Field Notes 149 



The shortened season, however, has practically given them immu- 

 nity from hunters except of course from a lawless few. Without 

 making any particular search for them, the writer has located not 

 less than a dozen breeding pair, close to town, including three pair 

 almost within the city limits. Considering the relatively small 

 amount of ground covered in my field work it can readily be seen 

 that the Woodcock population must by now be considerable. 



Having thus attested to the fruits which have been reaped 

 through protection it becomes my painful duty to record that our 

 local legislators have recently passed a measure, again extending 

 the season on Bob-white to March 1st, within the limits of this 

 county. The bill was " slipped over " during the last few days of 

 the legislative session and passed due to the fact that a self-seeking 

 Game and Fish Commissioner failed to apprise local conservation- 

 ists t)f the new law. The very fact that " quail " hunters will be 

 abroad until March 1st, until the law can be repealed, means a 

 backset to our local Woodcock that is disheartening, since few heed, 

 or know of the Federal protection afforded them after January 1st. 

 Bob-white, being neither classified as song or migratory game bird, 

 is subject to no Federal protection at present, but if, by national 

 statute, its pursuit could be eliminated after February 1st, the 

 Woodcock throughout the country would profit thereby and hold 

 their own at least. 



Albert F. Gaxier. 



Nashville, Tenn. 



"REMIGRATION OF BIRDS" 



Instances of the " remigration "' of birds, which formed the sub- 

 ject of your recent communication from Gordon Wilson, of Bowl- 

 ing Green, Ky., have been repeatedly noted here. During such spells 

 of very warm weather as were frequently experienced all over the 

 country this winter just passed, our thousands of visiting water- 

 fowl would disappear so completely that hardly a duck or goose 

 would be sighted by hunters for weeks at a time: but the first hint 

 of a coming norther refilled the marshes with the hordes, whose 

 overhead cries can be heard locally any still day or night from 

 September till about the middle of March. 



The same holds with regard to perching birds; in very cold 

 snaps even such species as robins, blviebirds, fiickers, and many 

 others that do not ordinarily come as far down as the coastal low- 

 lands, with our total lack of trees, are seen in small companies that 

 vanish coincidently with the dying out of the high winds that fol- 

 low immediately upon their appearance. 



Last year, for the first time within my experience, and this 

 extends over a space of eighteen migratory seasons, the first of 

 our martins to appear turned back, after trying to tough out a 

 rather prolonged late cold snap for two days, and did not reappear 

 for more than a week. 



