120 THE' CONDOR Vol. X in the lee of a strip of willow scrub, combating the wind and preparing specimens. We heard some Fulvous Tree-ducks while here, and saw half a dozen Farallon Cormorants, .many Ruddies, a. few Redheads (Marila americana) and quite a number of unidentified ducks. An early start the next morning enabled us to reach Los Angeles before nine o'clock. NOTES ON CERTAIN KANSAS BIRDS By ALEX WETMORE HE EFFECT of the severe winter of I9II-I2 on bird life in eastern Kansas is shown by the great scarcity the past fall (I912) of Dryobates . mecti- anus, heretofore one of the most common birds. In the vicinity of Law- rence, from October I2 until November Io, only three of ?ese birds were seen, while in previous years it was nothing unusual to see thirty, forty or 'even more during a day spent along the streams, and in the creek bottoms. After the tenth of November, at which time weather conditions became more severe in the north, the cold extending even to Kansas, these birds became fairly common again, mi- grants arriving from the north to spend the winter in the comparatively warm climate of this region. From these observations we may deduce that, in the area under discussion, there are two groups or "races" in the subspecies Dryobates p. medianus: the one purely resident and local, and the other composed of migrants from the north, each being distinct, though inseparable apparently in terms of color or rel- ative measurements. The local, or strictly resident, downy woodpeckers then were almost extermiriated bv the long-continued cold, protracted storms, when the trees were sheathed in an icy coat, and deep snows of the winter, while the northern birds found in this region merely as winter visitants--birds that of ne- cessity must be considered stronger and more hardy--escaped with fewer mor.- talities, and were in the spring enabled to return northward and recoup their numbers. It was interesting also to observe the change in relative abundance in the larger woodpeckers. Dryobates v. villosus, usually found in small numbers, was actually common, and Colaptes a. luteus likewise had greatly increased . Centurus catolinus on the other hand had decreased, being absent from many localities where it was formerly common. The latter is here a strictly resident species, there being no change in its relative abundance between winter and summer, while fhe other two species have their numbers considerably augmented by mi- grant birds from the north in the late fall. ?)he larger Dryobates and Colaptes, tben, seem better able to cope with the stringent conditions imposed Upon them and even to increase, perhaps in the case of the Hairy Woodpecker, through being relieved of competition with the smaller species of the same genus. Certain other species were affected noticeably also, for example Th. ryothorus ludovicianus. Since I9O5, when observations were begun by the writer in the immediate icSnity of Lawrence, this species has been increasing in numbers, pushing back into the hills, following the brush-covered creek banks, and dry ravines? and steadily, year by year, encroaching upon new territory. During the
