 
 for they are of finite formulation while the Infinite fills all the 
 spans in the great viaduct of materialized truth. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Fourth quill longest; third and fourth a little shorter; second 
 about equal to sixth; about thirty hundredths of an inch shorter 
 than the longest. Tail slightly emarginate. Above light 
 olive brown, with a scarcely perceptible shade of reddish, 
 passing however into decided rufous on the rump, upper tail 
 coverts, and tail to a less degree on the outer surface of the 
 wings. Beneath white, with a scarcely appreciable shade of 
 pale buff across the forepart of the breast, and sometimes on 
 the throat; sides of throat and forepart of breast with rather 
 sharply defined subtriangular spots of dark olive brown; sides 
 of breast with paler and less distinct spots of the same. Sides 
 of tody under the wings of a paler shade than the back; a 
 whitish ring around the eye; ear coverts very obscurely 
 streaked with paler. 
 
 Length, 7.50; wing, 3.85; tail, 3.25; tarsus, 1.15. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America. 
 
 MERULA MIGRATORIA (K). (761.) 
 
 AMERICAN ROBIN. 
 
 Who that has watched the departure of the Robin from au- 
 tumn to autumn through successive years, and felt the relent- 
 less touch of artic frosts follow them so soon with their drift- 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA 44c 
 
 ing snows and piercing winds, will understand the joy 
 which comes back with their return to this beautiful north-land 
 in the spring. 
 
 , Not only do they come to meet a thousand times a thousand 
 welcomes for their own sake, but to proclaim that the winter 
 is gone. 
 
 Liingering drifts of dingy snow may still cower und,er the 
 covert of outbuildings and fences, and the winds may still be 
 chilly at times, but the grass has formed green patches on the 
 lawns, while the bloodroots and liverworts have begun to peer 
 through the moist carpet of decaying leaves in the budding 
 woodlands. The males arrive several days in advance of the 
 females, and always in the morning. 
 
 If sunny and warm for the season, their familiar notes from 
 the loftiest tree that borders the forest, or the tallest spire of 
 the city will'proclaim their presence in a flood of continuous 
 song that will challenge the ear of the dullest. On the other 
 hand, should it be windy, cloudy and chilly, the closest 
 observation will be required to make the longing hope assured, 
 by finding small parties flitting from bush to bush along the 
 borders of brushy woods, or streams fringed with alders and 
 willows in characteristic silence. This transpires between the 
 25th of March and the 5th of April.* After about a week, the 
 songless females have come, as quietly as the first flakes of 
 the autumn's snow, when the small parties of males — the 
 bachelor's clubs of the species disappear. Bach has soon 
 wooed and won a female companion with whom to share the 
 joys and cares of the summer, and hence they will only be 
 seen in pairs until the autumn. I am confident that with few 
 exceptions, the same individuals are reunited in each pair 
 amongst the older birds; and that the sanguineous conflicts, 
 and the gentler ones for the mastery of song, are among the 
 young males of the previous year. True, there doubtless may 
 be some widowers there, some perhaps who have been thrice 
 married, and if so, the first display of chivalric strife will be 
 sure to prove their prowess. 
 
 The reinstalment of the Robins in our midst has more to do 
 with human happiness than many a philosopher has yet found 
 out. 
 
 *0n March Uth, 1878, 1 saw three Robins (presamaWy teniales) and on February 7th, 
 1880 1 saw one in the suburbs of the city. Dr. Hvoslef 's report gives dates as follows: 
 "February IBth, 1881 saw a flock, March 23, 1883, and at the same date, 1881." 
 
444 NOTES ON THE 
 
 Their nests have in a few instances been found as early as 
 the 15th of April,* but usually in the different parts of this 
 State from the 25th of April to the 10th of May. The range 
 of conditions under which they build their nests is difficult to 
 define, so characteristic is their proclivity to get the nearest 
 safe proximity to man and his works. Sometimes it is very 
 near the ground in an oleander recently taken from its winter 
 quarters in a greenhouse, or a lilac bush near the door steps, on 
 a low, horizontal oak limb near a window through which the 
 bird could see plainly the transpirations within. In a few 
 instances it is found in the very highest part of a tree. Ever- 
 green shrubbery is a favorite place. Several instances have 
 come under my notice in which the nest has been in such a 
 preposterous place as under a railroad bridge, in a saw mill, 
 and even in a steam boiler shop. 
 
 They lay four to five dark bluish-green eggs without spots. 
 In general the nest consists outside of shavings, roots, strings, 
 bits of rags, etc., when near dwellings, then a stratum of 
 leaves, grass and moss cemented with mud and lagtly lined 
 with soft, well arranged dry grass. The song is not greatly 
 varied but is loud, clear, liquid and remarkably sweet at a little 
 distance. Although more commonly heard in spring it is not 
 discontinued but confined to the earlier morning until nearly 
 time to migrate southward in autumn. This occurs from about 
 the 15th of October to the 5th of November. Occasionally a 
 number of males are seen still later. The young of the ye£fcr 
 almost uniformly go first, followed shortly by the females and 
 lastly by the males. I am satisfied from reported observations 
 that in these niovements those in the rear occasionally over- 
 take and mingle with the females, and possibly the young.** 
 
 Their food embraces toa great a range for very definite 
 statement; worms and insects in the early season, and fruits 
 
 *One nest was found at Lanesboro on the 5th of M ay, 1884. 
 
 **A reliable gentleman of obserrlng habit, assures me that the Robin occasionally 
 remains in the woods along the Turkey river all winter. The latest date of my own 
 notes gives November 20th. Mr. Washburn found them at Dead lake in Otter Tail 
 county, November 9th, 1885, " as if to stay." 
 
 The question of the longevity of the Robins has often been raised and is difiScult to 
 answer for the obvious reason that in their wild state consecutive observation is 
 impossible. But I have gathered some facts respecting them in captivity which lead 
 me to believe that under favorable circumstances, in their wild condition they should 
 reach at least an age of twenty years, and possibly twenty-five. The oldest one 
 which has come to my knowledge, was somewhat less than that but the most reliable 
 record I have is one given me by Mr. Geo. B. Sennett, whose name has become fami- 
 liar to all the friends of bird lore by his famous Collection of Texas Birds, in the 
 National Museum at Washington. It was obtained seven miles from Erie. Pa., and 
 was sixteen years and nine months old when It died. 
 
i BIRDS OP MINNESOTA 445 
 
 and berries later. Indeed there is little which they can swal- 
 low that does not, under special circumstances, become food 
 for them. Of berries they ofttimes eat to downright 
 gluttony. Indeed when they are abundant the male Robins 
 will remain often in small numbers until driven away by the 
 keener frosts of the middle of November. A few have, in a few 
 instances, braved . the entire winter subsisting chiefly upon 
 juniper berries which abound along the borders of lakes in the 
 vicinity of springy swamps. I do not remember of an in- 
 stance in which the Robin has approached the habitations of 
 man at this rigorous season in this latitude and longitude. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Third and fourth quills about equal; fifth a little shorter, 
 second longer than sixth; tail slightly rounded; above olive- 
 gray; top and sides of the head black; chin and throat white, 
 streaked with black; eyelids and a spot above the eye anter- 
 iorly, white; under parts and insides of wings, chestnut-brown; 
 under tail coverts and anal region with tibise white, showing 
 the plumbeous inner portions of the feathers; wings dark- 
 brown, the feathers all edged more or less with pale-ash; tail 
 still darker, the extreme feathers tipped with white; bill 
 yellow, dusky along the ridge and at the tip. 
 
 Length, 9.75; wing, 5.45; tail, 4.75; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 (I have seen the largest numbers of individuals of this 
 species in flocks on the eastern foothill of the Santa Cruz 
 division of the Coast Range of Mountains in Santa Clara 
 county, California, which I have ever seen anyw;here in my 
 life time. ) 
 
 MERULA MIGBATCBli lEOPUVQlA Rjegway. 761a.) 
 WESTERN ROBIN. 
 
 This species is introduced because a single indi-yidual has 
 been reliably identified in the northwestern part of the State, 
 and others credibly reported as found on the Missouri river. 
 Several visits to the Pacific coast, in one of which I spent about 
 two years within the bounds of California, gave me a rare op- 
 portunity to observe the birds at different seasons and in a great 
 V ariety of localities. I first met this species in the month of 
 Fe bruary, 1870, along the thinly timbered banks of the Co- 
 su mnes river about twenty miles southeast of Sacramento. Its 
 pe culiar call-notes arrested my ear at some little distance from 
 me, which, as it was frequently repeated, enabled me to find 
 
446 NOTES ON THE 
 
 live oak, and apparently alone. Listening I soon heard the semi- 
 distant answer, and desiring to secure both male and female, 
 I deferred securing it till it flew, which although disappointing 
 me for the time, gave me my first opportunity to see its flight. 
 I patiently but cautiously followed them until rewarded by 
 securing them. They were shy and nervous but not remark- 
 ably so. I was a little too anxious to get ^o rare a species to 
 make all the observations I otherwise would have made, but 
 other occasions gave me ample opportunity to do so. Athough 
 shy at this season their manner did not impress me with the 
 idea that in summer at breeding time they would be so, and hence 
 I was not dissappointed at Dr. Cooper's subsequent report of 
 their coming about dwellings in cold weather as well as Dr. 
 Suckly's statement that in Washington Teritory after a fall of 
 snow they become approachable enough ' 'for any ordinary shot 
 to obtain a dozen specimens in a forenoon. " I think that while 
 by no means a dull bird they are less pronounced in vigor and 
 style of action than our Eastern Robin. They leave California in 
 the latter part of March and migrate northward to breed. I can- 
 not doubt that some of them seek by elevation in the proximate 
 mountains what the principal part do by latitude, notwith- 
 standing that Dr. Cooper failed to find any in the Sierra Nevada 
 summits in September in a latitude but little north of San 
 Francisco. They return to the valleys of California in October 
 and November, frequently in company with the Eastern Robin, 
 when they are most easily obtained. Their flight does not 
 differ materially from the kindred species, only a little less of 
 the "here I am" boldness of the other. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Fourth quill longest; third and fifth a little shorter; second 
 much longer than sixth; tail nearly even, the lateral feather 
 shorter; above, rather dark bluish-slate; axillaries plumbeous, 
 with white at base, and under wing coverts plumbeous, broaidly 
 tipped with white parts generally , a patch on the upper eyelids 
 continuous with a stripe behind it along the side of the head 
 and neck, the lower eyelids, two bands across the wing coverts 
 and the edges of the quills in part, rufous orange-brown; middle 
 of belly white; sides of the head and neck continuous with a 
 broad pectoral'transverse band, black; most of the tail feathers 
 with a terminal patch of brownish- white; bill black; feet yellow, 
 
 Female more olivaceous above; the white of the abdomen 
 more extended; the brown beneath paler; the pectoral band 
 obsolete. 
 
 Length, about 10 inches; wing, 5; tail, nearly 4; tarsus, 1.25. 
 
 Habitat, Pacific coast of North America. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 447 
 
 SIALIA SIALTS (L.). (766.) 
 BLUEBIRD. 
 
 There is an unmingled pleasure in giving this beautiful and 
 highly civilized bird a welcome to Minnesota after the long 
 and comparatively birdless winter, coming, too, so often 
 almost exactly at the same time as the Robin, and like him, 
 though with less ostentation, at once proclaiming its arrival 
 by its familiar song. It is ordinarily to be looked for about 
 the 25th of March. In 1868 it came to Minneapolis on March 
 20th; 1869. March 29th; 1870, April 1st; 1875, March 29th; 1876, 
 April 7th. In 1878 several were credibly reported from the 
 immediate vicinity on January 26th, after a prolonged interval 
 of high temperature. On the tenth of March following I 
 found them here to stay. In 1880 I found them near the city 
 on the 4th of February, but none more until March 23d. The 
 variety pf these dates seems to indicate that his winter quar- 
 ters are probably not as far removed from this latitude as are 
 those of the Robins. (I do not believe with Wilson that he 
 comes from very far. ) The males precede the females a little, 
 and mating does not usually take place until about the fourth 
 week in April. 
 
 Bartram is quoted by Wilson as saying: "When he first 
 begins his amours it is pleasing to behold his courtship, his 
 solicitude to please and to secure the favor of his beloved 
 female. 
 
 He uses the tenderest expressions, sits close beside her, 
 caresses and sings to her in most endearing warblings. When 
 seated together if he spies an insect delicious to her taste, 
 he takes it up, flies with it to her, spreads his wing over her, 
 and puts it in her mouth." The last named author continues 
 "if a rival makes his appearance— for they are ardent in their 
 love — he, quits her in a moment, attacks and pursues the in- 
 truder as he shifts from place to place, in tones that bespeak 
 the jealousy of his affections, conducts him with many reproofs 
 beyond the extremities of his territory, and returns to warble, 
 out his transports of triumph beside his beloved mate. The 
 preliminaries being thus settled, and the spot flxed on, they 
 begin' to clean out the old nest and the rubbish of the former 
 year to prepare for the reception of their future otf spring. " 
 The nest is likely to be in a hole in the top of a rotten-hearted 
 stump, a like opening in the end of a fence rail, a knot-hole in a 
 fence post, or in a Martin's box. The materials for its con- 
 
448 NOTES ON THE 
 
 struction generally consist of soft grasses, feathers and wool, 
 carelessly disposed, but adapted to warmth in the early season 
 of the year in which the first brood is brought forth. 
 
 Five eggs are the common number laid, sometimes six and 
 sometimes only four, colored light blue with a faint tinge of 
 greenish. Two and three broods are usually reared in the 
 season. Their food consists of large beetles, spiders and other 
 common insects during summer, and berries, fruits and seeds 
 later in the year. I need not attempt to describe its pleasing 
 song or special habits which are so very well known, for it is a 
 recognized favorite everywhere it goes. The Bluebird begins 
 to be less frequently seen about the middle of October but is 
 not usually without some representative during the remainder 
 of the month and exceptionally into November. 
 
 Its distribution is universal wherever there is timber, except 
 perhaps the denser portions of the sunless forests. It is never 
 as abundant as the Eobin, but only less so in most localities. 
 
 Mr. Washburn thought it rather sparingly represented in 
 autumn in the valley of the Red river. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Entire upper parts including wings and tail continuous and 
 uniform azure blue; the cheeks of a duller tint of the same; 
 beneath reddish-brown; the abdomen, anal region and under 
 tail coverts, white; bill and feet, black; shafts of the quills and 
 tail feathers black. Female with the blue lighter an3. tinged^ 
 with brown on the head and back. 
 
 Length, 6.75; wing, 4.00; tail, 2.91. 
 
 Habitat, eastern North America north to latitude 48°; west 
 to western Kansas and lower Missouri regions. 
 
 SI ALIA MEXICAN A SWAINSON. (767.) 
 WESTERN BLUEBIRD. 
 
 ' I was not aware that this bird had been identified amongst 
 the rare visitors of Iowa, until after placing it in my list of the 
 birds of Minnesota, in October, 1880, as a straggler undoubt- 
 edly. I am very familiar with the bird on the Pacific coast 
 where I met it constantly from latitude forty- five, southward to 
 San Diego. I could see no marked difference in its habits from 
 the eastern bluebird. It chose the same kind of places for its 
 nest and the same kinds of food for nourishment. I never saw 
 any such marked proclivity to build in the immediate vicinities 
 of dwellings and outhouses, but attributed this to its inferior 
 powers of song failing to enlist the interest of families to invite 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 449 
 
 them by special provisions for their nesting in boxes, as is 
 done so much for the eastern bird. Several instances occurred 
 where notwithstanding its neglect it placed its nest as near to 
 dwellings as does the other. Those found in this State were 
 near the southwestern and western borders, and remote from 
 improvments. Like its double cousin it clings to wooded 
 sections. Dr. Cooper says in his Land Birds of California "at 
 Santa Cruz this bird is even more confiding than the eastern 
 species which rarely frequents such large towns. In the spring 
 from February 20th to April many pairs could be seen daily 
 seeking places for their nest, even in the noisiest streets, 
 inspecting closely every new building that was being erected, 
 as if they supposed it to be for their special benefit. Some 
 few pairs found nesting-places under porches, in knot-holes, 
 etc, though the inhabitants provided them with no special 
 homes." This eminent observer is excellent authority. I 
 think however when he says that our eastern bluebird rarely 
 frequents such large towns as Santa Cruz, his long residence 
 in that sunny land of flowers and birds may have made him 
 forgetful, for so far from this it is very common in towns in 
 Minnesota much larger than the one he mentions. 
 
 SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
 
 Rich azure-blue including the head and neck ■ all around; a 
 patch of purplish-chestnut on the middle of the back; breast 
 and sides rich chestnut; belly and vent dull-blue or bluish- 
 gray; bill and feet black; measurements same as the eastern 
 species. ' 
 
4£0 NOTES ON THE 
 
 A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL POPULAR SYNONYMS OF 
 THE BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY HENRY F. NACHTRIEB. 
 
 This list is intended primarily for the convenience of those 
 who have learned to know our birds by popular names that 
 once had current value but that have been discarded by the 
 American Ornithologists, Union, and that are more or less 
 rapidly becoming obsolete. 
 
 The popular name adopted by the American Ornithologists' 
 Union immediately follows the number after the scientific 
 name, and is printed in bolder type than the synonyms, which 
 are enclosed within parentheses. 
 
 The number between the scientific name and the popular 
 name refers to the page of the "Notes." 
 
 All those interested in our birds ought to (for excellent rea- 
 sons that cannot be given here) adopt the popular names of 
 the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list as given here 
 and in the "Notes." 
 
