EASTERN BLUEBIRD 257 



bluebirds were common all through the winter of 1913-14 at Slocum, 

 R. I., which is five miles west of Narragansett Bay in the central part 

 of the State. 



Bluebirds sometimes winter in the more northern parts of the Mid- 

 western States and even in southern Ontario. There are winter 

 records for Point Pelee. And E. M. S. Dale says in his notes from 

 London. Ontario: "Although the bluebird is one of our earliest spring 

 migrants, it was not until December 27, 1937, that we found any here 

 in winter. On that date we found four birds about a bit of marshy 

 ground, where some springs had kept the snow melted and gave 

 them a chance to obtain food. The ground was covered with snow; 

 in fact, we were taking a hike on skis and snowshoes when we found 

 them. The temperature had been down to 8° below zero a few nights 

 before. They were still there on January 1 when we went out to 

 begin our New Year's list." 



From the Carolinas southward bluebirds are present all through 

 the year, but they are probably not the same individuals, the local 

 breeding birds having moved southward to be replaced by others 

 driven down from the north. M. P. Skinner (1928) says: "This 

 seems all the more probable because during cold spells I found Blue- 

 birds gathered in large flocks of as many as seventy birds in most 

 unusual places. They did not seem to be familiar with the country 

 and its supplies of food and water. But with warmer weather these 

 large flocks of strangers disappeared and the familiar birds were found 

 again in the usual small groups." 



In their winter resorts they are found in the more open woods, such 

 as the flat pinewoods of Florida, seeking the denser growths only for 

 shelter and spending most of their time for food in the more open 

 places, such as cotton, corn, and sugarcane fields. In such places 

 they are often associated with myrtle, pine, and the palm warblers. 



A. L. Pickens tells me that "the sheltered nooks selected by individ- 

 uals are interesting. A flock, I once observed, selected the cracks 

 between the logs of a cabin in which cotton that had not been ginned 

 was stored. Packed thus against the logs the cotton afforded a heat 

 retainer, while the upper log gave shelter and the lower footing. One 

 bird I saw took possession of an old summer-tanager nest for a winter 

 dormitory." 



M. G. Vaiden tells in his notes of a winter disaster not mentioned 

 above: "For some reason, probably the terrific winter of 1906 when 

 sleet was 4 to 6 inches deep over a great part of central Mississippi 

 with a complete freeze-up of the ground for some 4 to 6 inches deep, 

 when some trees were frozen and the trunks burst open, the blue- 

 birds of this area, the normal breeding population, were frozen to 



