•20 LoOMis OH Birds of Chester Counfy, South Carolina. fjanuary 



At the usual time the regular migration northward took place. 

 Their presence in the first instance finds solution, I think, in the 

 shifting of a local centre above us, the boreal weather driving the 

 birds southward, the pleasant weather enticing them northward 

 again. The armv of regular migrants that came later were evi- 

 dently those that wintered farther south. The movement of Bew- 

 ick's Wrens at the close of December, 1889, may be imputed to 

 migration northward of the birds of some local centre of abun- 

 dance not far removed, the long-continued clemency bringing it 

 about. It is assumed, as a general principle, if birds appear 

 abruptly in the depth of winter and then again in the flush of 

 migration, that their first coming is due to local shifting, from 

 the north if cold, from the south if warm. 



During the hard winter of 1SS6-87 there were great inroads of 

 Red-tailed Hawks ; the mild winter of 1SS9-90, as previously 

 stated, was notable for their scarcity. Their absence in the latter 

 season is seemingly explained by the migration of local birds oc- 

 casioned by w^armth that was not sufiiciently far-reaching to bring 

 the breeders and later migrants from further south to fill their 

 places. 



When the centres of distribution are small, at the extremes of 

 range or elsewhere, a retrograde or a forward movement would 

 result in Imt a slight influx in the region immediately invaded. 

 It further follows that when a locality does not lie within the path 

 of a north-bound community, another point further north may be 

 sooner reached, be sooner to have recorded from it, 'first appear- 

 ance.' 



February to the JMiddle of March. — Ordinarily it is not until 

 February that the northward movement becomes conspicLiously 

 apparent. Many winter residents are then reenforced from the 

 region below and the departure for the north truly begins. This 

 month is also the usual time of the opening of the song period. 

 Unless the season is backward, by the first week there are decided 

 signs of migration. Robins become more noticeable and Red- 

 winged Blackbirds are found with increasing regularity, and 

 greater activity is displayed among the hordes of Sparrows. The 

 Meadowlark, too, grows restless. The Flicker, Pine Warbler, 

 Mockingbird, and others begin to increase in numbers and be- 

 come more generally distributed. As the days pass, if the 

 weather is not unfavorable, the movement from the south gains 



