Weather and general considerations: The fall season was generally mild and dry, with some unseasonably warm weather enduring through the first half of November. Except for one cold spell in mid-September (at Shotley, Beltrami Co., first killing frost was on September 19) and several cold days in early October, temperatures were very mild in what the hunters termed "Bluebird Weather." As a result, some later-than-usual dates were secured for various fauna. We took an American Copper butterfly near Cotton, St. Louis County on October 13.

On November 3, a Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel was s·een near Elk River, Sherburne County and Cabbage butterflies were flying in Cass County, north of Motley. On Nnvember 9, an Ameri-can Toad was still active at Swan Lake, Nicollet County. On the same day Sulfur and Alfalfa butterflies were flying in Brown County and thousands of grasshoppers were active in Watonwan County. On November 11, Dr. A. E. Allin noted many plants, including Wooly Yarrow, blooming along the north shore of Lake Superior (see his Canadian Lakehead repnrt elsewhere in this issue). In Minnesota, Wooly Yarrow was blooming as late as November 16 in Le Sueur and Sibley Counties.

DECEMB$R, 1963 Some astonishing early and late shorebird dates· were secured. The American Golden-Plover was first reported on July 2 and last reported on November 17, a span of 138 days (about 41h months!). Interestingly enough, the mild weather did not seem to deter the initial southward movements of such winter visitors as· the Long-tailed Duck, Rnugh-legged Hawk, Snowy Owl (a probable large-scale invasion seems imminent), Arctic Horned Owl, Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeak and Snow Bunting. No snow of any consequence occurred in the Twin Cities region until the first week of December.