iSS6.] Batchelder, iVi9r^// Carolina Mountahis hi Winter. 311 



Goldfinches, and one or two White-throated Sparrows. But in 

 these fields and in the hard woods bordering them, far outnumber- 

 ing all the other birds, were flocks of Juncos, and to them I de- 

 voted most of my attention, for I found that the flocks contained 

 not only yunco hycfualis., which was common about Asheville, 

 but also y. h. carollnensis^ — a bird I had searched for there 

 in vain. The flocks seemed to consist about equally of the two 

 races, though it wasdiflHcult to form exact estimates as to their 

 relative numbers, for at a distance the birds are not easy to distin- 

 guish, and they were too wild for much close inspection. The 

 y. hyemalis were if anything the shyer of the two ; indeed they 

 were much wilder than I have found them in New England, even 

 at the same season. Except in this respect I noticed nothing in 

 the habits of y. h. carolinensis that diflered from those of our 

 Northern Juncos. 



On my return from Patton's to Asheville I spent one afternoon, 

 December 24, at Black Mountain Station on the Western North 

 Carolina Railroad. It is in the valley of the Swannanoa River, 

 bordered on the south by the Blue Ridge, on the north by the 

 outlying spurs of the Black. I found no ytinco h. carolinensis 

 here, though y. hyemalis were plenty. No particularly interest- 

 ing birds were met with here except a Robin, the only one I ob- 

 served in the whole legion, though I heard of others being seen. 

 Fi'om several informants I learn that a few are seen in winter in 

 the valleys, but they are never common at this season. 



December 38 I went to Balsam Gap, some thirty miles to the 

 west of Asheville, where I remained about a week. At this point 

 the Ducktown branch of the Western North Carolina Railroad 

 crosses the high range of the Balsam Mountains. The elevation 

 of the Gap itself is about thirty-four hundred feet, while a number 

 of the neighboring summits are over six thousand feet above the 

 sea 



About the farms and in the hard woods here I found chiefly the 

 same species as around Asheville and at Patton's. The flocks of 

 Juncos here, as at Patton's, contained both y. hye?nalis and y. h. 

 carolinensis., the latter apparently the more numerous. I noticed 

 nothing new as to their habits, though I spent much time watch- 

 ing them. Their distribution in winter as compared with that of 

 y. hyemalis ih worth noting. They desert the exposed summits 

 and the higher wind-swept slopes of the mountains, and congre- 



