64 THE CONDOR Vol. XXI On every one of these days a little flock of Lesser Scaups was on the pond, apparently the same birds, as there were five males and two or three females. These birds were quite tame, that is, they paid little attention to any- one, and fed and swam about unconcernedly. The occasional Gadwalls and Spoonbills were much shyer and disliked having people about, often leaving when passersby approached. The morning of the 10th I fo?md three Wilson Phataropes on the pond with the ducks. They were apparently feeding on in- sects flying close to the surface of the water, as the birds swam about with heads up and bills open, making darts here and there as if catching something. I did not see one take anything from the surface during the considerable time I watched. Though they kept quite well out from the shore most of the time, it did not appear to be from fear, as they occasionally came boldly quite close to where I was. A female Black-crowned Night Heron was seen then and was noted off and on for several days, usually about one particular grove of cot- tonwoods. To my great surprise I saw a male Evening Grosbeak, usually only a winter visitant, and an irregular one at that; I saw none the preceding winter, nor did I hear of any about town. The following day, the 11th, the first Black-headed Grosbeaks and House Wrens were seen, the latter about a nesting site which has been used for sev- eral years. The Grosbeaks were about on time, but the Wrens were a trifle late; I think they commonly arrive from three to six days earlier than this. From this date on for a week or more the weather improved somewhat until the little hot spell from the 15th to the 18th was past; then more bad weather set in, lasting until the end of the month. On the 13th the first Green-tailed Towhees and Yellow Warblers were noted. The former should have'been here by May I and the latter by the 7th. This day was also somewhat notable as being the first when the Seaups were not on the pond, nor were they seen again, though Gadwalls were noted on the 15th. On the 14th Clay-colored and Brewer Sparrows were about in consider-' able numbers. An Arkansas Kingbird was seen. i had thought possibly I saw one on the 5th; if I did, the bird thought it wiser to go south again. The present date is just a bit late. The first Catbird was also seen, the date being about normal. No Say Phoebes were seen about the park after the 9th. As soon as the weather had moderated so that they could obtain food almost anywhere they evidently scattered tp their usual haunts. On the 15th the first Kingbird was observed, like the Arkansas, a bit late. The first Bullock Oriole, about five days late. A Red-headed Woodpecker was seen on the 17th, somewhere about the normal date for the species. When we come to analyze the above data it would appear that six spe- cies, namely, Kingbird, Arkansas Kingbird, Bullock Oriole, Green-tailed Tow- hee, Yellow Warbler and House Wren, were all late in arriving, with the pos- sible exception of the Arkansas Kingbird, while the Red-headed Woodpecker and Catbird came about on time; but their normal arrival dates b.e?ng toward the middle of the month they would not be as apt to be affected by the storm. These delayed species may have met the storm and cold weather to the south of here and waited, and then come on when the conditions improved, which was the case when they finally did come. Observations over a larger territory in the region would have been better, for there are several species of birds which visit the park only occasionally and usually not on their first arrival, but straggle there later.