 1. Acanthls linaria, 299. - - Redpoll. 
 
 (Common Eedpoll. Redpoll Linnet.) 
 
 2. Accipiter atricapillus, 183. - American Goshawk. 
 
 (Blue Hen Hawk (when mature). Chicken Hawk (when 
 young). Goshawk). 
 
 3. Accipiter cooperi, 181. Coopers' Hawk. 
 
 (Chicken Hawk.) 
 
 4. Accipiter velox, 180. Sharp-sUnned Hawk. 
 
 ("Pigeon Hawk.") 
 
 5. Actitis macularia, 144. Spotted Sandpiper. 
 
 (Tip-up. Teeter-tail.) 
 
 6. JEchmophorus occldentalis, 4. Western G-rebe. 
 
 7. .^gialitls semlpalmata, 152. Semlpalmated Plover. 
 
 (Eing Plover. Eing-neck. Eing-neck Plover.) 
 
 8. .ajgialitis vocifera, 151. - - - Kllldeer. 
 
 (KUldeer Plover.) 
 
 9. Agelaius phoenlceus, 277. Ked-winged Blackbird. 
 
 (Blackbird. Marsh Blackbird. Eed-and-buffl-shouldered 
 Marsh Blackbird. Swamp Blackbird.) 
 lO. Alx sponsa, 51. - - - Wood Duck. 
 
 (Summer Duck. "The Bride.") 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 451 
 
 11. Alaudldse, 258-260, - - - . Larks. 
 
 12. Alcedlnidae, 223-224. - - Kingfisber. 
 
 13. Ammodramus Ibairdii, 313. Baird's Sparrow. 
 
 (Balrd's Savanna Sparrow.) 
 
 14. Ammodramus caudacutus, 318. Sharp-Tailed Sparrow. 
 
 (Sharp-tailed Finch.) 
 
 15. Ammodramus leconteii, 315. - Leconte's Sparrow. 
 
 (Leconte's Grasshopper Sparrow. Leconte's Bunting.) 
 
 16. Ammodramus sandwlchensis savanna, 311. 
 
 (Common Savanna Sparrow.) Savanna Sparrow. 
 
 17. Ammodramus savannarum passerinus, 313, 
 
 G-rasshopper Sparrow. 
 (Yellow-winged Sparrow. Quail Sparrow.) 
 
 18. Ampelidse, 366-360. - Chatterers. 
 
 19. Ampelis cedrorum, 358. - Cedar Waxwing. 
 
 (Carolina Waxwing. Cedar-bird. Cherry-bird.) 
 
 20. Ampells garrulus, 356, Bohemian Waxwing. 
 
 (Northern Waxwing.) 
 
 21. Anas amerlcana, 43. Baldpate. 
 
 (American Widgeon.) 
 
 22. Anas boschas, 38. - Mallard. 
 
 (Mallard- Dvrck. - Tame Duck. . Wild or Domestic Duclc. 
 Green-head.) 
 
 23. Anas earollnensis, 44. Green-winged Teal. 
 
 (American Green-winged Teal.) 
 
 24. Anas cyanoptera, 47. Cinnamon Teal. 
 26. Anas discors, 45. Blue-winged Teal. 
 
 26. Anas obscura, 40. Black Duck. 
 
 (Duslcy Duck.) 
 
 27. Anas strepera, 41. Gadwall. 
 
 (Gray Duck.) 
 
 28. Anatidae, 34-84. Ducks, Geese, and Swans. 
 
 29. Anser albifrons gambell, 75. 
 
 American White-fronted Goose. 
 (White-fronted Goose. Speckle-bill. Speckle-belly.) 
 
 30. Anseres, 34-84. - Ducks, Geese, and Sw^ans. 
 
 31. Anthuspensilvanlcus. 405. American Pipit. 
 
 (Louisana Pipit. American Titlark. Brown Lark. Wagtail. 
 Pipit.) 
 
 32. Anthus spragueli, 406. Sprague's Pipit. 
 
 (Missouri Titlark. Missouri Skylark.) 
 
 33. Antrostomus vociferus, 237. Whip-poor-will. 
 
 (Night-jar.) 
 34."'Aphrlzidse, 153-154. Surf-birds. 
 
 .35. Aquila chrysaetos, 195. Golden Eagle. 
 
 (Ring-tailed Eagle.) 
 
,452 
 
 NOTES ON THE 
 
 36. 
 
 37. 
 
 38. 
 
 39. 
 
 40. 
 41. 
 42. 
 43. 
 
 44. 
 
 45. 
 
 46. 
 
 47. 
 
 48. 
 
 49. 
 
 50. 
 51. 
 
 52. 
 
 53. 
 
 54. 
 55. 
 56. 
 
 67. 
 
 68. 
 
 69. 
 60 
 
 Archibuteo ferrugineus, 194. Ferruginous Rough-legr. 
 
 {Ferruginous Rough-legged Buzzard. California Squirrel 
 Hawk.) 
 Archltouteo lagopus sancti-johannis, 192. 
 
 Amerlcau Rough-leg'ged Ha-wk. 
 (American Rough-legged Buzzard. "Black Hawk.") 
 Ardea candidissima, 92. Snowy Heron. 
 
 cSnowy Egret. White "Crane." Little White Egret.) 
 
 American Egret. 
 
 White Heron.) 
 
 Grreat Blue Heron. 
 
 Green Heron. 
 
 Herons. 
 
 Turnstone. 
 
 Short-eared Owl. 
 
 American Liong'-eared Owl. 
 
 Lesser Scaup Duck. 
 
 Redhead. 
 
 Ring-necked Duck. 
 
 Ardea egretta, 91. 
 
 (Great White Egret. 
 Ardea herodias, 89. 
 Ardea vlrescens, 93. 
 Ardeidae, 85-97. 
 Arenaria interpres, 153. 
 
 (Brant Bird. Calico Back.) 
 Asio accipitrinus, 208, 
 
 (Marsh Owl.) 
 Asio wilsonianus, 207. 
 
 (Long-eared Owl.) 
 Aythya aliinis, 60. 
 
 (Little Black-head.) 
 Aythya americana, 56. 
 
 (Pochard. American Pochard.) 
 Aythya coUaris, 62. 
 
 (Ring-neck Duck.) 
 Aythya marila nearctica, 58. American Scaup Duck. 
 
 (Big Scaup Duck. Blue Bill. Raft Duck. Flobking Fowl. 
 Greater Scaup Duck. Big Black-head. Shuffler.) 
 Aythya vallisneria, 57. Canvas-back. 
 
 Bartramia longicauda, 141. Bartramian Sandpiper. 
 
 (Bartram's Tattler. Upland Plover. Field Plover. Grass 
 Plover. Prairie Pigeon. Upland Sandpiper.) 
 Branta bernicla, 81. - - Brant. 
 
 (Brant Goose. Barnacle Goose.) 
 Bi-anta canadensis, 77. ... Canada G-oose. 
 
 (Wild Goose. Common Wild Goose.) 
 Branta canadensis hutchinsii, 80. Hutchins's Goose. 
 Branta nigricans, 82. 
 Bonasa umbellus. 160. 
 
 ("Partridge," inl^^ew England, 
 and Southern States.) 
 Botaurus exilis, 87. - Least Bittern. 
 
 Botaurus lentiginosus, 86. - American Bittern. 
 
 (Bittern. Indian Hen. Stake Driver. Bog-bull.) 
 Bubonldae, 207-219. - - Owls. 
 
 Bubo virginianus, 215. - Great Horned Owl. 
 
 (Hoot Owl. Cat Owl.) 
 
 Black Brant. 
 Buffed Grouse. 
 
 Pheasant," in the Middle 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 453 
 
 61. Buteo borealis, 185. Bed-tailed Hawk. 
 
 (Red-tailed Buzzard. "Hen Hawk.") 
 
 62. Buteo borealis calurus, 187. Western Red-tail. 
 
 (Black Red-tail.) 
 
 63. Buteo borealis lurlderii, 186. Krider's Hawk. 
 
 (Krider's Red-tail.) 
 
 64. Buteo latissimus, 190. - Broad-winged Hawk 
 
 (Broad-winged Buzzard.) 
 
 65. Buteo lineatus, 188. Bed-sbouldered Hawk. 
 
 (Red-shouldered Buzzard. Winter Hawk. "Chicken Hawk.") 
 
 66. Buteo swainsoni, 189. - . Swainson's Hawk. 
 
 (Common American Buzzard. Swainson's Buzzard.) 
 
 67. Calamospiza melanocorys, 346. - liark Bunting. 
 
 (White-winged Black-bird.) 
 
 68. Calcarius lappouicus, 306. Lapland Lioogspur. 
 
 69. Calcarius ornatus, 308. Ohestnut^collared Longspur. 
 
 (Black-shouldered Longspur. White-tailed Longspur.) 
 
 70. Calcarius pictus, 307. Smith's Longspur. 
 
 ( Pai nted Longspur. ) ' 
 
 71. Calidris arenaria, 129. - Sanderling. 
 
 ^Ruddy "Plover.") 
 7^. Caprimulgidse, 237-240. Goatsuckers. 
 
 73. Cardinalis cardinalis, 339. - Cardinal. 
 
 (Cardinal Grosbeak. Cardinal Red-bird. Virginia Night- 
 ingale. Red-bird.) 
 
 74. Carpodacus purpureus, 294. Purple Finch. 
 
 75. Cathartes aura, 174. Turkey "Vulture. 
 
 (Turkey Buzzard.) 
 
 76. Cathartidae, 174-175. - Anterican Vultures. 
 
 77. Chaetura pelagica, 240. Chimney Swift. 
 
 (Chimney Swallow.) 
 
 78. Charadriidae, 148-153. - - - - Plovers. 
 
 79. Charadrius dominicus, 149, American Golden Plover. 
 
 (Field Plover. Bull-head Plover. Bull-head. Golden Plover. 
 Frost-bird.) 
 
 80. Charadrius squatarola, 148. Black-bellied Plover. 
 
 (Swiss Plover. Bull-head Plover. Whistling Field Plover. 
 Ox-eye.) 
 
 81. Charitonetta albeola, 66. - Buffle-head. 
 
 (Dipper. Butter-ball. Spirit Duck.) 
 
 82. Clangula hyemalls, 67. - - Old-squaw. 
 
 (South-southerly. Long-tailed Duck. Old-wife.) 
 
 83. Ceophloeus pileatus, 232. Pileated Wood-pecker, 
 
 (Logcock.) 
 
 84. Certhia familiaris americana, 423. Brown Creeper. 
 
 85. Certhiidse, 423-424. Creepers. 
 
454 NOTES ON THE 
 
 86. Ceryle alcyon, 223. - Belted Kingfisher. 
 
 87. Chelidon erytbrogaster, 352. - Barn Swallow. 
 
 88. Chen hyperborea 73. - Lesser Snow Goose. 
 
 (Snow Groose.) 
 
 89. Chen hyperborea nivalis, 75. Greater Snow Goose. 
 
 (Snow Goose. White Brant.) 
 
 90. Circus hudsonius, 178. - Marsh Hawk. 
 
 (American Marsh Hawk. American Marsh Harrier. Marsh 
 Harrier. Blue Hawk.) 
 
 91. Cistothorus palnstris, 421. Liong-blUed Marsh Wren, 
 
 92. Cistothorus stellaris, 420. Short-billed Marsh Wren. 
 
 93. Clivicola riparia, 355. - Bank Swallow. 
 
 (Sand Martin.) 
 
 94. Coccothraustes vespertina, 291. Evening Grosbeak- 
 
 95. Coccyges, 220-224, - - Cuckoo-like Birds. 
 
 96. Coccyzus americanus, 220. Yellow-billed Cu6koo. 
 
 ("Rain Crow.") 
 
 97. Coccyzus erytbrophthalmus, 221. Black-billed Cuckoo. 
 
 98. Colaptes auratus, 235. ... Flicker. 
 
 (Golden-winged Woodpecker. Pigeon Woodpecker. Tucker. 
 High-holder. Yellow-hammer.) 
 
 99. Colinus virginianus, 155. - - - Bob-white. 
 
 (Virginia Partridge. Virginia " Quail." "Quail.") 
 
 100. Columbae, 171-173, - Columbine Birds. Doves. 
 
 101. Columbidse 171-173, Pigeons. 
 162. Colymbus auritus, 6. Horned Grebe. 
 
 103. Colymbus holboellii, 5, - Ked-necked Grebe. 
 
 (American Eed-necked Grebe.) 
 
 104. Colymbus nigricollis californicus, 8. 
 
 American Eared Grebe. 
 
 105. Compsothlypis americana, 376. Parula Warbler. 
 
 (Blue Yellow-backed Warbler.) 
 
 106. Contopus borealis, 248. Olive-sided Flycatcher 
 
 107. Contopus virens, 250. Wood Pewee. 
 
 108. Corvidse, 260-271. Crows and Jays. 
 
 109. Corvus americanus, 267. - ■ American Crow. 
 
 (Common American Crow. Crow.) 
 
 110. Corvus corax sinuatus, 266. - American Raven. 
 
 (Raven.) 
 
 111. Corvus ossifragus, 270. - Fish Crow. 
 
 (South-eastern Fish Crow.) 
 
 112. Chondestes grammacus, 318. Lark Sparrow. 
 
 (Lark Pinch.) 
 
 113. Chordeiles virginianus, 238, Nighthawk. 
 
 (Bull-bat!) 
 
 114. Cuculidse, 220-222. . Cuckoos. 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 455 
 
 115. Cyanocltta cristata, 263. - Blue Jay. 
 
 116. Crymophilus fulicarlus, 112. - - Red Phalarope. 
 
 (Coot-footed Tringa. Gray Phalarope.) 
 
 117. Daflla acuta, 49. ... - Pintail. 
 
 (Spring-tail. Pin-tail Duclc.) 
 
 118. Dandra^apus canadensis, 158. Canada Grouse. 
 
 (Spotted Grouse. Spruce Grouse. Spruce "Partridge.") 
 
 119. Dendroica aestiva, 3V8. - - Yellow Warbler. 
 
 (Summer Warbler. Summer Yellow-bird. Blue-eyed 
 
 Yellow Warbler. Golden Warbler.) 
 
 \ 
 
 120. Dendroica blackburniae, 389. Blackburnian Warbler . 
 
 (Blackburn's Warbler. Prometheus. Orange-throated 
 Warbler.) 
 
 121. Dendroica eaerulea, 384. - - Cerulean Warbler. 
 
 (Azure Warbler.) 
 
 122. Dendroica cserulescens, 379. 
 
 Black-throated Blue Warbler. 
 
 123. Dendroica castanea, 387. 
 
 (Autumn Warbler.) 
 
 124. Dendroi' a coronata, 381. 
 
 (Yellow-rumped Warbler. 
 Myrtle-bird.) 
 
 125. Dendroica maculosa, 382. 
 
 (Black-and-yellow Warbler. 
 
 126. Dendroica palmarum, 393. 
 
 (Yellow Red-poll Warbler. 
 
 Bay-breasted Warbler. 
 
 Myrtle Warbler. 
 
 Yellow-crowned Warbler. 
 
 Magnolia Warbler. 
 
 Magnolia.) 
 
 Palm Warbler. 
 
 Red-poll Warbler.) 
 
 Chestnut-sided Warbler. 
 
 Black-poU Warbler. 
 
 Cape May Warbler 
 
 Pine Warbler. 
 
 127. Dendroica pensylvanlca, 386. 
 
 128. Dendroica striata, 388. 
 
 129. Dendroica tigrlna, 377. 
 
 130. Dendroica vigorsii, 393. 
 
 (Pine-creeping Warbler.) 
 
 131. Dendroica virens, 391. Black-throated Green Warbler. 
 133. Dol'ichonyx oryzlvorus, 271. - - Bobolink. 
 
 (Meadow-wink. Skunk Blackbird (of Northern States). 
 
 Reed-bird (of Middle States). Rice-bird (of Southern 
 
 States).) 
 
 133. Dryobates pubescens, 227. 
 
 (Little sapsucker.) 
 
 134. Dryobates vlllosus, 226. 
 
 (Big Sapsucker.) 
 
 135. Ectopistes migratorius, 171. 
 
 (Wild Pigeon.) 
 
 136. Elanoides forflcatus, 176. 
 
 137. Enipidonax acadicuiii, 2o3. 
 
 (Small Green-crested Flycatcher.) 
 
 138. Empidonax flaviventris, 252. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. 
 
 30 z 
 
 Downy Woodpecker. 
 
 Hairy Woodpecker. 
 
 Passenger Pigeon. 
 
 Swallow-tailed Kite. 
 Acadian Flycatcher. 
 
456 NOTES ON THE 
 
 139. Kmpldonax luinimus, 256. - Least Flycatcher. 
 
 140. Empidonax pusillus traillli, 265. Traill's Flycatcher. 
 
 141. Ereunetes pusillus, 128. tiiemipalinated Sandpiper. 
 
 (Peep. Sand-peep.) 
 
 142. Erismatura rubida, 71. - - Kuddy Duck. 
 
 143. Falco colnmbarius, 200. - - Pigeoa Hawk. 
 
 (American Merlin.) 
 
 144. Falco peregrinus anatum, 199. - . Duck Hawk. 
 
 (Peregrine Falcon. Great-footed Hawk.) 
 146. Falco richardsoiili, 2f>i. - - Richardson's Merlin. 
 (Richardson's Pigeon Hawk. American Merlin.) 
 
 146. Falco rusticolus gyrfalco, 198. - - Gyrfalcon. 
 
 (American Continental Gyrfalcon. Gray Gyrfalcon.) 
 
