M a s s a c h u setts A u d u b o n S o cie ty 5 



There is no end to the comments that could be made on the Northern 

 birds that I saw down South either in winter quarters or on their way to 

 their summer homes. But a few words must suffice. 



First a negative observation: I was impressed by the scarcity of robins 

 and song sparrows. These birds do not nest in Georgia, and are early 

 migrants; presumably most of those that had spent the winter there had 

 already gone north before I arrived in Georgia, March 11. White-throated 

 sparrows, too, which winter there, were not at all common. 



I saw no catbirds, no cedar waxwings, no yellow warblers; I could 

 make a long list of birds that are common here in May, and that one would 

 naturallv expect to find in large numbers in Georgia. There is much room 

 for speculation as to the reasons for the absence of these birds, and it 

 suggests theories in regard to migration. But limitation- of space forbid 

 any discussion here of this theme. 



Bob-whites were numerous; at first some thirty-five came regularly 

 to the house to feed, but they soon scattered to the woods to begin nesting. 



Ruby-crowned kinglets, towhees, (which Southerners call jorees), 

 yellow palm warblers, as well as the palm warblers, which go up through 

 the interior of the country instead of coming to the iN'ortheast, parulas 

 and Northern parulas were all plentiful from the first. I saw only one 

 black and white warbler, and that was at Lake Miccosukee, in Florida. 



Kingbirds and crested flycatchers came early in April, and I saw one 

 wood pewee. Blue-headed and yellow-throated vireos were common all 

 the time I was in the South. The red-eyed vireo arrived March 30. I saw 

 my first hummingbird March 22. 



Chipping sparrow, hermit thrush, pine warbler, phoebe, and field 

 sparrow, in that order, were on my first day's list March 12. Any 

 enthusiast can readily understand my feelings on finding these birds all 

 around the house early that morning; as I had arrived after dark the night 

 before, this was really the beginning of my Southern list, although I had 

 identified many birds from the train coming across from Savannah. Then 

 on the 13th I added, among others, purple martin, swamp and vesper 

 sparrows, and purple grackles. I saw no bronzed grackles in the South. 

 The prairie warbler came along on March 29, and the wood thrush the 

 next day. The thrushes sang behind the house every morning after that. 

 I saw only two veeries, on April 10. 



Chimney swifts first appeared on April 3. I saw my first tree 

 swallows April 2, below Tallahassee; while coming down the Savannah 

 River, April 11, on my wav home, T saw at least a thousand crossing the 

 river into a marsh to the south, where I presume they were going to spend 

 tile night. 



And so on. And now I am having them all over again. As I go out 

 in the early morning and find vireos, warblers, flycatchers, coming in 

 from the South, it seems like a second spring. This is true not only of the 

 birds, but of trees, shrubs, flowers; as I write. May 16, the flowering dog- 

 wood is at its best in the Blue Hills, and the azaleas are glorious in the 

 Riverway and the Arboretum. These blossomed in March in Georgia. And 

 so, twice in the same year, I have the pleasure of watching the miracle of 

 the unfolding spring. 



L. R. TALBOT, 



509 Audubon Road, Boston, Mass. 



