36 BULLETIN No. 35 



the coast line by the extreme cold, coming down from the 

 North to Charleston in very large numbers. After reaching 

 that point, and finding no food to nourish them, many died of 

 starvation, while others weakened by exposure to the cold, fell 

 an easy prey to the vandal hands that sought to destroy them. 



A short time after the occurence of the cold wave, 1 en- 

 deavored to obtain some information regarding it from other 

 parts of the State. 



I am sorry to say that the details were meagre and unsat- 

 isfactory. Out of about a dozen letters written, only two were 

 answered, and these answers came in an indirect manner through 

 the efforts of a minister of Kirkvvood, into whose heart I had 

 instilled a very weak solution of enthusiasm on birds. 



ROBT. Windsor Smith, Kirkzvood, Ga. 



the redpoll acanthis lin aria in south 

 Carolina. 



I have seen the Redpolls once more. When I was a small 

 boy, in the days of my box traps and flintlock musket, they, 

 with the Chickadees, were among my intimates at the wood- 

 house door or over "back of the sandbank" in the coldest 

 corner of old cold Massachusetts. A Tree Sparrow or two, a 

 Nuthatch or a Blue Jay, about filled the bill for that favored 

 afternoon, as a general thing. The rediculously tame Gros- 

 beaks, parroty Crossbills, and skimmering Snowbirds were 

 episodes ; our Redpolls and Chicadees quite every day affairs. 



Now all is changed. The snow and the cold, except on 

 rare occasions, are things of the past. When they do come 

 along as they did last week, they are merely reminders of the 

 pleasanter episodes of the past ; and the little boreal bird or 

 two that gets swept along in the bitter blizzard to find a few 

 days rest in our sparkling sunshine, I hope, will carry away a 

 happy thought of his sojourn about our Barrack Yard in ex- 

 change for the wholesome pleasure he has given me. 



This is a regular bird paradise. We have hot enough at times 

 for any tropical bird, besides having the fag end of a blizzard 



