Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/45

 24 Bird - Lore

Soap—While neither our Crows nor Jays may be said to sing, in the commonly accepted sense of the word, both have marked vocal ability and an extended vocabulary of call-notes which evidently are possessed of a deﬁnite signiﬁcance.

What Bird is This?

ﬁeld DUNMIIML’LCHEIVI. 5.00 in. Crown black. with a pal: central snipe: back minus-brown. the feather: with small black streaks and ashy margins; hem! of the wing pale yellow: umlcr pans whim. mare or less washed with huﬁ. breast and sides streaked with black: tail feathers narrow and puinlcd.

NOTE.— Each number of BIRI)~LORE will contain a photograph, from specimens in the American Museum of Natural History, of some comparatively |ittle»kn0\\'n bird, or bird in obscure plumage, the name of which will be \ \held until the succeeding number of the magazine, it being believed that this method of arousing the student‘s curiosity will result in impressing the bird‘s characters on his mind far more strangly than if its name were giv n with the picture.

The species ﬁgured In December is the Swamp $parro\v in winter plumage.

The Christmas Bird Census

The unpleasant weather so prevalent on Christmas day doubtless prevented many observers from taking the ﬁeld, and explains the number of notes made on December 26. Compared with the results of the census made last war the present record also shows a marktd absence of such northern birds as Pine Grosbeaks, Crossbills, and Redpolls. Northern Shrike» are apparently less common this year, and several species, notably the Rubin, appear to be wintering further north than usual.