 147. Falco sparverius, 202. - American Sparrow Hawk. 
 
 (Rusty-crowned Falcon. Sparrow Hawk.) 
 
 148. Falconidje, 176-205. Falcons, Hawks, and Eagles, 
 
 149. Frlngillidae, 291-347, - - - . Finches. 
 160. Fulica americana, 109. - - American Coot. 
 
 (V7hite-billed Mud-hen. Crow Duck.) 
 151. Galeoscoptes carolinensls, 408. - - Catbird. 
 
 162. Galliuse, 155-170. Galliuaceous Birds. Fowls. 
 
 163. Gallinago delicata, 1 20. - - Wilson's Snipe. 
 
 (American Snipe. Jack Snipe. "English" Snipe.) 
 
 154. Gallinula galeata, 108. - - Florida Gallinule. 
 
 (Common Gallinuie. Red-bellied Mud-hen.) ' 
 
 155. Glaucionetta clangula americana, 64. 
 
 (Garrot. Golden-eye. Whistler.) American Golden-eye.' 
 
 166. Glaucionetta islandica, 66. - Barrow's Golden-eye. 
 
 (Rocky Mountain Garrot.) 
 
 167. Geothlypisagilis, 397. - Connecticut Warbler. 
 
 168. Geothlypis Philadelphia, 398. Mourning Warbler. 
 
 159. Geothlypis trifhas, 399. Maryland Yellow-throat. 
 
 (Yellow-throated Ground Warbler.) 
 
 160. Gruidse, 98-102. Cranes. 
 
 161. Grus americana, 98. Whooping Crane. 
 
 (White Crane.) 
 
 162. Grus mexicana, 99. - - Sandhill Crane. 
 
 (Southern Sandhill Crane. Common Brown Crane. 
 Common Sandhill Crane.) 
 
 163. Habia ludoviciana, 340 - Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 
 
 (Rose-breasted Song Grosbeak.) 
 
 164. Haliaeetns leucocephaliis, 196. - - Bald Eagle. 
 
 (White-headed Sea Eagle. "Bird of Washington" (when 
 young.) 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 457 
 
 165. Harporhynclius rufus. 413. Brown Thrasher. 
 
 (Thrasher. Brown Thrush.) 
 
 166. Helminthophila celata, 374. Orange-crowned Warbler. 
 
 167. Helminthopbila chrysoptera, 372. 
 
 Golden-winged Warbler. 
 (Blue Golden-winged Warbler.) 
 
 168. Helminthophila peregrina, 376. Tennessee Warbler. 
 
 169. Helminthophila pinns. 371. Blue- winged Warbler. 
 
 (Blue-winged Yellow Warbler.) 
 
 170. Helminthophila ruflcapilla, 373. Nashville Warbler. 
 
 171. Herodiones, 85-97. - - - Herons and Storks. 
 
 172. Himantopus m"xicanus, 116. Black-necked Stilt. 
 
 (Stilt. Long-s'hanks. Lawyer.) 
 
 173. Hirundinidse, 350-366. - Swallows. 
 
 174. Histrionicus histrionlcus, 68. Harlequin Duck. 
 
 ("Lords and Ladies."} 
 
 175. Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis, 25. Black Tei"n. 
 
 (Short-tailed Tern.) 
 
 176. Icteridse, 271-290. American Orioles, Blackbirds, and 
 
 Starlings. 
 
 177. Icteria virens, 400. - - Yellow-breasted Chat. 
 
 178. Icterus galbula, 281. . - - Baltimore Oriole. 
 
 (Golden Robin. Firebird. Hangnest.) 
 
 179. Icterus spurins, 280. - - - Orchard Oriole. 
 
 180. Junco hyemalis, 329. - - Slate-colored Junco. 
 
 (Eastern Snow-bird. Black Snow-bird. Snow-bird.) 
 
 181. Lagopus lagopus, 162. - - Willow Ptarmigan. 
 
 (Willow Grouse. White Ptarmigan.) 
 
 182. Laniidae, 360-362. . . - _ Shrikes. 
 
 183. Lanius borealis, 360. - - Xorthern Shrike. 
 
 (Great Northern Shrike. Butclier-bird.) 
 184.[^Lianius ludovicianus excubitorides, 361. 
 
 White-rumped Shrike. 
 (Common American Shrike. Logger-head Shrike.) 
 
 185. Laridse, 15-27. . _ . Oulls, and Terns. 
 
 186. Larus argentatus smithsonianus, 16. 
 
 American Herring OuU. 
 
 187. Larus atricilla, 19. . - - Laughing Gull. 
 
 (Black-headed Gull.) 
 
 188. Larus delawarensis, 18. - - Ring-billed Gull. 
 
 (Common American Gull.) 
 
 189. Larus Philadelphia, 20. - - Bonaparte's Gull. 
 
 (Bonaparte's Rosy Gull.) 
 
 190. Limicolse, 112-154. - Shore-birds. 
 
458 NOTES ON THE 
 
 191. lilmosa fedoa, 130. - Marbled Godwit. 
 
 (Great Marbled Godwit. Marlin.") 
 
 192. Liiniosa haemastica, 13'i. - Hudsouian Godwit. 
 
 (American Black-tailed brodwit. Ring-tailed Marlin.) 
 
 193. Longipennes, 15-33. Long-winged Swimmers. 
 
 194. Lophodytes cucuUatus, 36. Hooded Merganser. 
 
 (Sheldrake.) 
 196. lioxia curvirostra minor, 295. American Crossbill. 
 
 (American Red Cross-bill. Red Cross-bill.) 
 
 196. Lioxia leucoptera, 298. - Wliite-winged Crossbill. 
 
 197. MacrocMres, 237-242. Swifts and Hummingbirds. 
 
 198. Macrorhamphus Scolopaceus, 122. 
 
 tiong-billed Dowltclier. 
 (Western Dowitcher. Red-bellied Snipe. Greater Long- 
 beak.) 
 
 199. Megascops asio, 214. - - Screech Owl. 
 
 (Little Horned Owl. Mottled Owl. Red Owl.) 
 
 200. Melanerpes erytbrocephalus, 234. 
 
 Red-headed Woodpecker; 
 (Tricolor.) 
 
 201. Meleagris gallopavo, 169. Wild Turkey. 
 
 (Eastern Wild Turkey.) , 
 
 202. Melospiza fasciata, 331. Song Sparrow. 
 
 (Silver-tongue.) 
 
 203. Melospiza georgiana, 334. - Swamp Sparrow. 
 
 (Swamp Song Sparrow.) 
 
 204. Melospiza lincolni, 333. Lincoln's Sparrow. 
 
 (Lincoln's Song Sparrow.) 
 
 205. Merganser americanus, 34. American Merganser. 
 
 (Merganser. Goosander, rish Duck.) 
 
 206. Merganser serrator, 35. - Bed-breasted Merganser. 
 
 207. Merulamigratoria, 442. - American Robin. 
 
 (Robin. American Red-breast.) 
 
 208. Merula migratoria, propinqua, 445. Western Robin. 
 
 (Allied Robin.) 
 
 209. Miropalama himantopus, 123. - Stilt Sandpiper. 
 
 210. Micropodidae, 240-241. . Swifts. 
 
 211. Mniotilta varia, 370. Black and White Warbler. 
 
 (Black and White Creeper.) 
 
 212. Mniotiltidse, 370-404. - Warblers 
 
 213. Molothrus ater, 272. - . Cowbird 
 
 (Common Cowblrd. Cuckold.) 
 
 214. Motacillidse, 405-407. Wagtails. 
 
 215. Myiarchus crinitus, 245. - Crested Flycatcher. 
 
 (Great Crested Flycatcher.) 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 459 
 
 216. 
 
 217. 
 
 218. 
 
 219. 
 
 220. 
 
 221. 
 222. 
 
 223. 
 224. 
 
 226. 
 
 226. 
 227. 
 
 228. 
 
 229. 
 230. 
 
 231. 
 232. 
 
 233. 
 
 234. 
 23S. 
 
 236. 
 237. 
 
 238. 
 239. 
 240. 
 241. 
 
 242. 
 243. 
 
 Eskimo Curlew. 
 
 Hudsonian Curle^w. 
 
 liong'-billed Curlew. 
 
 Saw-w^het Owl. 
 
 Xunienius borealis, 148. 
 
 ( Dough-bird.) 
 Kumenius liudsonicus, 147. 
 
 (Jack Curlew.) 
 Numenlus longlrostris, 145. 
 
 (Sickle-bill.) 
 Nyctala acadica, 213. 
 
 (Acadian Owl.) 
 Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni, 212. Eichardson's Owl, 
 
 (Arctic American Saw-whet Owl. Sparrow Owl.) 
 Tfyctea nyctea, 217. Snowy Ow^l. 
 
 Nycticorax nyeticorax nasvius, 95. 
 
 (Qua Bird. Squawk.) Black-crowned Night Heron. 
 
 Nyeticorax violaceus, 96. Yellow-crowned Night Heron. 
 
 American Scoter. 
 Sea Coot.) 
 
 White-winged Scoter. 
 
 Oidemia americana, 69. 
 
 (American Black Scoter. 
 Oidemia deglandi, 70. 
 
 Velvet Scoter. 
 
 White-winged Surf Duck. 
 
 (Surl Duck. 
 Sea Coot.) 
 Olor buccinator, 83. 
 Olor columblanus, 82. 
 
 (Common American Swan.) 
 Otocoris alpestris praticola, 258. 
 
 (Shore Lark. Horned Lark.) 
 Paludicolae, 98-11 1. 
 Pandion haliaetos carolinensis, 204. 
 
 (TishHawk. Osprey.) 
 Paridse, 424-430. - - Nuthatches and Titmice. 
 Parus atricapillus, 427. - Chickadee. 
 
 (Black-capped Titmouse. Black-capped Chickadee. Titmouse.) 
 Parus atricapillus septentrionalis, 429. 
 
 Liong-tailed Chickadee. 
 
 Trumpeter Swan. 
 "Whistling Sw^an. 
 
 Prairie Horned Lark. 
 
 Cranes and Bails. 
 American Osprey. 
 
 Parus bicolor, 427. 
 Passerella iliaca, 336. 
 
 (Eastern Fox Sparrow.) 
 Passeres, 243-449. 
 Pass«^rina cyanea, 343. 
 
 (Indigo Painted Finch. Indigo-bird.) 
 Phalacrocoraddae, 27-29. 
 Phalacrocorax dilophus, 27, 
 Pbalaropodldse, 112-115. 
 Phalaropus lobatus, 113. 
 
 (Red-necked Phalarope.) 
 Phalaropus tricolor, 114. 
 Phasianidse, 169-170. 
 
 Tufted Titmouse 
 Fox Sparrow 
 
 Passerine Birds. 
 Indigo Bunting. 
 
 Cormorants. 
 
 Double-crested Cormorant. 
 
 Phalaropes. 
 
 Northern Phalarope. 
 
 Wilson's Phalarope. 
 Pheasants. 
 
460 NOTES ON THE 
 
 244. Pediocsetes phaslanellus campestris, 168. 
 
 Prairie Sharp-tailed Grouse. 
 
 245. Pelecanidse, 30-33. - - Pelicans. 
 
 246. Pelecanus erythrorhynchus, 30. 
 
 American White Pelican. 
 
 247. Pelecanus fuscus, 33. - Brown Pelican. 
 
 (American Brown Pelican.) 
 
 248. Penicola enucleator, 293. ... Plae Grosbeak. 
 
 249. Perisoreus canadensis, 265. - Canada Jay. 
 
 (Whiskey Jack. Moose Bird. Gray Jay.) 
 
 250. Petrochelidon lunifrons, 351. Cliff SwaUow. 
 
 (Eaves Swallow. Crescent Swallow. Mud Swallow.) 
 
 251. Plectrophenax nivalis, 304. - Snowflake. 
 
 (Snow Bunting.) 
 
 252. Pica pica hudsonica, 260. American Mag'pie. 
 
 (Magpie.) 
 
 253. Pici, 225-236. Woodpeckers and Wrynecks. 
 
 254. Picidae, 225-236. - Woodpeckers. 
 
 255. Picoides americanus, 229. 
 
 American Three-toed Woodpecker. 
 (Ladder-backed Three- toed Woodpecker.) 
 
 256. Picoides arcticus, 228. Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. 
 
 (Black-backed Woodpecker. Black-backed Three-toed Wood- " 
 pecker.) 
 
 257. Pipilo erythrophthalmus, 338. - - - Towhee. 
 
 (Towhee Bunting. Marsh Robin. Chewink.) 
 
 258. Piranga erythromelas, 348. Scarlet Tanager. 
 
 259. Philohela minor, 117. American Woodcock. 
 
 (Bog-sucker.) 
 
 260. Podicipidae. 4-9. Grebes. 
 
 261. Podilymbus podiceps, 8. Pied-billed Grebe. 
 
 (Dab-chick. Diedapper. Ilell-diver. Water-witch. Dipper.) 
 
 262. Polioptila caerulea, 432. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. 
 
 263. Poocsetes gramineus, 309. Vesper Sparrow. 
 
 (Grass Tinch. Bay-winged Bunting. Vesper-bird. Grass 
 Sparrow. Ground-bird.) 
 
 264. Porzana Carolina, 105- - - Sora. 
 
 (Carolina Rail. Common Rail. Carolina Crake "Ortolan.") 
 
 265. Porzana jamaicensis, 108. - Black Kail. 
 
 (Little Black Crake.) 
 
 266. Porzana noveboracensis, 107. Yellow Bail. 
 
 (Yellow Crake.) 
 
 267. Progne subis, 350. - Purple Martin. 
 
 268. Pygopodes, 4-14. Diving Birds. 
 
 269. Quiscalus quiscula, 288. Purple Grackle. 
 
 (Purple Crow Blackbird. Common Crow Blackbird. Crow 
 Blackbird.) 
 
BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 
 
 461 
 
 270. 
 271. 
 
 272. 
 273. 
 274. 
 
 27S. 
 276. 
 277. 
 
 278. 
 
 279. 
 
 280. 
 
 281. 
 
 282. 
 
 283. 
 284. 
 
 285. 
 286. 
 287. 
 
 288. 
 289. 
 290. 
 291. 
 292. 
 293. 
 294, 
 295. 
 
 Kallidae, 102-111. RaUs. 
 
 Rallus eleg'ans, 102. - Kiu^ Bail. 
 
 (Fresh-water Marsh-hen.) 
 Ballus virginianus, 103. - 
 Baptores, 174-219. 
 Becurvirostra aiuericana, 115 
 
 (Blue-stocking.) 
 -Becupvirostridae, 115-117. 
 Begulus calendula, 431. 
 Begulus satrapa, 430, 
 
 (Golden-crested Kinglet.) 
 Bissa tridactyla, 15. 
 
 (Kittiwake Gull. Common Kittlwake.) 
 Sayornls phoebe, 247. 
 
 (Pewit Flycatcher. Water Pewee. 
 Spatula clypeata, 47. 
 
 (Spoon-bill Dack. Shoveller Duck. 
 Seiurus aurocaplUus, 393. 
 
 (Golden-crowned Wagtail Warbler, 
 tor. Golden-crowned Thrush.) 
 Seiurus noveboracensis, 396. 
 
 (Wagtail Warbler. Aquatic Accentor. 
 Thrush. Water-Wagtail.) 
 Setopbaga ruticilla, 403. American Redstart. 
 
 Stelgidopteryx serripennis, 356. 
 
 Bough-winged Swallow. 
 
 Virginia Bail. 
 
 Birds of Prey. 
 
 American Avocet. 
 
 Avocets. Stilts. 
 Biiby-crowned Kinglet. 
 G olden-crowned Kinglet. 
 
 Kittiwake. 
 
 Pboebe. 
 
 Pewit.) 
 
 Shoveller. 
 Broad-bill.) 
 
 Oven-bird. 
 
 Golden-crowned Accen- 
 
 Water Thrush. 
 
 New York Water 
 
 Sterna antillarum, 24. 
 Sterna forsteri, 22. 
 Sterna hirundo, 23. 
 
 (Wilson's Tern. Sea Swallow 
 Sterna tschegrava, 21. 
 
 (Imperial Tern.) 
 Sialia mexicana, 448. 
 
 (Mexican Bluebird.) 
 Silia sialis, 447, 
 
 (Stone-chat. Wheat-ear.) 
 Sitta canadensis, 426. 
 
 (Red-bellied Nuthatch. 
 Sitta carolinensis, 424. 
 
 Least Tern. 
 Forster's Tern. 
 Common Tern. 
 
 Caspian Tern. 
 
 Western Bluebird. 
 
 Bluebird. 
 
 Bed-breasted Nuthatch. 
 
 Canada Nuthatch.) 
 
 White-breasted Nuthatch. 
 
 (Carolina Nuthatch 
 SpinU'* pinus, .302. 
 
 (Pine Linnet. Pine Finch 
 Spinus tristis, 300. 
 
 White-bellied Nuthatch. "Sap-sucker.") 
 Pine Siskin. 
 American Siskin.) 
 
 American Goldfinch. 
 
 (Yellow-bird. Thistle-bird.) 
 Spiza americana, 344. 
 
 ( Biack-throated Bunting.) 
 
 Rickcissel. 
 
462 
 
 NOTES ON THE 
 
 296. 
 
 297. 
 398. 
 299. 
 
 300. 
 301. 
 
 302 
 303. 
 
 304. 
 
 305. 
 306. 
 
 307. 
 
 308. 
 
 309. 
 310. 
 
