IS'OTES' ON GUA)TE']VIALAN BIRDS — WETMOK.E 527 



On November 28 I left the friendly atmosphere of Sierra Santa 

 Elena with regret that I might not remain longer and that noon 

 arrived in Antigua. In the 2 days that remained to me I worked 

 the tropical section at 3,200 feet below Alotenago, again studying 

 and collecting many interesting birds. 



The morning of December 1 I devoted to packing, and in the after- 

 noon I moved to Guatemala City, and the following day made official 

 visits that closed my work. December 3 I continued by train to 

 Puerto Barrios. On the following morning I crossed the bay in a 

 dugout canoe with two men for a few hours collecting in the swampy 

 thickets of a small island. That night, with all my specimens pre- 

 pared, I was on board the S. S. Platano for the return trip to New 

 York. 



NOTES ON NORTH AMERICAN MIGRANTS 



For the North American migrant birds that travel the land route 

 beyond Mexico, Guatemala forms the lower section of a funnel, for 

 here the mass separating the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans is sud- 

 denly narrowed, and there is consequently a concentration of birds 

 that at times is truly remarkable. More interesting still, because of 

 this narrow land area, birds with summer homes in the eastern and 

 in the western parts of the North American Continent mingled in 

 mixed flocks. On certain days migrants predominated over the local 

 residents, and it soon became evident that the native kinds ordi- 

 narily were secretive and that small birds seen flitting actively and 

 openly among the branches were almost certain to be northern mi- 

 grants. For identification and record I took examples of all, but to 

 avoid shooting migrant birds needlessly it was necessary to examine 

 carefully, often with binoculars, every bird that was seen to deter- 

 mine whether it was desired. 



It was fascinating to me always to find species associated that in 

 the North are separated by hundreds or even thousands of miles. As 

 an example, black-throated green warblers of the East and Town- 

 send's warblers of the West ranged in the same scattered bands, 

 accompanied perhaps by such companions as black-billed cuckoos and 

 rose-breasted grosbeaks of eastern range and western tanagers from 

 the Rocky Mountains. Though familiar for years with all these in 

 their northern homes, their intermingling here in Guatemala brought 

 me always a sensation of surprise, as in my mind I associated them 

 always with the far separated ranges in which I knew them in the 

 distant North. 



Many of these migi'ants were obviously in their wintering ground, 

 while others as obviously were hurrying farther south. For the con- 

 tinuation of their journey there is no apparent reason except the 



