Vol. XI I "I Anthony, A .Ve-v Siecies of Thrvothoru^. CI 



i8v5 1 •^ ■ ■ •-' 



visit the roost. Not a bird was to be seen or lieard about the 

 trees and the Swallows were still perching upon our house when 

 we went to bed. A gentleman who has a martin-house told us 

 his Martins came back that night, though it had been several 

 weeks since they left. We concluded the probable explanation of 

 the episode was that perching upon the willows in the strong wind 

 was too serious an undertaking and that they had to disband for 

 the night and lodge wherever a safer place offered. 



My note-book says: " Sept. 9. — Field glasses revealed only 

 Martins in the group at the willows. These went through the 

 same evolutions as formerly." " Sept. 26. — Birds at willows 

 practically gone. Only about forty left." 



This congregating has been noticed for many years ; indeed I 

 cannot find in the minds of the oldest inhabitants of our little 

 city of Waterville, a recollection of a summer without them. 



We suppose that the time of their appearance, middle of July, 

 is regulated by the nesting season and the strength of the young 

 to accompany their parents; but just why they gather, if such 

 roosts are common, and whether their evolutions are thought to be 

 intelligent and performed with any real purpose, we should be 

 glad to know. 



I asked two little urchins one evening what the birds were 

 doing up there. One said, " I guess they 're marchin' " ; the other. 

 "No, they ain't! I know what they're doin' — they "re dancin'." 



A NEW SPECIES OF THRYOTHORUS FROM THE 

 PACIFIC COAST. 



BY A. W. ANTHONY. 



A SERIES of Wrens collected the past summer, by Dr. Edgar 

 A. Mearns and myself, on the island of San Clemente, California, 

 prove to be so different from Vigors's Wren of the mainland that 

 I have ventured to describe it as a new species to be known as : — 