 311. 
 
 312. 
 313. 
 
 314. 
 315. 
 
 316. 
 317. 
 
 318. 
 319. 
 3iO. 
 
 Tree Sparrow. 
 
 Spizella monticola, 323. 
 
 (Winter Chip-bird.) 
 Spizella pallida, 327. 
 Spizella pusilla, 328. 
 Spizella socialio, 825. 
 
 (Chip-bird. Chippy. Hair-bird. 
 Strigidae, 205-207. 
 Strlx pratincola, 205. 
 
 (Barn Owl.) 
 Somateria spectabilig, 68. ' 
 Scoleeophagus carollnus, 284. 
 
 (Rusty Grackle. Thursh Blackbird.) 
 Scolecoptiagus cyanocepbalus, 286. 
 
 (Blue-headed Grackle.) 
 Seolopacidae, 117-148. 
 Scotiaptex cinerea, 211. 
 
 (Spectral Owl.) 
 Surnia ulula caparocb, 2 19. 
 
 (Day Owl. Hawk Owl.) 
 Stiirnella magna, 278. 
 
 (Field Lark. Old-fleld Lark.) 
 Sturnella magna neglecta, 280. 
 S} Ivania canadensis, 402. 
 
 (Canadian Fly-catching Warbler, 
 Sylvania mitrata, 40 1. 
 
 (Hooded Fly-catehing WarDler.) 
 Sylviidse, 430-433. 
 Symphemia semipalmata , 139 . 
 
 (Semi-palmated Tattler.) 
 Syrnium nebiilosum, 2 10. 
 
 (Hoot Owl. American Wood Owl.) 
 Sphyrapicus varius, 230. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, 
 
 (Yellow-bellied Woodpecker.) 
 
 Clay-colored Sparrow. 
 
 Field Sparrow. 
 
 Chipping Sparrow. 
 
 Barn Owls. 
 American Barn Owl. 
 
 King Eider. 
 Rusty Blackbird. 
 
 Brewer's Blackbird. 
 
 Snipe. 
 Great Gray Owl. 
 
 American Hawk Owl. 
 
 Meadowlark. 
 
 Western Meadowlark. 
 Canadian Warbler. 
 
 Canada Warbler.) 
 
 Hooded Warbler. 
 
 Kinglets. 
 Willet. 
 
 Barred Owl. 
 
 321. 
 322. 
 
 Tanagridse, 348-350.- 
 Tachycineta bieolor, 354. 
 
 (White-bellied Swallow.) 
 Tetraonidse. 165-169. 
 Tringa bairdii, 126. 
 Tringa canntus, 124. 
 
 (Eed-breasted Sandpiper, 
 back. Eobin Snipe.) 
 Tringa maculata, 125. 
 
 (Grass-snipe. Jack-snipe.) 
 Tringa minutilla; 127. 
 
 (American Stint. Wilson's Stint 
 
 Tanagers. 
 Tree Swallow. 
 
 Grouse, Partridge, and Quail. 
 
 Baird's Sandpiper. 
 
 Knot. 
 
 Ash-colored Sandpiper. Gray- 
 Pectoral Sandpiper. 
 
 Least Sandpiper. 
 
 Peep.) 
 
BIRDS OP MINNESOTA. 463 
 
 323. Totanus flavlpes, 135. - - Yellow-legs. 
 
 (Lesser Tell-tale. Yellow-shanks.) 
 
 324. Totanus melanoleucus, 133. Greater Yellow-legs, 
 
 (Greater Tell-tale. Greater Yellow-shanks. Long-legged 
 Tattler. Stone-snipe. Yellow-shanks.) 
 
 325. Totaius solitarius, 136. Solitary Sandpiper. 
 
 (Solitary Tattler. American Green Sandpiper.) 
 
 326. Trochilidae, 241-242. Humming-birds. 
 
 327. Trochilus colnbris 241. Buby-tbroated Hummingbird. 
 
 328. Troglodytes aedon, 416. - House Wren. 
 
 (Eastern House Wren.) 
 
 329. Troglodytes aedon parkmanii, 418. Parkman's Wren. 
 
 (Western House Wrfen.) 
 
 330. Troglodytes biemalis, 419 Winter Wren. 
 
 33 1. Troglodytidse, 408-422. Wrens and Mocking-birds. 
 
 332. Turdldae, 433-449. Thrusbes. 
 
 333. Turdus alicise, 438. Gray-cbeeked Tbrush. 
 
 334. Turdus aoualaschkae pallasii, 440. Hermit Thrnsb. 
 
 (Eastern Hermit Thrush.) 
 
 335. Turdus fuscescens, 435. - Wilson's Thrush. 
 
 (Veery. Tawny Thrush. Wilderness Bird.) 
 
 336. Turdus mustelinus, 433. - Wood Thrush. 
 
 337. Turdus ustulatus swainsonii, 439. Olive-backed Thrash. 
 
 338. Tympanucbns amerlcanus, 162. Prairie Hen. 
 
 (Pinnated Grouse. Prairie Chicken. Heath Hen. Prairie 
 Grouse. Boomer.) 
 
 339. Tyrannidse, 243-257. Flycatchers. 
 
 340. Tyrannus tyrannus, 243. Kingbird. 
 
 (Bee Martin.) 
 '341. Thryothorus bewickii, 416. Bewick's Wren. 
 
 842. Thryothorus ludovicianus, 415. Carolina Wren. 
 
 (Great Carolina Wren. Mocking Wren.) 
 343. Tryngites subruficollis, 142. Buff-breasted Sandpiper., 
 
 341. Urinator articus, 12. Black-throated Lioon. 
 
 (Black-throated Diver.) 
 345. Urinator imber, lO. Loon. 
 
 (Common Loon. Diver. Great !Northern Diver.) 
 316. Urinator lumme, 13. Ked-throated Loon. 
 
 (Bed-throated Diver.) 
 
 347. Urlnatoridse, 10-14. Loons. 
 
 348. Vireo bellii, 369. Bell's Vireo. 
 
 (Bell's Greenlet.) 
 
 349. Vireo flavifrons, 366. Yellow-throated Vireo. 
 
 (Yellow-throated Greenlet.) 
 
 350. Vireo gilvus, 365. Warbling Vireo. 
 
 (Warbling Greenlet.) 
 
464 
 
 NOTES ON THE 
 
 White-eyed Vireo. 
 
 Red-eyed Vireo. 
 Philadelphia Vireo. 
 
 351. Vireo noveboracensis, 368. 
 
 (White-eyed Greenlet.) 
 
 352. Vireo olivaceus, 362. 
 
 (Eed-eyed Greenlet. Greenlet.) 
 
 353. Vireo philadelphicus, 364. 
 
 (Brotherly-love Greenlet.) 
 364. Vireo solitarius, 367. Blue-headed Vireo. 
 
 (Blue-headed Greenlet. Solitary Greenlet.) 
 
 355. Vireonidae, 362-370. . Vireos, or Greenlets. 
 
 356. Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus, 276. 
 
 Yellow-headed Blackbird 
 
 357. Zenaidura macroura, 172. Mourning' Dove. 
 
 (Carolina Dove. Wild Dove. Turtle Dove.) 
 
 358. Zonotrichia albicollis, 322. White-throated Sparrow. 
 
 (White-throated Crown Sparrow. Peabody-bird.) 
 .359. Zonotrichia leucophrys, 320. White-crowned Sparrow 
 
 (White-browed Crown Sparrow.) 
 360. Zonotrichia querula, 320. Harris's Sparrow. 
 
 (Hooded Crown Sparrow. Blaclf-hooded Sparrow.) 
 
PEIJ^CIPAL ERRATA. 
 
 Page 40, line 20, read Black Duck for Black. 
 
 Page 51, line 19, read Wood Duck for Wood. 
 
 Page 55, line 30, read Redhead for Red Head. 
 
 Page 58, line 2, read American for Greater. 
 
 Page 64, line 7, read Bonaparte for Boaap. 
 
 Page 102, line 20, read Rallus for Ealaus. 
 
 Page 163, line 7, read Pediocaetes for Fediocaetes. 
 
 Page 221, 6th line from bottom, read Coccyzus for Coycczus. 
 
 Page 259, line 2, read 474b for 4746. 
 
 Page 280, line 2, read Meadowlark for Meadow Lark. 
 
 Page 396, line 17, read Noveboracensis for Novebobacensis. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Throughout the "Notes" Linnsus is abbreviated to L., and oi 
 page 64 Bonaparte is (accidentally) abbreviated to Bonap. Dr. Hatci 
 had throughout adopted the abbreviations of the A. O. U. check-list, bui 
 for several reasons it was decided to go beyond the restrictions noted ii 
 the prefatory statement, and (with the exception of LinnsBus) write th( 
 names in full. 
 
 H. F. N. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 F*rei>ared. t>y tlie State Zoologist. 
 
 Note. — The numbers in the first column refer to the pages of the 
 "Notes"; those in the second, to the numbers of the list of popular 
 
 synonyms, beginning on page 450. , 
 
 The scientific names are entered only under the genus, but the pop- 
 ular names consisting of two or more terms are entered twice, and in a 
 few cases three times. 
 
 Acadian Flycatcher 253 ikr 
 
 Owl .. 219 
 
 Acanthis linaria 299 1 
 
 Accentor, aquatic 282 
 
 " golden-crowned 281 
 
 Acclplter atricaplllus 183 2 
 
 " oooperl 181 3 
 
 " velox 188 i 
 
 Actltls macularla 144 5 
 
 iBchmophorus occldentalis 4 6 
 
 ^glalites semipalmata 152 7 
 
 vocifera 151 8 
 
 Agelaius phoeniceus , 277 9 
 
 Aix sponsa 51 10 
 
 AlauSidae 258-260 11 
 
 AlcedinidSB 223-224 12 
 
 Allied Eobin : 208 
 
 American Avocet 115 274 
 
 BarnOwl 205 301 
 
 Bittern 85 58 
 
 " Black Scoter 224 
 
 " Black-tailed Godwit 192 
 
 " Brown Pelican 247 
 
 " Continental Gyrfalcon .. 146 
 
 " Coot 109 150 
 
 Crossbill 295 195 
 
 Crow 267 109 
 
 " Eared Grebe 8 104 
 
 " Egret 91 39 
 
 " Golden-eye 64 155 
 
 " GoldenPlover 149 79 
 
 " Goldfinch 300 294 
 
 " Goshawk 183 2 
 
 " Green Sandpiper 325 
 
 " Green-winged Teal 44 23 
 
 " HawkOwl 219 307 
 
 " HerringGuU 16 186 
 
 " Long-eared Owl 207 45 
 
 Magpie 260 252 
 
 " Marsh Harrier 90 
 
 " Marsh Hawk .. go 
 
 " Merganser 34 205 
 
 Merlin 143,145 
 
 " Orioles 176 
 
 Osprey 204 230 
 
 Pipit 405 31 
 
 " Pochard .. 47 
 
 " Raven 266 110 
 
 " Eed-breast . . 207 
 
 " Bed Crossbill 195 
 
 " Eed-necked Grebe . 103 
 
 " Eedstart 403 283 
 
 " Eobin 442 207 
 
 " Kough-Iegged Buzzard 37 
 
 " Eough-legged Hawk 193 37, 
 
 " Scaup Duck 58 49 
 
 !! gpo*?"" 69 224 
 
 Siskm 293 
 
 Snipe.... 153 
 
 Sparrow Hawk 202 147 
 
 " Stint _ 322 
 
 " Three-toed Woodpecker 229 255 
 
 " Titlark 3I 
 
 " White-fronted Goose 75 29 
 
 White Pelican ' 30 246 
 
 " Widgeon 21 
 
 " Woodcock '..;.':.';:; m 2m 
 
 " Wood Owl 314 
 
468 INDEX 
 
 Ammodramus balrdll 3t3 l4 
 
 " caudacutuB B18 14 
 
 " leoonteii 315 15 
 
 " sandwichensis savanna 311 16, 
 
 " savanorum passerlnus 313 17 
 
 Ampelidse 356-300 18 
 
 Ampells cedrorum 358 19 
 
 garrulus 356 20 
 
 Anas araericaua 43 31 
 
 " bosohas 38 22 
 
 " oarollnensis 44 23 
 
 " oyanoptera 47 24 
 
 " disoors , 45 25 
 
 " obsuura 40 26 
 
 " strepera 41 27 
 
 AnatidsB 34-84 28 
 
 Anser alWfrons gambell 75 29 
 
 Anseres 34-84 30 
 
 An thus pensilvanlous 405 31 
 
 spragueli 406 32 
 
 Antrostom us vocif erus 237 33 
 
 Aphrizidje 153-154 34 
 
 Aquatic accentor .. 282 
 
 Aqaila olirysaStos ■ 195 35 
 
 Archibuteo ferrugineus 194 36 
 
 " lagopussaneti-johannis 192 37 
 
 Arctic American Saw-whet Owl .. 220 
 
 " Three-toed Woodpeclier 228 256 
 
 Ardea candidissima 92 38 
 
 egretta ; 91 39 
 
 " herodias , 89 40 
 
 " viresoens ! 93 41 
 
 ArdeidEB 85-97 42 
 
 Arenaria interpres 153 43 
 
 Ash-colored Sandpiper .. 320 
 
 Asio accipitrinas 208 44 
 
 " wilsonianus 207 45 
 
 Autumn Warbler . 123 
 
 Avocet, American 115 274 
 
 Avocets... 275 
 
 Aythla affinis ....: 60 46 
 
 " americana 55 47 
 
 " collaris 62 48 
 
 " marila nearctica 58 49 
 
 " vallisnerla 57 50 
 
 Azure Warbler .. 121 
 
 Baird's Sparrow 313 13 
 
 ij," Sandpiper 126 319 
 
 " Savanna Sparrow .. 13 
 
 MaldEagle 196 164 
 
 Baldpate 43 21 
 
 Baltimore Oriole 7;- 281 178 
 
 BankSwallow 355 93 
 
 BarnOwl . 301 
 
 " Owl, American .. 301 
 
 " Owls 300 
 
 ■' Swallow ■. 352 87 
 
 Barnacle Goose .. 52 
 
 Barred Owl 210 314 
 
 Barrow's Golden-eye 65 156 
 
 Bart.ramia longicauda 141 51 
 
 Bartramian Sandpiper 141 51 
 
 Bartram's Tattler 51 
 
 Bay-breasted Warbler 387 123 
 
 Bay-winged Bunting . 283 
 
 Bee-martin .. 340 
 
 Bell's Greenlet 348 
 
 '• Vireo 369 348 
 
 Belted Kingfisher 223 86 
 
 Bewick's Wren.' 416 341 
 
 BigBlackhead ■ .. 49 
 
 " Sapsucker s 134 
 
 " Scaup Duck .. 49 
 
 Bird of Washineton 164 
 
 Birds of Prey 273 
 
 Bittern, 58 
 
 " American 85 68 
 
 " Least , 87 67 
 
 BlackBrant 82 55 
 
 '■ Duck 40 26 
 
 " Hawk 37 
 
 " Kail 108 265 
 
 " Kedtail 62 
 
 " Snowbird 180 
 
 " Tern 25 175 
 
INDEX. 
 
 469 
 
 Black and White Creeper 
 
 " " " Warbler 
 
 " " Yellow Warbler 
 
 Black-backed three-toed Woodpecker 
 
 Woodpecker 
 
 Blaek-belUed Plover 
 
 Black-billed Cuckoo 
 
 Blackbird, '. 
 
 " Brewer's 
 
 " Common Crow....' 
 
 " Grow 
 
 " Marsh 
 
 " Purple Crow 
 
 " Ked-winged 
 
 " Ked-and-bufl-shouldered Marsh , 
 
 " Eusty 
 
 " Skunk 
 
 " Swamp 
 
 " Thrush 
 
 " White-winged 
 
 " Yellow-headed 
 
 Blackbirds 
 
 Blackburnian Warbler 
 
 Blackburn's Warbler 
 
 Black-capped Ohioadee 
 
 " Titmouse 
 
 Black-crowned Night Heron ,.. 
 
 Blackhead, Big 
 
 ' Little 
 
 Black-headed Gull 
 
 Black-hooded sparrow 
 
 Black-necked Stilt 
 
 Black-poll Warbler 
 
 Black-shouldered Lonsspur 
 
 Black-throated Blue Warbler 
 
 '. " Bunting 
 
 '■ Diver 
 
 " Green Warbler 
 
 " Loon 
 
 Blue Golden- winged Warbler 
 
 " Hawk 
 
 " Hen Hawk....'. 
 
 " .Jay ; 
 
 " Yellow-backed Warbler 
 
 Bluebill 
 
 Bluebird ; 
 
 " Mexican 
 
 " Western 
 
 Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler 
 
 Blue- gray Gnat-catcher 
 
 Blue-headed Grackle 
 
 " Greeulet 
 
 " Yireo 
 
 Bluestocking 
 
 Blue-winged Teal 
 
 " Warbler 
 
 " Yellow Warbler 
 
 Bobolink 
 
 Bob- white 
 
 Bog-bull 
 
 Bog-sucker 
 
 Bohemian Waxwing 
 
 Bonaparte's Gull 
 
 Eosy Gull 
 
 Bonasa umbellus 
 
 Boomer 
 
 Botaurus exilis 
 
 •' lentiglnosus 
 
 Brant, . 
 
 Black 
 
 " White 
 
 Brant Bird 
 
 " Goose 
 
 Branta bernlola 
 
 " canadensis 
 
 " •' hutchinsil . 
 
