191Ji-'\ Animal Life of !N'orth Carolina 85 



not infrequently gets his name in the local paper with a suffi- 

 ciently accurate description of the bird, so that it can he posi- 

 tively recorded. 



In this connection I may call your attention to two more in- 

 teresting facts brought to light in the study of our bird fauna. 

 Until about 1900 the Song Sparrow, which is a delightful singer 

 and a favorite in regions where it nests, was known in this state 

 only as a winter resident, leaving for the north at the approach 

 of the nesting season. ISTeither Cairns, or other very competent 

 observers ever recorded it as nesting in our mountains, though 

 their observations were comprehensive and reliable. We have 

 every reason to believe that this fine little bird did not stay in 

 our state at all through the summer during that period of time. 

 But about 1900 records of its occurrence in our mountains in 

 summer began to creep in, and in 1908 Mr .C. S. Brimley and 

 the speaker confirmed its presence during the nesting season in 

 a number of our mountain localities and data has since accu- 

 mulated to show that it is now one of our commonest nesting 

 birds throughout our mountain region. Another interesting 

 fact is that in 1908 observations showed that the pestiferous 

 English-sparrow was not established in the town of Highlands 

 (Macon County) and the most common bird of the street and 

 door-yards was the native Carolina Junco or "snow bird". 



It is an interesting fact that Raleigh and Asheville (vicini- 

 ty) which are the two best studied localities, have exactly the 

 same number of species (207) on record. In water and shore 

 birds, Raleigh has the greater number by three, while with the 

 land birds the case is reversed. Only three other localities, 

 namely Beaufort, Havelock and Chapel Hill, have over 100 

 species on record. Reasonably creditable records are avail- 

 able from Pea Island, Durham, Highlands, and Andrews, and 

 material contributions have come from quite a number of other 

 localities. 



Merely to observe and record the birds seen, is not especially 

 difficult, for even an amateur can soon become fairly proficient 

 in recognizing the species, but 'to obtain exact data on migra- 

 tions, especially the fall migrations to the southward, and on the 

 regions where each species nests, is far more difficult. Hence 



