138 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 tart i 



12 at the time. This was on SuHivan's Island, across the harbor from 

 Charleston, S.C., where my early ornithological researches were 

 carried on. I was quite convinced, on seeing the brilliant singer 

 perched on a light wire in my yard, that I had found a brand new 

 bird, one not listed in my bird book. 



Glorying in my "discovery," I enthusiastically related it to my 

 companions and was told rather scornfully by one advanced member 

 of the group that I had seen "nothin' but a dern n6mparel!" Never- 

 theless, this practical check to my supposed contribution to ornithol- 

 ogy did not lessen my admiration for the bird. Seeing it today is 

 almost as great a thriU as it was then, and though it nests annually 

 in my yard, it remains to me a source of constantly recurring pleasure 

 and satisfaction. 



Spring. — The painted bunting is a rather late migrant in spring. 

 Widely scattered localities, together with apparently inconsistent 

 dates, are confusing. Illustrative is its appearance in considerable 

 numbers at the Dry Tortugas on April 14 and its arrival at Charles- 

 ton, S.C., on April 9 the same year. 



The great majority of birds winter south of this country, but their 

 return in spring is confused in Florida by the fact that some winter 

 there. As Howell (1932) points out: "The presence of wintering 

 birds [in Florida] makes it difficult to determine the date when mi- 

 gration begins." 



Migrants have been noted in the Keys late in April (Key West, 

 April 30, Lignum vitae Key, April 29, Miami, April 16). Yet they 

 arrive some years as far up the east coast as Daytona on April 12. 

 On the west coast the dates average earlier, with birds arriving at 

 Tallahassee and Appalachicola on AprU 19. The bird drops off 

 sharply at the latter locality, and F. M. Weston has found it rare at 

 Pensacola: "My own coastal data on the nonpareil are: Regular spring 

 migrant, common for a day or two in some years. Not known to nest 

 in the Pensacola area nor anjnvhere in the three western counties of 

 Florida. Only a single fall migration record in my 46 years' residence." 



A similar condition exists along the Alabama coast where Imhof 

 (1962) gives its status on the Gulf Coast as "an uncommon to fairly 

 common spring transient, a rare and local summer resident, and a 

 rare fall transient. It is known to breed only in suburban Alobile. 

 In the remainder of the Coastal Plain, or slightly north of it, it is a 

 rare spring transient." 



In Mississippi, Burleigh (1944) gives arrival dates as from April 

 8 to 26. He calls it "a rather scarce transient both in spring and 

 fall." 



H. C. Oberholser (1938), writing on its status in Louisiana, furnishes 

 arrival dates "from March 11th", but early April appears much more 



