be seen at that season, therefore, may not always be the same as those 

 observed during the summer. It is certain, however, that these species 

 do not regularly perform extensive journeys. 



While the blue jay is disposed to be secretive, it is such a showy and 

 noisy bird that it is not likely to escape notice. In the vicinity of 

 Washington, D. C, as in many other places, it is present the year 

 round, but at the end of September or early in October when the 

 weather is becoming cooler, troops of jays are sometimes seen working 

 southward through the trees. A corresponding northward movement 

 occurs again in May. This is unquestionably a migration to and from 

 some winter range, but its extent or significance is not now known. 

 Some light is being shed on the matter, however, through the records 

 of banded birds, and these eventually will fill in a more perfect picture 

 of the movements of this species. One jay, banded on September 14, 

 1923, at Waukegan, 111., was killed at Peruque, Mo., on November 15 

 of the same year; another, banded at Winnetka, III., on June 16, 1925, 

 was retaken at Sulphur Rock, Ark., the following December 10; a 

 third, banded on May 6, 1925, at Whitten, Iowa, was recaptured at 

 Decatur, Ark., on January 22, 1926. These three birds unquestionably 

 had made a flight that had every appearance of being a true migration 

 to winter quarters in Missouri and Arkansas. 



The black-capped chickadee is apparently resident in many places, 

 but occasionally in winter it invades the range of the southern Carolina 

 chickadee, and in northern Canada it is regularly a migrant. 



In the coastal plain between Washington, D. C, and the Atlantic 

 Ocean, the white-breasted nuthatch is usually absent during the sum- 

 mer, nesting at that season in the higher, or piedmont, country. Late 

 in fall, however, it appears in fair abundance in the wooded bottoms, 

 remaining at the lower levels until the following March or April. 



Some birds, including the screech owl, bobwhite, Carolina wren, 

 and mockingbird, seem to be actually sedentary, but even these are 

 sometimes given to post-breeding wanderings. Ordinarily bobwhites 

 that are marked with numbered bands are seldom retaken far from the 

 area where banded, but sometimes they will travel 10 miles or more. 

 A screech owl banded at Glenwood, Minn., in March, was recovered 

 the following December at Emmetsburg, Iowa, 180 miles south. Such 

 flights, however, are probably more in the nature of a search for new 

 feeding areas, or to escape from a winged enemy, than a true migratory 

 journey. 



83 