 " nigricans 
 
 Brewer's Blackbird 
 
 Bride, The 
 
 Broad-bill 
 
 Broad-winged Buzzard 
 
 " Hawk 
 
 Brotherly-love Greenlet 
 
 Brown Creeper 
 
 " Lark 
 
 " Pelican 
 
 
 211 
 
 ■670 
 
 211 
 
 
 125 
 
 
 256 
 
 
 2S6 
 
 148 
 
 80 
 
 'Z'i\ 
 
 97 
 
 
 9 
 
 am 
 
 304 
 
 
 269 
 
 
 269 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 269 
 
 OT 
 
 9 
 
 
 9 
 
 S84 
 
 303 
 
 
 13a 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 303 
 
 
 67 
 
 275 
 
 356 
 
 
 176 
 
 389 
 
 120 
 
 
 120 
 
 
 232 
 
 
 2S2 
 
 95 
 
 222 
 
 
 49 
 
 
 46 
 
 
 187 
 
 
 360 
 
 11B 
 
 172 
 
 388 
 
 128 
 
 
 69 
 
 379 
 
 122 
 
 
 295 
 
 
 344 
 
 391 
 
 131 
 
 la 
 
 344 
 
 
 167 
 
 
 90 
 
 
 2 
 
 'm 
 
 115 
 
 
 105 
 
 
 49 
 
 447 
 
 290 
 
 
 289 
 
 448 
 
 289 
 
 
 119 
 
 432 
 
 262 
 
 
 304 
 
 
 a54 
 
 867 
 
 3,54 
 
 
 274 
 
 45 
 
 25 
 
 371 
 
 169 
 
 
 169 
 
 271 
 
 132 
 
 155 
 
 99 
 
 
 58 
 
 
 259 
 
 356 
 
 20 
 
 20 
 
 189 
 
 
 189 
 
 160 
 
 56 
 
 
 338 
 
 S7 
 
 57 
 
 85 
 
 58 
 
 81 
 
 .52 
 
 82 
 
 55 
 
 
 89 
 
 
 43 
 
 
 52 
 
 81 
 
 52 
 
 77 
 
 f3 
 
 80 
 
 5i 
 
 > 82 
 
 55 
 
 286 
 
 304 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 280 
 
 
 64 
 
 190 
 
 64 
 
 
 353 
 
 4ii3 
 
 ,84 
 
 
 31 
 
 33 
 
 247 
 
470 INDEX. 
 
 arown Turasner 
 
 Thrasli 
 
 413 
 
 IBS 
 165 
 
 
 215 
 
 60 
 
 
 207-819 
 
 59 
 
 B uff-breasted Sandpiper 
 
 142 
 
 343 
 
 Buffle-head '. 
 
 66 
 
 81 
 
 ■ Bull-bat 
 
 
 113 
 
 Bull-head; 
 
 Bull-head Plover 
 
 79 
 79, 80 
 
 Bunting. Bay- winged 
 
 •' Black- throated 
 
 
 263 
 
 295 
 
 
 D43 
 
 237 
 
 " Lark 
 
 346 
 
 67 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 Snow 
 
 " Towhee 
 
 
 251 
 257 
 
 
 
 183 
 
 
 185 
 
 dl 
 
 " " calurus. 
 
 krlderii 
 
 " latlssimus 
 
 " lineutus 
 
 187 
 
 186 
 
 190 
 
 188 
 
 62 
 63 
 M 
 65 
 
 
 189 
 
 66 
 
 Butter-ball 
 
 
 81 
 
 Buzzard, American Kough-legged 
 
 
 37 
 
 " Broad-winged... 
 
 
 64 
 66 
 
 " Ferruginous Eough-legged 
 
 
 36 
 65 
 
 " Eed-tailed 
 
 
 61 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 " Turkey 
 
 
 75 
 
 Calamospiza melahooorys 
 
 Calcarius lapponicus 
 
 346 
 
 306 
 
 67 
 68 
 
 
 308 
 
 69 
 
 
 307 
 
 70 
 
 
 
 43 
 
 Oalidris arenaria 
 
 129 
 
 71 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 Canada Goose 
 
 77 
 
 53 
 
 
 158 
 
 118 
 
 " Jay 
 
 265 
 
 249 
 291 
 
 " Warbler 
 
 
 310 
 
 
 402 
 
 31U' 
 
 " Flycatching Warbler 
 
 
 310 
 
 Canvas-back 
 
 57 
 
 50 
 
 
 377 
 
 139 
 
 
 237-840 
 
 72 
 
 Cardinal 
 
 339 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 Eed-bird 
 
 
 73 
 
 Cardinalis cardinalis 
 
 339 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 264 
 
 " Dove 
 
 
 357 
 
 " Nuthatch 
 
 
 292 
 
 
 
 264 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 " Wren 
 
 415 
 
 342 
 
 
 294 
 
 74 
 
 
 21 
 
 288 
 
 Catbird 
 
 408 
 
 151 
 
 Uathartes aura 
 
 174 
 
 75 
 
 
 174-175 
 
 76 
 
 Cat Owl 
 
 
 60 
 
 Oedarbird 
 
 
 19 
 
 Cedar Waxwing . . .... 
 
 358 
 
 19 
 
 
 282 
 
 83 
 
 
 423 
 
 84 
 
 Oerthiidse 
 
 423-424 
 
 85 
 
 Cerulean Warbler .... 
 
 384 
 
 121 
 
 
 223 
 
 86 
 
 Chsetura pelagica 
 
 Oharadriidas 
 
 240 
 
 148-158 
 
 149 
 
 77 
 78 
 79 
 
 
 148 
 
 80 
 
 Charltonetta albeola 
 
 Chat, Yellow-breasted 
 
 66 
 
 400 
 
 81 
 177 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 352 
 
 87 
 
 Chen hyperborea 
 
 73 
 
 88 
 
 
 75 
 
 89 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Chestnut-collared Longspur 
 
 Chestnut-sided Warbler . 
 
 308 
 
 386 
 
 69 
 127 
 
 Chewink 
 
 
 257 
 
INDEX. 
 
 471 
 
 Ohlokadee 
 
 " Black-cappecl . 
 
 " . Lons-tailed . . . 
 
 Chicken Hawk 
 
 Ohloken, Prairie ' 
 
 Chimney Swallow 
 
 Swift 
 
 Chip-bird, 
 
 Winter 
 
 Chipping Sparrow 
 
 Ohoncfestes ^rammacus 
 
 Ghordeiles Virginian us 
 
 Cinnamon Teal 
 
 Circus hudsonlus 
 
 Clstothorus palustris .^ 
 
 " stellaris 
 
 Clangula hiemalls - 
 
 Clay-colored Sparrow 
 
 Cliff Swallow 
 
 Clivieola riparia 
 
 Cocoothrau^tes vespertina 
 
 Coccyges 220- 
 
 COooy zus amerioanus 
 
 erythrophtholmus 
 
 Oolaptes auratus 
 
 Oollnus virglnlanus 
 
 OolumbEB 171- 
 
 OolumbidsB 171- 
 
 Coliimblne Birds 
 
 Oolymbas auritus 
 
 " holboellii 
 
 ," nigriooUis oalifornious 
 
 Common American Buzzard 
 
 " •' Crow 
 
 " " Gull 
 
 Shrike 
 
 " Brown Crane 
 
 " Cowbird 
 
 " Crow Blackbird 
 
 " Galllnule 
 
 " Kittiwake 
 
 " Loon 
 
 Bail 
 
 " Eedpoll 
 
 " Sandhill Crane 
 
 " Savanna Sparrow.. 
 
 Tern 
 
 " Wild Goose 
 
 Oompsothlypis americana . . 
 
 Connecticut Warbler 
 
 Contopus borealis 
 
 " virens 
 
 Cooper's Hawk 
 
 Coot, American 
 
 " Sea 
 
 Coot-footed Tringa 
 
 Cormorant, Doutile-orested . 
 
 Cormorants 
 
 CorvidEB 
 
 Corvusamericanus 
 
 " corax sin uatus 
 
 " ossifragus 
 
 Cowbird 
 
 " Common 
 
 Crake, Carolina 
 
 " Little Black 
 
 " Yellow 
 
 Crane, Common Brown 
 
 Sandhill.... 
 
 ", Sandhill 
 
 " Southern Sandhill 
 
 White 
 
 Whooping 
 
 .260-; 
 
 Cranes . 
 
 Creeper, Brown 
 
 Creepers 
 
 Crescent Swallow 
 
 Crested Flycatcher 
 
 Crossbill, American 
 
 " " Eed. 
 
 " Eed «L 
 
 " White- winged. 
 
 4a 
 
 7 
 
 232 
 
 
 232 
 
 42l> 
 
 233 
 
 
 2, 3, 65 
 
 
 338 
 
 
 77 
 
 24() 
 
 77 
 
 
 2B9 
 
 
 296 
 
 ;-i25 
 
 209 
 
 
 299 
 
 ms 
 
 112 
 
 2.^H 
 
 113 
 
 47 
 
 24 
 
 ]7H 
 
 90 
 
 427 
 
 91 
 
 42U 
 
 92 
 
 B7 
 
 82 
 
 327 
 
 297 
 
 3f)l 
 
 250 
 
 865 
 
 M3 
 
 m 
 
 94 
 
 -224 
 
 95 
 
 22(1 
 
 96 
 
 221 
 
 97 
 
 2;^ 
 
 93 
 
 l.W 
 
 98 
 
 ■riH 
 
 100 
 
 -17H 
 
 101 
 
 
 100 
 
 t) 
 
 102 
 
 .■) 
 
 103 
 
 » 
 
 104 
 
 
 68 
 
 
 
 109 
 
 
 
 188 
 
 
 
 184 
 
 
 
 227 
 
 
 
 163 
 
 
 
 213 
 
 
 
 269 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 
 
 278 
 
 
 
 345 
 
 
 
 264 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 162 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 2;^ 
 
 287 
 
 
 53 
 
 37f) 
 
 105 
 
 SH7 
 
 157 
 
 2tH 
 
 106 
 
 2S0 
 
 107 
 
 181 
 
 3 
 
 KIH 
 
 150 
 
 
 224, 225 
 
 
 116 
 
 27 
 
 239 
 
 
 238 
 
 -271 
 
 108 
 
 •m 
 
 109 
 
 2(iB 
 
 110 
 
 270 
 
 111 
 
 272 
 
 213 
 
 
 213 
 
 
 264 
 
 
 365 
 
 
 268 
 
 
 163 
 
 
 163 
 
 ua 
 
 1B3 
 
 
 162 
 
 
 38,161 
 
 M8 
 
 161 
 
 
 160. 329 
 
 4211 
 
 84 
 
 
 85 
 
 
 250 
 
 245 
 
 215 
 
 2H5 
 
 195 
 
 
 195 
 
 
 •195 
 
 2 
 
 » 
 
 196 
 
 31 z 
 
472 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Grow 
 
 " American 
 
 '^ Oomnaon American 
 
 " Fish ;. 
 
 " Kain 
 
 " Southeastern Fish 
 
 Grow Blackbird 
 
 •' " Gommon 
 
 " " Purple 
 
 Grow Duck 
 
 Grown Sparrow, Hooded 
 
 " " White-browed... 
 
 White-throated . 
 
 Grows 
 
 Orymophilus lulicarius 
 
 Guculldte 220-222 
 
 Guckold 
 
 Guckoo, Black-billed 
 
 " Yellow-billed... 
 
 Cuckoo-like birds 
 
 Cuckoos 
 
 Curlew, Eskimo 
 
 •' Hudsonian , 
 
 " Jack 
 
 Long-billed 
 
 Gyanocitta cristata 
 
 Dabohick 
 
 Daflla acuta 
 
 Day Owl 
 
 Dendragapus canadensis 
 Dendroioa sestiva 
 
 " blackburniae 
 
 " castanea 
 
 " Ccerulea 
 
 " oaerulesoens. 
 
 •' coronata 
 
 " maculosa.... _ 
 
 " palmarum 393 
 
 " pensylvanloa 
 
 " striata 
 
 " tigrina 
 
 " vigorsii 
 
 virens 
 
 Dickcissel . 
 Diedapper. 
 
 Dipper 
 
 Diver, 
 
 Black- throated 
 
 " Great Northern 
 
 " Bed-throated 
 
 Diving Birds 
 
 Dollchonyx orizivorus 
 
 Domestic Duck 
 
 Double-crested Cormorant., 
 
 Doughbird 
 
 Dove, Carolina 
 
 " Mourning 
 
 •' Turtle 
 
 Wild., 
 
 Doves. 
 
 Dowitoher, Long-billed 
 
 " Western 
 
 Downy Woodpecker 
 
 Dryobates pubescens 
 
 " villosus 
 
 Duck, American Scaup 
 
 " Big Scaup 
 
 " Black 
 
 " Grow 
 
 " Domestic 
 
 " Dusky 
 
 " Fish 
 
 " Gray 
 
 " Greater Scaup 
 
 " Harlequin 
 
 ■' Lesser Scaup 
 
 " Long-tailed 
 
 " Mallard 
 
 " Pin-tail 
 
 " Kaft 
 
 " Bing-neck 
 
 " Eing-necked 
 
 " Tluddy ». 
 
 " Shoveller 
 
 " Spirit 
 
 " Spoon-bill 
 
 
 109 
 
 267 
 
 109 
 
 
 109 
 
 270 
 
 111 
 
 
 Bd 
 
 
 111 
 
 
 
 
 269 
 
 
 269 
 
 
 150 
 
 
 360 
 
 
 359 
 
 
 358 
 
 
 108 
 
 112 
 
 116 
 
 -222 
 
 lU 
 
 
 213 
 
 221 
 
 97 
 
 220 
 
 96 
 
 
 97 
 
 
 114 
 
 14K 
 
 216 
 
 U7 
 
 217 
 
 
 217 
 
 14.5 
 
 218 
 
 2tia 
 
 115 
 
 
 261 
 
 4« 
 
 117 
 
 
 307 
 
 158 
 
 118 
 
 ;-i7K 
 
 119 
 
 ■m 
 
 120 
 
 m 
 
 123 
 
 HM 
 
 121 
 
 370 
 
 123 
 
 3S1 
 
 124 
 
 382 
 
 125 
 
 393 
 
 126 
 
 am 
 
 127 
 
 HKK 
 
 128 
 
 377 
 
 129 
 
 392 
 
 130 
 
 391 
 
 131 
 
 344 
 
 295 
 
 
 261 
 
 
 81, 261 
 
 
 345 
 
 
 344 
 
 
 345 
 
 
 346 
 
 
 266 
 
 271 
 
 132 
 
 
 22 
 
 2? 
 
 239 
 
 
 216 
 
 
 357 
 
 172 
 
 357 
 
 
 357 
 
 
 357 
 
 
 100 
 
 !22 
 
 198 
 
 
 198 
 
 227 
 
 133 
 
 227 
 
 133 
 
 22,5 
 
 134 
 
 58 
 
 49 
 
 
 49 
 
 40 
 
 26 
 
 
 150 
 
 
 2-d 
 
 
 26 
 
 
 205 
 
 
 27 
 
 
 49 
 
 68 
 
 174 
 
 60 
 
 46 
 
 
 82 
 
 
 22 
 
 
 117 
 
 
 49 
 
 
 48 
 
 62 
 
 48 
 
 71 
 
 142 
 
 81 
 
INDEX. 
 
 473 
 
 Duck, Summer 
 
 •• Surf 
 
 " Tame 
 
 " Wild..... 
 
 •' ■WhiterWinged Surf. 
 
 " Wood 
 
 Duck Hawk 
 
 Duel's 
 
 Dusky Duck 
 
 Eagle. Bald 
 
 Golden 
 
 " Bine-tailed 
 
 ' ' Whfte-headed Sea . 
 Eagle 
 
 51 
 109 
 
 196 
 195 
 
 Eastern Fox Sparrow . . . . 
 " Hermit Thrush . 
 
 " House Wren 
 
 " Snowbird 
 
 Wild Turkey.... 
 
 Eaves Swallow 
 
 Ectopistes migratorius .. 
 
 Egret, American 
 
 " Great White 
 
 " Little White 
 
 " Snowy. 
 
 Eider. King 
 
 Elanoides forficatus 
 
 Empldouax acadicus 
 
 " flaviventris . 
 
 minimus . 
 
 ^ " pusillus traillii 
 
 English Snipe 
 
 Ereunetes pusillus 
 
 Erismatura rutida 
 
 Eskimo Ourlew 
 
 Evening Grosbeak 
 
 Falco columbarius 
 
 " peregrinus anatum 
 
 ■' riohardsonli 
 
 " rusticolus syrfaloo 
 
 " sparverius 
 
 FalGon, Peregrine 
 
 " Eusty-crowned 
 
 Falcons 
 
 Falconidae 176 
 
 Ferruginous Rough-leg 
 
 "Rough-legged Buzzard 
 
 Field Lark 
 
 ■' Plover 
 
 " Sparrow 
 
 Finch, Grass 
 
 " Lark i 
 
 *' Indigo Painted 
 
 " Pine 
 
 " Purple 
 
 " Sharp-tailed ^ 
 
 Finches : 
 
 Firebird 
 
 Fish Duck 
 
 " Crow 
 
 " Hawk 
 
 Flicker 
 
 If locking Fowl 
 
 Florida Gallinule 
 
 Flycatcher, Acadian 
 
 " Crested 
 
 " Great Crested 
 
 " Least 
 
 " Olive-sided 
 
 ** Pewit 
 
 " Small Green Crested 
 
 Traill's 
 
 Yellow-hellied 
 
 171 
 91 
 
 176 
 253 
 252 
 256 
 255 
 
 128 
 71 
 148 
 291 
 200 
 199 
 201 
 198 
 202 
 
 ■205 
 194 
 
 Flycatchers j... 
 Forster's Tern . 
 Fowls . 
 
