Birds of Kirkwood, DeKalb County, Georgia 49 



lected, the color may be retained for years afterward. The 

 cotton lined nests in the south, I am told, are very beautiful, 

 being smooth and pure white inside. 



One of the principal objects I have in publishing this 

 article is to give added support to the fact that in the matter 

 of their nest building many species of North American birds 

 have gradually, but nevertheless markedly, during the past 

 century, changed their habits in not a few particulars. 



Sometimes the reasons for this are sufficiently clear, as 

 in the case of the Chimney Swifts and others, but then, on 

 the other hand, they are by no means always so obvious, 

 though such cases are not of such frequent occurrence. 



BIRDS OF KIRKWOOD, DeKALB COUNTY, 

 GEORGIA. 



BY ROBERT WINDSOR SMITH. 

 DESCRIPTION OF SECTION. 



An estimated square mile in DeKalb county, Georgia, 

 the northern boundary lying along the line of the Georgia 

 railroad; the center of the specified tract being about four 

 and one-half miles in an easterly direction from Atlanta, 

 Georgia; situated on the dividing ridge between the waters 

 of the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico, at an eleva- 

 tinn of 1050 feet above the level of the sea; latitude 35° 

 45' north, longitude 84° 45' 29'' west from Greenwich. 



The water which falls on the northern side of the Geor- 

 gia railroad flows into the Chattahoochee river, and thence 

 into the Gulf of Mexico; that which falls on the south side 

 flows into the South river, thence to the Ocmulgee, which 

 empties into the Atlantic Ocean. About three-fourths of 

 the tract comprises virgin forest, swamp, old burned-out 

 fields, waste and neglected places. These waste and neg- 



