262 Bishop, Winter Birds of Pea Island, N. C. \^^^ 



but the vegetation on Roanoke Island — lying about ten miles 

 northwest — two species of pine, live oaks, cypresses, with a dense 

 undergrowth of myrtle, bay and laurel, bound into impenetrable 

 thickets by smilax — would show one had entered a southern 

 fauna were the sharp-pointed marsh-grass insufficient. Bodie 

 Island, a larger island of much the same character as Pea Island, 

 but with more abundant vegetation, and lying north of the lat- 

 ter, contains at its southern end a large marsh. This seemed a 

 typical resort for Wilson's Snipe, but five men and two dogs failed 

 to find one there though hunting carefully. 



The weather was, as a rule, clear and warm during my stay ; 

 only once did the thermometer fall to 26° at 8 a. m., and 

 on two mornings it registered 50° at that hour. There were 

 two or three stormy days, but no very severe gale, so I think it 

 safe to consider the land and shore birds found were normal winter 

 residents. Many other species, especially of ducks and water 

 birds, are known to occur at Pea Island in winter, but I have 

 included only those of which I saw specimens during my visit. 



Among the birds found moulting in only one species was there 

 any sign of renewal of the primaries and rectrices, and in most only 

 a few scattered pin feathers, most frequent about the head and neck. 



Regarding migration, the interesting fact appears that of 20 speci- 

 mens of the Limicolae, representing five species, omitting ^gialitis 

 vocifera, collected at what must be nearly the northern limit of their 

 winter range, 18 were males and only 2 females, while of seven 

 Ipswich Sparrows {Ammodramiis priiiceps) , at nearly their southern 

 winter limit, all were females. This adds strength to my former 

 belief that in migrating birds the bulk of the males remain farther 

 north than the females in winter, for I do not think that with any 

 of these birds the northward movement had commenced. 



In studying the migration of birds it seems to me that too little 

 weight has been laid on the origin of the different species and 

 genera, whether they are Boreal types, developed probably in the 

 Holarctic Zone, or autochthonous in temperate or tropical North 

 America, different rules of migration, and different causes, prob- 

 ably operating in these two classes. The distribution of the sub- 

 species of one species, and the species of one genus during the 

 different seasons, will aid in understanding both causes and rules. 