 Fox Sparrow, 
 
 " " Eastern 
 
 Fresh-water Marsh Hen 
 
 FringillidaB 
 
 Frostbird 
 
 Fulica americana 
 
 Gad wall * 
 
 Galeoscoptes carolinensis 
 
 Gallinaceous Birds 
 
 Gallinae I55. 
 
 270 
 
 235 
 
 108 
 253 
 245 
 
 256 
 248 
 
 255 
 262 
 
 22 
 
 291-347 
 
 109 
 
 41 
 
 408 
 
 170 
 
 10 
 
 225 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 225 
 
 10 
 
 144 
 
 28 
 
 26 
 
 164 
 
 35 
 
 35 
 
 164 
 
 148 
 
 235 
 
 334 
 
 328 
 
 180 
 
 201 
 
 260 
 
 135 
 
 302 
 136 
 137 
 138 
 139 
 140 
 153 
 141 
 142 
 216 
 94 
 143 
 144 
 145 
 146 
 147 
 144 
 147 
 148 
 148 
 
 308 
 51,79 
 298 
 263 
 112 
 237 
 293 
 74 
 14 
 149 
 178 
 205 
 111 
 230 
 98 
 49 
 154 
 137 
 215 
 215 
 139 
 106 
 279 
 137 
 140 
 137 
 
 152 
 235 
 235 
 271 
 149 
 
 79 
 150 
 
 27 
 151 
 1,52' 
 152 
 
474 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 GalUnaeo delicata ]20 
 
 Gallinula galeata 108 
 
 Gallinule, Common 
 
 Florida 108 
 
 Garret -f. 
 
 " Bocky Mountain ' 
 
 Geothlypis agliis 397 
 
 " pniladelpliia 398 
 
 " trichas 309 
 
 Glaucionetta clangula amerioana 64 
 
 " Islandioa 65 
 
 Gnat-oatcher, Blue-gray 432 
 
 Goatsuckers 
 
 God wit, American Black-tailed 
 
 " Great Marbled '. 
 
 " Hudsonian / 132 
 
 Marbled 130 
 
 Golden Eagle 195 
 
 " Plover 
 
 " Robin '. 
 
 " Warbler 
 
 Golden-crested Kinglet 
 
 Golden-crowned Accentor 
 
 Kinglet 430 
 
 " Thrush 
 
 " Wag-tail Warbler 
 
 Golden-eye, 
 
 " American 64 
 
 " Barrow's 65- 
 
 Golden- winged Woodpecker 
 
 Warbler 372 
 
 Goldfinch, American 300 
 
 Goosander 
 
 Goose, American White-fronted 75 
 
 " Barnacle ' 
 
 " Brant 
 
 " Canada *. 77 
 
 " Common Wild 
 
 ' GreaterSnow 75 
 
 " Hutchins's 80 
 
 " Lesser Snow 73 
 
 ■ *' Snow 
 
 " Wild 
 
 " White-fronted 
 
 Goshawk, ..^ 
 
 " 1 American 183 
 
 Grackle, Blue-headed 
 
 Purple 288 
 
 " Rusty 
 
 Grass Finch 
 
 " Plover 
 
 " Sparrow 
 
 Grasshopper Sparrow 313 
 
 Grass-snipe 
 
 Gray Duck 
 
 " Gy rf alcon .' : . . . 
 
 " Jay 
 
 , " Phalarope 
 
 Gray-back 
 
 Gray-cheeked Thrush 438 
 
 Great Blue Heron 89 
 
 " Carolina Wren 
 
 " Crested Flycatcher 
 
 " GrayOwl 211 
 
 " Horned Owl 215 
 
 " Marbled Godwit 
 
 •' Northern Diver 
 
 Shrike 
 
 " White Egret 
 
 Greater Long-beak 
 
 Scaup Duck 
 
 " Snow Goose 75 
 
 Telltale 
 
 " Yellow-legs....*. 133 
 
 Yellow-shanks ' 
 
 Great-footed Hawk 
 
 Grebe, American Eared 8 
 
 " " Red-necked 
 
 " Horned 6 
 
 -" Pied-billed 8 
 
 " Red-necked 5 
 
 " Western .4 
 
 Grebes 
 
 Green Heron 93 
 
 Green-head 
 
 133 
 
 154 
 
 154 
 
 153, 
 
 155 
 
 156 
 
 28 
 157 
 158 
 159 
 155 
 156 
 262 
 
 72 
 192 
 191 
 192 
 191 
 
 35 
 
 79 
 178 
 319 
 277 
 281 
 277 
 281 
 281 
 155 
 155 
 
INDEX. 475 
 
 Grecnlet, '. 352 
 
 Bell's 348 
 
 Blue-headed 354 
 
 " Brotherly-love , .. 353 
 
 Bed-eyed...... 358 
 
 Solitary 354 
 
 Yellow-throated 349 
 
 Warbling 350 
 
 White-eyed 351 
 
 Greenlets 355 
 
 Green-winged Teal 44 23 
 
 " " American . 23 
 
 Grosbeak, Cardinal . . 73 
 
 Evening 291 94 
 
 Pine 293 248 
 
 Eose-breasted 340' 163 
 
 Song 163 
 
 Groundbird 203 
 
 Grouse .. 318 
 
 Canada 158 118 
 
 Pinnated 338 
 
 Prairie 338 
 
 Sharp-tailed 168 244 
 
 Kuffed 160 56 
 
 Spotted 118 
 
 Spruce 118 
 
 " Willow 181 
 
 Gruidae 98-102 160 
 
 Grus, americana , 98 161 
 
 " mexicana ,. 99 162 
 
 Gull, American Herring 16 186 
 
 " Black-headed 187 
 
 " Bonaparte's ,. 20 189 
 
 Rosy 189 
 
 " Common American .. 188 
 
 " Klttiwake 278 
 
 " LaughiDg 19 187 
 
 ■' Eingrbilled 18 188 
 
 Gulls..." 185 
 
 Gyrfalcon, 198 146 
 
 " American Continental 146 
 
 Gray 146 
 
 H abia ludoviciana 340 163 
 
 Hairbird 299 
 
 Hairy Woodpecker 235 134 
 
 HaliEBetus leuoocephalus 196 164 
 
 Hangnest 178 
 
 Harlequin Duck 68 174 
 
 Jtlarporhynchusrufus 413 165 
 
 Harrier, American Marsh 90 
 
 " Marsh 90 
 
 Harris's Sparrow 320 360 
 
 Hawk, American Marsh .. 90 
 
 Eough-legged 193 37 
 
 " " Sparrow 203 147 
 
 Black 37 
 
 Blue 90 
 
 " Hen 2 
 
 " Broad-winged 190 64 
 
 California Squirrel 36 
 
 Chicken : 3,2,65 
 
 " Cooper's isi 3 
 
 " DucTk 199 144 
 
 " Fish 230 
 
 " Great-footed 144 
 
 Hen 61 
 
 Krider's 186 63 
 
 Marsh 178 90 
 
 " Night ^ 238 113 
 
 " Pigeon 200' 4,143 
 
 Eed-shouldered 188 65 
 
 " Eed-tailed 185 61 
 
 " Kichardson's Pigeon .. 145 
 
 " Sharp-shinned 180 4 
 
 " Sparrow ; 147 
 
 " Swainson's 189 66 
 
 . " Winter 65 
 
 Hawks 148 
 
 Hawk Owl, 307 
 
 " " American 219 307 
 
 Heath Heu , 338 
 
 Hell-diver 261 
 
 Helminthophila celata 374 166 
 
 " ohrysoptera 372 167 
 
 " peregrina>. 375 168 
 
 Pinus 371 169 
 
476 INDEX. 
 
 Helmlnthdphlla ruficapilla 373 170 
 
 Hen, Heajjh 338 
 
 " Indian... .. 58 
 
 " Prairie 162 338 
 
 HermltThrush 440 334 
 
 " " Eastern 334 
 
 Herodlones 85-97 171 
 
 Heron, Black-crowned Night 95 222 
 
 " GreatBlue 89 40 
 
 " Green 93 41 
 
 Snqwy 92 38 
 
 White 39 
 
 Yellow-crowned Night 96 223 
 
 Herons 42,171 
 
 High-holder ; 98 
 
 Himantopus mexioanus ," 116 J72 
 
 HlrundinidEB 350-356 173 
 
 HistrlOnicus hlstrionicus ; 68 174 
 
 Hooded Grown Sparrow 360 
 
 " Flycatchlng Warbler 311 
 
 " Merganser 36 194 
 
 Warbler 401 311 
 
 Hoot Owl 60,314 
 
 HornedGrebe 6 102 
 
 Lark 228 
 
 House Wren '. 416 328 
 
 " •' Eastern 328 
 
 " " Western 339 
 
 Hudsoniau Curlew 147 217 
 
 Godwlt 132 192 
 
 Hummingbird, Ruby-throated '. 241 337 
 
 Hummingbirds 197,326 
 
 Hutohins's Goose ; ' SO 54 
 
 Hydrocbelidon nigra surinamensis 25 175 
 
 Icteria virens 400 177 
 
 Icteridae 271-290 176 
 
 Icterus g?ilbula 281 178 
 
 " spurius 280 179 
 
 Imperial Tern . 288 
 
 Indian Hen . . 58 
 
 Indigo Painted Finch 237 
 
 Indlgobird > 237 
 
 Indigo Bunting 343 237 
 
 Jack, Whiskey 249 
 
 Jack Curlew . . 217 
 
 Jack-snipe 153, 321 
 
 Jay, Blue 262 115 
 
 " Canada : '. 265 249 
 
 " Gray : 249 
 
 Jays 108 
 
 Junco, Slate-colored 329 180 
 
 Junoo hiemalis 329 180 
 
 Killdeer, 151 8 
 
 " Plover 8 
 
 KingElder 68 302 
 
 " Rail 102 271 
 
 Kingbird 243 340 
 
 Kingfisher, Belted /.....: 223 86 
 
 Kingfishers 12 
 
 Kinglet, Golden-crested .. 277 
 
 Golden-crowned 430 277 
 
 " Ruby-crowned 431 276 
 
 Kinglets 312 
 
 Kite, Swallow-tailed 176 136 
 
 Kittlwake 15 278 
 
 ■' Common .' .. 278 
 
 Kittlwake Gull 278 
 
 Knot 124 320 
 
 Krider'sHawk 186 63 
 
 Red-tail 63 
 
 Ladder-backed Three-toed Woodpecker 255 
 
 Lagopus lagopus 162 181 
 
 Laniidse 360-362 182 
 
 Lanius borealis 360 183 
 
 " ludovicianus exoubitorides 361 184 
 
 Lapland longspur.... 306 68 
 
 Larldae 15-27 185 
 
 Lark, Brown 31 
 
 " Field 308 
 
 " Horned 228 
 
 " Meadow 278 309 
 
 " Old-field 308 
 
 " Prairie Horned 258 228 
 
 " Shore ■ 228 
 
 Lark B untiD ^ 346 67 
 
 '• Pinch 112 
 
INDEX. 477 
 
 Lark Sparrow 318 112 
 
 Larks. 11 
 
 Larus argentatus stnithsonianus 16 186 
 
 " atricilla 19 187 
 
 " delawarensis 18 188 
 
 " Philadelphia : 20 189 
 
 Laughing Gull : 19 187 
 
 Lawyer ' .. 172 
 
 Least Bittern 87 57 
 
 '• Flycatcher 256 139 
 
 " Sandpiper 127 322 
 
 " Tern 24 285 
 
 Leconte's Bunting 15 
 
 '■ Grasshopper Sparrow .. 15 
 
 " Sparrow 315 15 
 
 Lesser Scaup Duck, 60 46 
 
 •■ SnowGoose 73 88 
 
 " Tell-tale 323 
 
 Limicolaa 112-154 190 
 
 Ltmosafedoa 130 191 
 
 hsemastica 132 192 
 
 Lincoln's Song Sparrow 204 
 
 Sparrow 333 204 
 
 Linnet, Pine 293 
 
 Little Black Orake 265 
 
 " Black-head 46 
 
 " HornedOwl 199 
 
 '■ Sapsucker .. 134 
 
 " WhiteEgrfet 38 
 
 Logcock , .- . . 83 
 
 Loggerhead Shrike .. 184 
 
 Long-hilled Curlew 145 218 
 
 Dowitcher 122 198 
 
 •' Marsh Wren 431 91 
 
 Long-eared Owl . . 45 
 
 Longipennes 15-33 193 
 
 Long-legged Tattler 324 
 
 Long-shanks . . i . 172 
 
 Longspur, Black-shouldered . . 69 
 
 " Chestnut-collared 308 69 
 
 " Lapland 306 68 
 
 Painted 70 
 
 Smith's ;.,,..- 307 70 
 
 White-tailed 69 
 
 Long-tailed Chicadee 429 233 
 
 '■ ■ Ouok...., ■ 82 
 
 Long-winged Swimmers . . 193 
 
 Loon, )0 345 
 
 •' Black-throated 13 344 
 
 ' " Common .. 345 
 
 " Ked-throated 13 346 
 
 Loons .. 347 
 
 Lophody tes oucullatus \. . 36 194 
 
 ' Lords and Ladies 174 
 
 Louisiana Pipit . . 31 
 
 Loxia curvirostra minor 295 195 
 
 " leuooptera 298 196 
 
 Macrochires 237-242 197 
 
 Maororhamphus scolopaceus 122 198 
 
 Magnolia 125 
 
 Warbler 383 125 
 
 Magpie 252 
 
 American 260 252 
 
 Mallard : 38 22 
 
 Duck 22 
 
 Marhled Godwit 130 191 
 
 Marlin, 191 
 
 Eine-talled 192 
 
 Marsh Blackbird 9 
 
 " Harrier .. 90 
 
 " "H awk 178 90 
 
 " Hen, Freshwater 271 
 
 " Owl ' 44 
 
 , ■• Eobin 357 
 
 Martin, Bee . 340 
 
 Purple 350 267 
 
 " Sand .- 93 
 
 Maryland Yellow-throat 399 159 
 
 'Meadowlark 378 308 
 
 Western 280 309 
 
 Meadftw-wink . . 132 
 
 Megasoops asio 214 199 
 
 Melanerpes ery throcephalus 33t 300 
 
 Meleagris gallopavo 189 301 
 
 Melospiza lasciata 331 202 
 
 ■' georgiana 334 203 
 
478 INDEX. 
 
 Melospiza lincolni 333 204 
 
 Merganser, . . 205 
 
 " American Hi 205 
 
 Hooded 36 194 
 
 Ked-breasted 35 206 
 
 Merganser americanus 34 205 
 
 serrator : 35 206 
 
 Merlin, American . . 143, 145 
 
 Eichardson's 201 145 
 
 Merala migratoria , 442 207 
 
 " " propinqua .: 445 208 
 
 Mexican BlueWrd - 289 
 
 Micropalama himautopus 523 2l'9 
 
 Mioropodldae : 240-241 210 
 
 Missouri Skylark. .. 33 
 
 Titlark 32 
 
 Mniotilta yaria 370 211 
 
 Mniotiltidas 370-404 212 
 
 Mockingbirds , .. 331 
 
 Mocking Wren 342 
 
 - Molothrus ater 272 213 
 
 Moosebird s 249 
 
 Motaoillidas \. 405-407 214 
 
 Mottled Owl 199 
 
 Mourning Dove 172 357 
 
 Warbler ; 398 168 
 
 Mud-lien, Eed-billed 154 
 
 White-billed 150 
 
 MudSwallow '. 250 
 
 Myiarchus crinitus 245 215 
 
 Myrtle Bird 124 
 
 " Warbler 381 124 
 
 Nashville Warbler 373 170 
 
 New York Water Thrush 282 
 
 Night Heron, Black-crowned 95 222 
 
 Yellow-crowned 96 223 
 
 Nighthawk 238 113 
 
 Nightingale, Virginia 73 
 
 Night-jar 33 
 
 Northern Phalarope 113 241 
 
 Shrike 360 183 
 
 Waxwing 20 
 
 Nuraenius borealis i 148 210 
 
 hudsonlcus 147 217 
 
 " longirostris 145 218 
 
 Nuthatch, Canada .: 291 
 
 Carolina 292 
 
 Eed-bellied 291 
 
 Eed-breaSted 426 291 
 
 White-Dellled 292 
 
 " , White-breasted ^ 424 292 
 
 Nuthatches 231 
 
 Nyotala acadica 213 219 
 
 " tengmalma richardsoni 212 220 
 
 Nyctea nyctea 217 231 
 
 Nyoticorax nycticorax naevius 95 222 
 
 " violaceus 96 223 
 
 Oideraia amerioana 69 224 
 
 deglandi 70 225 
 
 Old-field Lark 308 
 
 Old-squ a w 67 82 
 
 Old-wile , 82 
 
 Olive-backed Thrush 439 337 
 
 Olive-sided Flycatcher 248 106 
 
 OlOr buccinator 83 226 
 
 ■' columbianus Si 227 
 
 Orange-crowned Warbler 374 166 
 
 Orange-throated Warbler .. 120 
 
 Orchard Oriole 260 179 
 
 Oriole, Baltimore 281 178 
 
 Orchard ; 280 179 
 
 Ortolan 284 
 
 Osprey 230 
 
 American > 204 230 
 
 Otooorls alpestris praticola 258 228 
 
 Oven-bird '. 395 281 
 
 Owl, Acadian 219 
 
 " American Barn 205 301 
 
 Hawk 219 307 
 
 " " Long-eared 207 45 
 
 Wood , 314 
 
 " Arctic American Saw-whet 220 
 
 '• Barn 30] 
 
