MIGRATION AMONG RESIDENT BIRDS 85 



features — the edge of the Piedmont plateau with 

 its line of falls, and below it the coastal plain, 

 stretching out toward distant arms of the ocean. 

 The nuthatch nests regularly in the higher region, 

 and may be resident there in part, since* the same 

 nuthatches (marked by bands) come to my window 

 feeding- shelf summer and winter. In the coastal 

 plain the nuthatch is absent during summer, except 

 rarely, but in late autumn appears in fair abundance 

 in wooded bottoms, and remains until the following 

 March or April. Even as far up the Potomac as 

 Plummer's Island, which is within the break of the 

 fall line, there is noted an increase in its numbers in 

 winter. In fact it is usually absent there in summer. 

 Obviously in this species there is a spread or migra- 

 tion outside the breeding range. The source of the 

 winter immigrants may be determined only through 

 banded individuals. 



The black-capped chickadee in winter on occasion 

 invades the ranges of the more southern Carolina 

 chickadee, as the blackcap has been recorded at 

 Chevy Chase, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, 

 though it is not known to breed at any point nearby. 



The bluejay is a species of secretive disposition 

 but showy form that is present in most of its range 

 throughout the year. Yet at Washington, with the 

 coming of cool weather, at the end of September, or 

 in October, there begins a steady southward flight of 



