iS9J-] LooMTS 0}i Birds of Chester County. South Carolina. -2 7 



Titmice and Carolina Cliickailccs.* In a typical gathering there 

 will be associated with a band of these birds a few White- 

 breasted Nuthatches, one or more Downy Woodpeckers, and a 

 multitude of Warblers, Vireos, etc. On dillerent days, these 

 gatherings vary in aspect, species temporarily predominant giv- 

 ing to each a distinctive character. Thus, July 31, 18SS, the 

 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was the prevailing bird ; August 8, the 

 Parula W^arbler ; September 11. the Blackburnian AVarbler. The 

 last, also, was the characteristic bird September 24 of the previ- 

 ous year. Examples of this sort might be cited indefinitely. So 

 constant are these gatherings, that when they have not been de- 

 tected — a considerable tract of territory being traversed and 

 groups of Titmice and Chickadees found — it has been regarded 

 proof that no movement of imjDortance of woodland birds has 

 taken place, j In spring these assemblages are prominent at the 

 outset, but usually after the first of April the migrants form oases, 

 or islands, in the woods rather than compact bodies moving syn- 

 chronously. 



The ebbing of the southward migration begins soon after the 

 first week of October. It is more gradual than the decline in the 

 opposite movement, bearing closer resemblance to that move- 

 ment at its commencement. The last of the strictly summer spe- 

 cies finally withdraw. Several, as the Red-eyed Vireo, loiter on 

 toward the end of the month. Transients as first arrivals are re- 

 placed from the start almost exclusively by species that reside 

 during the winter, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, .Song Sparrow, 

 Myrtle Warbler, and American Pipit being examples. At the 

 middle of the month, unless their departure has been hastened, 

 the Parula, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, and Black-throated 

 Green Warblers are present in force. Through the third week 

 there are still quite a number of typical migrants remaining, some 

 of them continuing fairly numerous. The last week is one only 

 of stragglers, as the Blue-headed Vireo, Cape May Warbler, 



*The subject of bird gatherings in the migrations will be considered at greater 

 length in a subsequent paper. 



fThis statement, or any former one implying oscillatory movement, is not in any 

 sense to be construed as conflicting with the theory of a continuous current of migra- 

 tion setting steadily southward; the phenomena described being simply local manifes- 

 tations. A simile is perhaps found in a vast army of Crows on their way to roost, 



great flocks being connected by straggling columns in one unbroken array. 