 " Barred 210 314 
 
 " Cat : 60 
 
 " Day 307 
 
INDEX. 479 
 
 Owl, Groat Gray 2U 306 
 
 '■ GreatHorned ,... 213 60 
 
 ■■ Hawk.... ,..-. 307 
 
 '■ Hoot 60,314 
 
 " LlttleHorned 199 
 
 " Long-eared . 45 
 
 " Marsh ■ . 44 
 
 '■' Mottled 199 
 
 " Eed ■ 399 
 
 " Kiohardson's 212 220 
 
 " Saw-whet 213 219 
 
 " Screech 214 199 
 
 " Short-eared 208 44 
 
 " Snowy 217 221 
 
 " Sparrow 220 
 
 " Spectral 306 
 
 Owls, 59 
 
 " Barn 300 
 
 Ox-eye ; 80 
 
 Painted Longspur . . 70 
 
 Palm Warbler 393 126 
 
 - Paludicolae 98-111 229 
 
 Pandion hallaetos carolinensis 204 2;10 
 
 Paridaa 424-430 231 
 
 Parkman's Wren 418 329 
 
 Partridge 58, 318 
 
 " Spruce .. 118 
 
 " Virginia .. 99 
 
 Parula Warbler 376 105 
 
 Par as atrlcaplllus 427 232 
 
 " '■ septentrionalls 429 233 
 
 " bioolor : 427 234 
 
 Passenger Pigeon 171 135 
 
 ' Passerella iliaca f 336 235 
 
 Passeres ' 243-449 , 236 
 
 Passerind, cyanea 343 237 
 
 Passerine Birds . 236 
 
 Peabod.y-blrd . . 356 
 
 Pectoral Sandpiper 125 32] 
 
 PediooEetes phasianellus campestrls 168 244 
 
 Peep 141, 322 
 
 Peleoanldse 30-33 245 
 
 Pelecanus erythrorhynohus 30 246 
 
 '■ luscus 33 247 
 
 Pelican, American Bro'^n . . 247 
 
 " ' " White., 30 246 
 
 Brown 33 247 
 
 Pelicans , 245 
 
 ■ Penicola enuoleator 293 24 
 
 y, Peregrine Falcon .. 144 
 
 Perisoreus canadensis 265 249 
 
 PetrochelidoQ lunifrons 351 2S0 
 
 Pewee, Water 279 
 
 Wood ....: 250 107 
 
 Pewit 279 
 
 " Flycatcher 279 
 
 PhalacrocoracidEe < 27-29 238 
 
 Phalacrocorax dilophus .' 27 239 
 
 Phalarope, Gray .. 116 
 
 " Northern 113 241 
 
 Red 112 119 
 
 " Red-necked 241 
 
 Wilson's 114 242 
 
 Phalaropes .. 240 
 
 PhalaropodidEE 112-115 240 
 
 , , Phalaropus lobatus 113 241 
 
 tricolor 114 242 
 
 Phasianidte 169-170 243 
 
 Pheasant 56 
 
 Phfeasauts 243 
 
 Philadelphia vireo 364 353 
 
 Philohela minor 117 259 
 
 Phoebe 247 279 
 
 Pica pica hudsonica 260 252 
 
 Pioi 225-236 253 
 
 P.icidffi 225-236 254 
 
 Picoides americanus 229 265 
 
 " aroticus 228 256 
 
 Pied-hilled Grebe 8 261 
 
 Pigeon, Passenger 171 135 1 
 
 " Prairie 51 
 
 " Wild ;■.■. ■.; 135 
 
 Pigeon Hawk 300 4,143 
 
 " Woodpeclcer 98 
 
 Pigeons ;. 101 
 
 Pileated Woodpecker 232 83 
 
480 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Plue Pinch 
 
 " Grosbeak 
 
 " liinnet i 
 
 V Siskin 
 
 ". Warbler „ 
 
 Pine-creeping Warbler 
 
 Pinnated Grouse 
 
 Pintail 
 
 Pin- tall Duck 
 
 Pipilo erythrophthalmus. 
 Pipit, 
 
 American 
 
 " Louisiana 
 
 " Sprague's 
 
 Piranga. er.ythromelas 
 
 Pleotrophenax nivalis 
 
 Plover, American Golden . 
 
 " .Black-bellied 
 
 " Bull-head 
 
 " Field 
 
 " Golden 
 
 " Gra^s ; 
 
 Killdeer 
 
 " Ring 
 
 " Eing-neck 
 
 " Buddy 
 
 " Seraipalmated 
 
 " Swiss 
 
 " Upland 
 
 Whistling Field.... 
 
 Plovers . 
 
 Pochard 
 
 " American 
 
 PodicipidBB 
 
 Podllymbus podiceps 
 
 Polioptila csBiulea 
 
 Poocaetes gramineus 
 
 Porzana Carolina 
 
 " jamaicensis 
 
 " noveboracensis 
 
 Prairie Chicken 
 
 Hen 
 
 " Horned Lark 
 
 " Grouse ..; 
 
 " Pigeon , 
 
 " Sharp-tailed Grouse . 
 
 Progne subls ; 
 
 Prometheus 
 
 Ptarmigan, White 
 
 Willow 
 
 Purple Grow Blackbird. 
 
 " Finch 
 
 " Grackle 
 
 : " Martin 
 
 P.Vgopodes 
 
 Qua-blrd 
 
 Qaail, 
 
 " , Virginia 
 
 Quail Sparrow 
 
 Quiscalus qulscula. 
 
 Baft Duck -.. 
 
 Kail, Black 
 
 " Carolina 
 
 " Common 
 
 " King' 
 
 " Virginia 
 
 ■ " Yellow 
 
 Bails . 
 
 S93 
 302 
 
 19 
 
 338 
 
 405 
 
 406 
 348 
 304 
 149 
 148 
 
 152 
 
 4-9 
 8 
 432 
 ,309 
 105 
 108 
 107 
 
 162 
 258 
 
 168 
 350 
 
 162 
 
 294 
 288 
 350 
 4-14 
 
 108 
 
 102 
 103 
 107 
 
 248 
 293 
 293 
 330, 
 130 
 338 
 117 
 117 
 257 
 31 
 31 
 31 
 
 251 
 
 79 
 
 , 80 
 
 79,80 
 
 51,79 
 
 79 
 
 51 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 , 71 
 
 7 
 
 80 
 
 51 
 
 ' 80 
 
 78 
 
 47 
 
 47 
 
 260 
 
 261 
 
 262 
 
 263 
 
 264 
 
 Bain Crow 
 
 Ballidee 102-111 
 
 Eallus elegans 102 
 
 " virginianus 103 
 
 Eaptores 174-219 
 
 Eaven '. 
 
 " American 266 
 
 Becurvlrostra americana 115 
 
 Eecur virostridse 115-117 
 
 Ked Cross-bill 
 
 " Owl 
 
 " Phalarope 112 
 
 Bed-and-buff-shouldered Marsh Blackbird 
 
 Eed-bellied Nuthatch 
 
 " Snipe 
 
 Eed-billed Mud-hen 
 
 Eedbird 
 
 " Cardinal 
 
 338 
 
 51 
 
 . 244 
 
 267 
 
 120 
 
 181 
 
 181 
 
 269 
 
 74 
 
 269 
 
 267 
 
 268 
 
 222 
 
 99,319 
 
 99 
 
 17 
 
 269 
 
 49 
 
 265 
 
 264 
 
 264 
 
 271 
 
 272 
 
 266 
 
 229, 270 
 
 96 
 
 270 
 
 271 
 
 272 
 
 273 
 
 110 
 
 110 
 
 274 
 
 275 
 
 195 
 
 199 
 
 116 
 
 9 
 
 291 
 
 198 
 
 154 
 
 73 
 
 73 
 
INDEX. 481 
 
 Bed-breast, American . . . 
 
 Bed-breasted Merganser 
 
 " Nuthatch . 
 
 " Sandpiper. 
 
 Bed-eyed Greenlet 
 
 " Vlreo 
 
 Bedhead 
 
 Bed-headed Woodpeclcer 
 
 Bed-necked Grebe 
 
 " Phalarope.. 
 
 EedpoU, 299 
 
 '* Common 
 Bedboll Linnet... 
 '' Warbler . 
 
 Bed-shouldered Buzzard 
 
 " Hawlc 
 
 Bedstart, American 
 
 Bedtail, Black 
 
 " Krider's 
 
 " Western 
 
 Bed-tailed Buzzard... 
 
 " Hawlc 
 
 Eed-throated Diver 
 
 " Loon 
 
 Bed-winged Blackbird 
 
 E^ed-bird 
 
 Eegulus calendula 
 
 " satrapa 
 
 Eice-bird 
 
 Blchardson's Merlin 
 
 Owl 
 
 " Pigeon Hawk 
 
 Bing-blUed Gull 
 
 Bing-neok ? 
 
 " Duck 
 
 " Plover 
 
 Eing-necked Duck 
 
 Eing Plover 
 
 Elng-tailed Eagle 
 
 " Marlin 
 
 Eissa tridaotyla 
 
 Bobin, 
 
 Allied 
 
 " American 
 
 " Golden 
 
 " Marsh 
 
 " Western 
 
 Eobin-snipe 
 
 Eocky Mountain Garrot 
 
 Eose-breasted Grosbeak 
 
 I " Son^ Grosbeak 
 
 Bough-leg, Ferruginous 
 
 Itough- winged Swallow ., 
 
 Euby-orowned Kinglet 
 
 Euby-tbroateJ Hummingbird 
 
 Buddy Duclc 
 
 " Plover 
 
 Buffed Grouse 
 
 EustyBlaokbird 
 
 " Grackle 
 
 Busty-crowned Falcon 
 
 Sanderling 129 
 
 Sandhill Crane "" 
 
 Sand Martin '. 
 
 Sand-peep 
 
 Sandpiper, American Green 
 
 " Ash-colored 
 
 " Baird's 
 
 " Bartramian 
 
 " Buff-breasted : 
 
 '* Least 
 
 " Pectoral 
 
 " Bed- breasted 
 
 '• Semi-palmated 
 
 '• Solitary 
 
 " Spotted : 
 
 Stilt 
 
 •' Upland 
 
 Sapsucker 
 
 Big 
 
 " Little 
 
 " yellow-bellied 
 
 Savanna Sparrow, 
 
 '• *' Common 
 
 Saw-whet Owl, .' 
 
 " " Arctic American 
 
 
 207 
 
 35 
 
 206 
 
 426 
 
 291 
 
 
 320 
 
 
 352 
 
 362 
 
 3.52 
 
 55 
 
 47 
 
 234 
 
 200 
 
 5 
 
 103 
 
 
 241 
 
 299 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 126 
 
 
 65 
 
 1HS 
 
 69 
 
 403 
 
 283 
 
 
 62 
 
 
 63 
 
 187 
 
 62 
 
 
 61 
 
 185 
 
 61 
 
 
 346 
 
 13 
 
 346 
 
 277 
 
 9 
 
 
 132 
 
 431 
 
 276 
 
 430 
 
 277 
 
 
 132 
 
 201 
 
 145 
 
 312 
 
 320 
 
 
 145 
 
 1R 
 
 188 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 48 
 
 
 7 
 
 62 
 
 48 
 
 
 7 
 
 
 35 
 
 
 192 
 
 15 
 
 278 
 
 
 207 
 
 
 208 
 
 442 
 
 207 
 
 
 178 
 
 
 257 
 
 445 
 
 208 
 
 
 320 
 
 
 156 
 
 340 
 
 163 
 
 
 163 
 
 194 
 
 36 
 
 356 
 
 284 
 
 431 
 
 276 
 
 241 
 
 327 
 
 71 
 
 142 
 
 
 71 
 
 160 
 
 56 
 
 284 
 
 303 
 
 
 303 
 
 
 147 
 
 129 
 
 71 
 
 99 
 
 162 
 
 
 93 
 
 
 141 
 
 
 335 
 
 
 320 
 
 12« 
 
 319 
 
 141 
 
 51 
 
 142 
 
 343 
 
 127 
 
 322 
 
 125 
 
 .121 
 
 
 320 
 
 12K 
 
 141 
 
 136 
 
 325 
 
 144 
 
 5 
 
 123 
 
 209 
 
 
 51 
 
 
 292 
 
 
 134 
 
 
 133 
 
 2:-i0 
 
 315 
 
 311 
 
 16 
 
 
 16 
 
 213 
 
 219 
 
 
 ■220 
 
482 INDEX. 
 
 Sayornis phoebe 247 279 
 
 Scarlet Tanager 348 258 
 
 Scaup Duck, American 58 49 
 
 " • " Lesser 60 46 
 
 Scolecophagusearollnus 284 303 
 
 " cy anocephalus 286 304 
 
 Soolopacidae 117-U8 305 
 
 Scoter. American 69 224 
 
 Blacli; 224 
 
 " Velvet 225 
 
 White-winged 70 225 
 
 Scotiaptex cinerea 211 306 
 
 Screech Owl 214 199 
 
 Sea Coot 224,225 
 
 " Swallow 287 
 
 Seiurus aurocapillus 395 281 
 
 noveboracensis 396- 282 
 
 Semi-palmated Plover 152 7 
 
 " Sandpiper 128 141 
 
 Tattftr 313 
 
 Setophaga rutlcllla ; 403 283 
 
 Sharp-shinned Hawk.. 180 4 
 
 Sharp-tailed Finch 14 
 
 " Sparrow 318 14, 
 
 Sheldrake 194 
 
 Shore-birds 190 
 
 Shore Lark 228 
 
 Short-hilled Marsh Wren 420 92 
 
 Short-eared Owl 208 44 
 
 Short-tailed Tern 175 
 
 Shoveller .-.' 47 280 
 
 Duck 280 
 
 Shrike, Common American . . 184 
 
 " Great Northern '. 183 
 
 " Loggerhead .. 184 
 
 " Northern 360 183 
 
 White-rumped 361 184 
 
 Shrikes 182 
 
 Shuffler 49 
 
 Sialia taexicana 448 289 
 
 " siaMs , 447 290 
 
 Sickle-bill 218 
 
 Silver-tongue . 202 
 
 Siskin, American : . . . . 293 
 
 Pine 302 293 
 
 Sitta canadensis 426 291 
 
 " carolinensis 424 292 
 
 Skunk Blackbird 132 
 
 Skylark, Missouri 32 
 
 Slate-colored Junco 329 180 
 
 Small Green- crested Flycatcher 137 
 
 Smith's Longspur 307 70 
 
 Snipe 305 
 
 '• American . 153- 
 
 " English 153 
 
 " Grass 321 
 
 " Jack 153,321 
 
 " Eed-bellied 198 
 
 " Eobin 320 
 
 " Stone 324 
 
 " Wilson's 120 153 
 
 Snow Bunting 251 
 
 " Goose 88,89 
 
 Snowbird . 180 
 
 Black 180 
 
 " Eastern .. 180 
 
 Snowflake 304 251 
 
 Snowy Egret , . . 38 
 
 ' " Heron 92 38 
 
 " Owl 217 221 
 
 Solitary Greenlet . . 354 
 
 Sandpiper : 136 325 
 
 Tattler 325 
 
 Somateria spectahilis 68 - 302 
 
 SongSparrow 331 202 
 
 " Lincoln's 204 
 
 Swamp 203 
 
 Sora 105 264 
 
 Southeastern Pish Grow . . HI 
 
 Southern Sandhill Crane .. 162 
 
 South-southerly . . '82 
 
 Sparrow, Baird's 313 13 
 
 " " Savanna .. 13 
 
 " Black-hooded 360 
 
 Chipping 325 299 
 
 Clay-colored 327 297 
 
INDEX. 
 
 483 
 
 Sparrow, Common Savanna 
 
 , " Eastern Fox 
 
 Held 
 
 " Fox 
 
 J " Grass • 
 
 " Grasshopper 
 
 " Harris's 
 
 " .Hooded Crown 
 
 " Lark 
 
 " Leconte's 
 
 " " Grasshopper . 
 
 " Lincoln's 
 
 " " Song 
 
 Owl, 
 
 " Quail 
 
 " Savanna 
 
 " Sharp-tailed 
 
 " Song 
 
 " Swamp 
 
 " " Song 
 
 *' Tree 
 
 ' Vesjier 
 
 " Whfte-browed Crown... 
 
 " White-crowned 
 
 " White-throated 
 
 " " Crown . 
 
 " Yellow-winged 
 
 Sparrow Hawk 
 
 Spatula clypeata 
 
 Speckle-belly 
 
 Speckle-bill 
 
 Spectral Owl 
 
 Spinas pinna 
 
 " tristls 
 
 Spirit-duck 
 
 Spiza americana 
 
 Spizella montioola 
 
 " pallida 
 
 " pusilla 
 
 " socialis 
 
 Sphyrapieus varius 
 
 Spoonbill Duck 
 
 Spotted Grouse 
 
 r " Sandpiper 
 
 ^Prague's Pipit 
 
 Sprig-tail 
 
 Spruce Grouse 
 
 ' '• Partridge 
 
 Squawk 
 
 Stake-driver 
 
 Starlings 
 
 Stelgidopteryx serripennis 
 
 Sterna antillarum 
 
 , '" forsteri 
 
 " hirundo 
 
 tschegrava 
 
 Stilt, . 
 
