2A.O Sennett on Birds of Western North Carolina. f July 



OBSERVATIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA 

 MOUNTAINS IN 1886. 



BY GEORGE B. SENNETT. 



The locality visited comprises Mitchell and Yancey Counties, 

 North Carolina, and a small portion of Carter County in Ten- 

 nessee. The greater part of the observations were made from 

 three points in Mitchell County, N. C. viz., Bakersville, Cran- 

 berry, which is close to Tennessee line, and Roan Mountain, the 

 summit of which marks the dividing line between the two States. 

 Frequently a bird was flushed in one State and picked up in the 

 other. 



The altitudes varied from 2600 feet, the lowest, at Bakersville, 

 to 6400 feet, the highest point of Roan Mountain ; that of Cran- 

 berry, where I made the longest stay, being 3200 feet above the 

 sea level. The country is densely wooded to the very tops of the 

 peaks, and in general characteristics is so similar to that of Mount 

 Mitchell and vicinity, as described by Mr. Brewster in 'The Auk' 

 (Vol. Ill, No. 1, pages 97 and 9S), that it is desirable to mention 

 only two points of difference. First, the country in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of Roan Mountain has not as many clearings as has 

 that about the lower slopes of the Black Mountains some thirty 

 or more miles to the south. Secondly, the summit of Roan has 

 extensive table-lands, on which three kinds of vegetation are 

 found, each growing in separate tracts. This vegetation in- 

 cludes groves of balsams (the name used by the inhabitants for 

 spruce and fir trees) ; thickets of rhododendrons, which are most 

 luxuriant and plentiful here ; and tracts of the coarse, thick moun- 

 tain grass, which grows in immense patches of from one to one 

 hundred acres in extent. 



The observations were made during two trips ; the first ex- 

 tended from April 15 to 29 inclusive; the second from June 26 

 to September 4 inclusive. Of the seventy species of birds ob- 

 served and noted I can claim but eight of them as additions to the 

 lists for this State heretofore given in 'The Auk' by Messrs. 

 Brewster and Batchelder (see Vol. Ill, Nos. 1, 2 and 3). A few 

 things which are perhaps of interest in reference to the birds 

 already recognized as of this region may also be presented here. 



