■2IO BatCHELDEr, ^Vor/// Carolina Mountains in Winter. [July 



Chickadees in the shade trees about the houses, and an occasional 

 Bewick's Wren in the gardens. The hitter were far from 

 abundant, ahuost all apparently seeking a warmer climate for the 

 winter. A small colony of House Sparrows that had established 

 themselves in the town a year or more ago had not yet become 

 numerous enough to interfere with the rights of the natives. 



Two species I found in the neighborhood of Asheville that are 

 not known to occur in this region in summer. They are the 

 Hermit Thrush and the Meadow Lark. The former I saw singly 

 two or three times ; the latter was common in suitable places in 

 small flocks, and I saw a single bird one day in a small field in 

 the middle of the town. 



From December 20 to 24 I stayed at Patton's at the foot of the 

 Black Mountain range, a house well known to tourists who 

 ascend Mt. Mitchell. It is near the head of Swannanoa Creek, 

 the north fork of the Swannanoa River, and is closely hemmed in 

 on all sides by mountains, the lofty summits of the Black itself, 

 and nearer Big Craggy and other outlying spurs of the main 

 range. While I was here I did not succeed in reaching any of 

 the high summits of the range, but I spent a couple of hours one 

 fine morning exploring the balsam growth that covers the tops 

 and higher flanks of the mountains. My only reward for this 

 search was a flitting glimpse of a Junco, whether y. hyenialis or 

 y. h. carolinensis I could not decide, and though the day and 

 place seemed favorable for birds, this was the only feathered 

 creature to be found in the apparently tenantless woods. 



The hai'd woods on the slopes of the mountains and at their base 

 were not without birds. White-bellied Nutliatches and Downy 

 Woodpeckers were to be seen on the giant chestnuts and oaks, 

 and once I met a couple of Pileated Woodpeckers that were mak- 

 ing the forest i^esovmd with their cries and their noisy tapping. 

 Carolina Chickadees in small flocks wandered through the woods, 

 sometimes accompanied by two or three Tufted Tits and a 

 Nuthatch or a Creeper or two, and with them often several 

 Golden-crowned Kinglets. The only, other bird of especial in- 

 terest was a solitary Raven that flew, hoarsely croaking, high 

 overhead. 



About some cornfields that occupied the scanty level stretches 

 near the creek, and clung to the steep sides of some of tiie lower 

 hills, there were some Song Sparrows and a few Field Sparrows, 