 " Black-necked 
 
 Stilt Sandpiper 
 
 Stilts 
 
 Stint, American 
 
 " Wilson's 
 
 Stone-chat 
 
 Stone-snipe 
 
 Storks 
 
 StrlgldsB 205- 
 
 Strix pratincola 
 
 Sturnella magna 
 
 *' " neglecta 
 
 Summer Duck .- 
 
 " Warbler 
 
 " Yellowbird 
 
 Surf Duck 
 
 Surf-birds - 
 
 Surnia ulula oaparoch 
 
 Swainson's Buzzard 
 
 " Hawk 
 
 Swallow, Bank 
 
 " Barn 
 
 *' Chimney 
 
 Cliff .'. 
 
 " Orescent 
 
 " Eaves 
 
 " Mud 
 
 " Eough-winged 
 
 '\ Sea 
 
 328 
 336 
 
 3i3 
 
 318 
 315 
 
 333 
 
 311 
 318 
 331 
 
 334 
 
 323 
 309 
 
 320 
 322 
 
 47 
 
 302 
 300 
 
 344 
 323 
 327 
 328 
 325 
 230 
 
 144 
 406 
 
 356 
 24 
 22 
 23 
 21 
 
 lie 
 
 133 
 
 ■207 
 205 
 278 
 280 
 
 219 
 
 1H9 
 355 
 352 
 
 351 
 
 358 
 
 16 
 235 
 
 298 
 
 235 
 
 263 
 
 17 
 
 360 
 
 360 
 
 112 
 
 15 
 
 15 
 
 204 
 
 204 
 
 220 
 
 17 
 
 16 
 
 14 
 
 202 
 
 203 
 
 203 
 
 296 
 
 263 
 
 359 
 
 359 
 
 358 
 
 358 
 
 17 
 
 147 
 
 280 
 
 29 
 
 S9 
 
 306 
 
 293 
 
 294 
 
 81 
 
 ,295 
 
 296 
 
 297 
 
 298 
 
 299 
 
 315 
 
 280 
 
 118 
 
 5 
 
 32 
 
 117 
 
 118 
 
 118 
 
 222 
 
 58 
 
 176 
 
 284 
 
 285 
 
 286 
 
 287 
 
 288 
 
 172 
 
 172 
 
 2tl9 
 
 275 
 
 322 
 
 322 
 
 290 
 
 324 
 
 171 
 
 300 
 
 301 
 
 308 
 
 309 
 
 10 
 
 119 
 
 119 
 
 225 
 
 34 
 
 307 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 93 
 
 87 
 
 77 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 250 
 
 284 
 
 287 
 
484 INDEX. 
 
 Swallow.Tree 
 
 " White-belUed 
 
 354 
 
 317 
 317 
 
 
 
 ITi 
 
 
 176 
 
 136 
 
 Swamp Blackbird 
 
 
 <9 
 
 " Sohg Sparrow 
 
 '.'.]".'.'.!!!.'!.".'.!'.'. 334 
 
 203 
 203 
 
 Swan, Common American 
 
 
 227 
 
 
 83 
 
 226 
 
 " Whistling 
 
 82 
 
 227 
 
 Swans 
 
 
 28 
 
 Swift, Chimney 
 
 '. 240 
 
 77 
 
 
 
 197, 210 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 
 402 
 
 310 
 
 
 401 
 
 311 
 
 Sylviidae 
 
 430-433 
 
 312 
 
 Symphemia semipalmata 
 
 Syrnium nehulosum 
 
 139 
 
 210 
 
 313 
 314 
 
 Tame Duck 
 
 .".'.!.!!.'!'.'."!'..". 348 
 
 22 
 258 
 
 
 
 316 
 
 Tanagridse 
 
 348-350 
 
 316 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 Long-legged 
 
 " Semi-palmated 
 
 " Solitary 
 
 
 324 
 313 
 325 
 
 
 
 335 
 
 Teal, American Green-winged 
 
 ............ 45 
 
 23 
 25 
 
 
 .... 47 
 
 24 
 
 
 44 
 
 23 
 
 Teeter-tail 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 324 
 
 
 
 3!i3 
 
 Tennessee Warbler 
 
 Tern, Black 
 
 375 
 
 25 
 
 168 
 175 
 
 
 21 
 
 288 
 
 
 23 
 
 287 
 
 " Forsters 
 
 22 
 
 28 
 
 '* Imperial i 
 
 
 288 
 
 
 24 
 
 285 
 
 " Short-tailed 
 
 
 175 
 
 " Wilson's 
 
 287 
 
 Terns 
 
 
 185 
 
 TetraonidSB * 
 
 155-169 
 
 31 1 
 
 The "Bride" 
 
 
 10 
 
 Thistle-bird : 
 
 
 294 
 
 Thrasher, 
 
 
 165 
 
 
 413 
 
 185 
 
 
 
 165 
 
 
 
 334 
 
 
 - 438 
 
 333 
 
 
 
 281 
 
 " Hermit 
 
 440 
 
 334 
 
 
 
 282 
 
 " Olive-backed 
 
 " Tawny 
 
 " Water 
 
 439 
 
 !'..'.'!.' 3Q6 
 
 337 
 335 
 
 282 
 
 " Wilson's 
 
 435 
 
 335 
 
 " Wood 
 
 433 
 
 336 
 
 Thrush Blackbird 
 
 
 303 
 
 Thrushes 
 
 
 332 
 
 
 416 
 
 341 
 
 
 415 
 
 342 
 
 Tip-up 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 Titmice 
 
 
 231 
 
 
 
 232 
 
 
 
 232 
 
 " Tufted 
 
 427 
 
 234 
 
 Totanus flaVipes 
 
 135 
 
 323 
 
 
 133 
 
 324 
 
 " solitarius 
 
 136 
 
 325 
 
 Towhee 
 
 338 
 
 '257 
 
 " Bunting 
 
 .............. 354 
 
 257 
 317 
 
 Traill's Flycatcher 
 
 255 
 
 140 
 
 Tree Sparrow • 
 
 323 
 
 296 
 
 
 354 
 
 317 
 
 
 
 200 
 
 Tringa bairdli 
 
 . ... 126 
 
 319 
 
 
 124 
 
 32 
 
 " maculata 
 
 125 
 
 32 
 
 " minutlUa 
 
 127 
 
 322 
 
INDEX. 485 
 
 Tringa. ooot-footed „__ „.. 118 
 
 TrooEllidaj 2*1-24? 326 
 
 Trochllus colubrls-i 241 d87 
 
 Troglodytes aSdon 416 328 
 
 " " parkmanll 418 320 
 
 Memalls 41B 830 
 
 Troglodytidffi 408-432 331 
 
 Trumpeter Swan 83 226 
 
 Tryngitea subruflcolUs 142 343 
 
 Tufted Titmouse 427 234 
 
 TurdidEe 433-449 332 
 
 Turdusalioiae 438 333 
 
 " aonalasohkaB pallasll 440 334 
 
 " fuscesens ' 435 335 
 
 ' mustelinus 433 336 
 
 " ustulatus sWainsonll 439 337 
 
 Turkey, Eastern Wild 201 
 
 " Wild 169 201 
 
 Turkey Buzzard 75 
 
 Vulture 174 75 
 
 Turnstone 153 43 
 
 Turtle Dove 357 
 
 Tympanuchus americanus 162 338 
 
 Tyrannida) 243-257 339 
 
 Tyrannus tyrannus 243 340 
 
 Upland Plover 51 
 
 " Sandpiper 51 
 
 Urinator arcticus 12 344 
 
 imber 10 345 
 
 '• lumme 13 346 
 
 Urlnatoridse 10-14 347 
 
 Veery '. .. 835 
 
 Velvet Scoter 225 
 
 Vesperblrd 263 
 
 Vesper Sparrow 309 263 
 
 Vireo, Rells 369 348 
 
 " Blue-headed ' 367 354 
 
 " Philadelphia 364 353 
 
 '• Eed-eyed 362 352 
 
 " Warbling 365 350 
 
 " White-eyed 368 351 
 
 " Yellow-throated 366 349 
 
 Vlreobellii 369 348 
 
 " flavifrons 366 349 
 
 " gilvus 365 360 
 
 " noveboracensis 368 351 
 
 " olivaceus 363 352 
 
 " philadelphicus 364 353 
 
 " solltarius 367 354 
 
 VireonidsB 362-370 355 
 
 VIreos . . 355 
 
 Virginia Nightingale . . 73 
 
 " Partridge 99 
 
 Quail 99 
 
 Kail 103 272 
 
 Vulture, Turkey 174 75 
 
 Vultures, American 76 
 
 Wagtail, 31 
 
 ^- Water 282 
 
 Wagtail Warbler 283 
 
 " " Golden-crowned 281 
 
 Wagtails 214 
 
 Warbler, Autumn ,123 
 
 " Azure .. 12L 
 
 Bay-breasted 387 123 
 
 " Blackburn's 120 
 
 " Blackburnian 389 120 
 
 Black and White 3T0 211 
 
 " Black-and-yellew .. 125 
 
 Black-poll 388 128 
 
 Black-throated Blue 379 122 
 
 '" " Green 391 131 
 
 Blue-eyed Yellow 119 
 
 " Blue Golden-winged ., 167 
 
 Blue-winged 371 169 
 
 Yellow 169 
 
 Blue Yellow-backed 105 
 
 " Canada .. 310 
 
 " Canadian 402 310 
 
 Flycatching 310 
 
 CapeMay 377 129 
 
 Cerulean 384 121 
 
 " Chestnut-sided , 386 127 
 
 " Oonuectlout 397 157 
 
 Golden 119 
 
 Golden-crowned Wag-tail 281 
 
486 INDEX.' 
 
 Warbler, Golden-wlng^d 
 
 " Hooded 
 
 37a 
 
 401 
 
 167 
 311 
 
 " " Flyoatohlng 
 
 " Magnolia 
 
 .'!."..";.!...' 382 
 398 
 
 311 
 125 
 ISB 
 
 Myrtle 
 
 381 
 
 124 
 
 " Nashville 
 
 373 
 
 170 
 
 
 374 
 
 166 
 
 
 
 120 
 
 Palm 
 
 393 
 
 126 
 
 " Parula 
 
 " Pine 
 
 376 
 
 392 
 
 105 
 130 
 
 " Pine-creeping 
 
 
 130 
 126 
 
 " Summer 
 
 
 119 
 
 " Tennessee 
 
 375 
 
 168 
 
 Wag-tail 
 
 
 282 
 
 Yellow , 
 
 378 
 
 119 
 
 '* Yellow-crowned 
 
 
 124 
 
 Yellow Bed-poll 
 
 
 126 
 
 " Yellow-ru-mped 
 
 ' ' Yeilow-throated Ground 
 
 
 124 
 159 
 
 Warblers 
 
 Warbling Greenlet 
 
 
 212 
 350 
 
 " vireo. .......::.....:.....::::.;...:.;... 
 
 365 
 
 350 
 
 Water Pewee ? 
 
 
 279 
 
 •' Thrush :.. 
 
 396 
 
 282 
 
 " Wagtail 
 
 
 282 
 
 Waterwitct 
 
 
 261 
 
 Waxwing, Bohemian 
 
 356 
 
 20 
 
 
 
 19 
 
 Cedar 
 
 " Northern 
 
 358 
 
 19 
 20 
 
 Western Bluebird 
 
 448 
 
 289 
 
 " Dowitcher 
 
 
 198 
 
 Grebe 
 
 " House Wren 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 329 
 
 " Meadowlark 
 
 280 
 
 309 
 
 Eed-tail 
 
 187 
 
 »2 
 
 " Bobin 
 
 445 
 
 208 
 
 Wheat-ear 
 
 
 290 
 
 Whip-poor-will 
 
 237 
 
 33 
 
 
 
 249 
 
 Whistler 
 
 
 155 
 
 Whistling Field Plover 
 
 
 80 
 
 " Swan . 
 
 82 
 
 227 
 
 White Brant 
 
 
 89 
 
 
 
 38, 162 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 " Ptarmiga.n ... . 
 
 
 181 
 
 White-bellied Nuthatch 
 
 
 292 
 
 " Swallow 
 
 White-billed Mud -hen 
 
 
 ?S 
 
 
 424 
 
 292 
 
 Whlte-browed Crown Sparrow 
 
 .'!.".'.'..'.!!.'..' 320 
 
 359 
 359 
 
 White-eyed Greenlet 
 
 
 351 
 
 " Vireo 
 
 White-fronted Goose 
 
 368 
 
 351 
 29 
 
 " " American 
 
 White-headed Sea-eagle 
 
 75 
 
 29 
 164 
 
 White-rumped Shrllce 
 
 361 
 
 184 
 
 
 
 69 
 
 White-throated Sparrow 
 
 : 322 
 
 358 
 
 '* Crown Sparrow 
 
 
 358 
 
 White-winged Blackbird. 
 
 '* Crossbill 
 
 .VV.'.'."".'.'. 298 
 
 67 
 196 
 
 " Scoter 
 
 " Surf Duck 
 
 70 
 
 225 
 225 
 
 Whooping Crane 
 
 ... 98 
 
 161 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 WildDove 
 
 
 357 
 
 " Duck 
 
 
 22 
 
 " Goose 
 
 
 53 
 135 
 
 " Turkev 
 
 169 
 
 201 
 
 Wilderness 'Bird 
 
 
 335 
 
 WUlet 
 
 139 
 
 313 
 
 Willow Grouse 
 
 
 181 
 
 " Ptarmigan 
 
 162 
 
 114 
 
 181 
 242 
 
 
 120 
 
 153 
 
 Stint 
 
 
 322 
 
 " Tern 
 
 
 288 
 
 " Thrush 
 
 435 
 
 335 
 
 Winter Chip-bird 
 
 
 206 
 
INDEX. 487 
 
 Winter Haw k 
 
 WrBn 
 
 Wood Duck . . 
 
 '■ Peweei , 
 
 '■ Thrush 
 
 Woodcock, American 
 
 Woodpecker, American Three-toed 
 
 •' Arctic " 
 
 '• Black-backed 
 
 Three-toed ,. , 
 
 Downy '. 
 
 Golden-winged 
 
 ■ Hairy 
 
 " Ladder-bacljed Three-toed 
 
 Pigeon 
 
 Pileated 
 
 Eed-headed 
 
 Yellow-hellled 
 
 Woodpeckers . 
 
 Wren, Bewick's 
 
 " Carolina 
 
 ^' Eastern House 
 
 " Great Carolina 
 
 House 
 
 " Lone-billed Marsh , 
 
 " Mocking 
 
 " Parkman's 
 
 " Short-billed Marsh 
 
 " WesternHouse 
 
 " Winter. > 
 
 Wrens ; 
 
 .•rynecks 
 
 Xianthocephalus xauthocephalus 
 
 Yellow Crake 
 
 '■' Rail ' 
 
 Eed-poll Warbler 
 
 ' ' Warbler 
 
 Yellow-bellied Flycatcher 
 
 " Sapsucker 
 
 " Woodpecker 
 
 Yellow-billed Cuckoo , 
 
 Yellowbird 
 
 Yellow-breasted Chat 
 
 ,Yellow-crowned Night Heron 
 
 '■ Warbler 
 
 Yellow-hammer 
 
 Yellow-headed Blackbird 
 
 Yellow-legs 
 
 " Greater ." 
 
 Yellow-rumped Warbler 
 
 Yellow-shaiiks 
 
 " Greater 
 
 Yellow-throat, Maryland 
 
 Yellow-throated Greenlet 
 
 " Ground Warbler 
 
 " Vireo 
 
 Yellow- winged Sparrow 
 
 Yuoker 
 
 Zenaidura macroura 
 
 Zonotriohia albicoUis. 
 
 leucophrys. 
 querula 
 
 
 65 
 
 410 
 
 S« 
 
 51 
 
 10 
 
 •M 
 
 J07 
 
 4;« 
 
 ii:tti 
 
 117 
 
 259 
 
 a'jn 
 
 255 
 
 aatt 
 
 256 
 
 
 256 
 
 
 256 
 
 227 
 
 133 
 
 
 98 
 
 2iSi 
 
 m 
 
 
 255 
 
 
 98 
 
 232 
 
 8S 
 
 ■m 
 
 200 
 
 
 315 
 
 
 253, 2.54 
 
 +rt> 
 
 341 
 
 ^.-i 
 
 343 
 
 
 ;£» 
 
 
 342 
 
 +16 
 
 328 
 
 421 
 
 91 
 
 
 342 
 
 41 S 
 
 329 
 
 42(1 
 
 92 
 
 
 329 
 
 419 
 
 330 
 
 
 331 
 
 
 253 
 
 W5 
 
 356 
 
 
 266 
 
 1(»7 
 
 266 
 
 
 126 
 
 H7« 
 
 119 
 
 2,52 
 
 138 
 
 2»l 
 
 315 
 
 
 315 
 
 22(1 
 
 96 
 
 
 294 
 
 40(1 
 
 177 
 
 <)« 
 
 223 
 
 
 124 
 
 
 98 
 
 275 
 
 356 
 
 litS 
 
 323 
 
 i;« 
 
 321 
 
 
 124 
 
 
 323 
 
 
 324 
 
 ■m 
 
 159 
 
 
 349 
 
 
 159 
 
 :« 
 
 349 
 
 
 17 
 
 
 98 
 
 172 
 
 357 
 
 ;t22 
 
 ;j58 
 
 ffiO 
 
 ■im 
 
 320 
 
 360 
 
LABORATORY OF ORNITHOLOGY 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY 
 ITHACA. NEW YORK 
 
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