170 Embody, Birds observed at Ashland, Virginia. [April 



north, and King's Pond, three miles or less to the west. These are 

 not sufficiently large nor do they furnish the necessary conditions 

 for attracting or supporting more than an occasional duck or 

 shore-bird. This in a large measure accounts for the absence of 

 such birds from the list. The single duck which came to my notice 

 was in too great a hurry to be identified with certainty. 



The climate is free from extremes of heat and cold. The range 

 of temperature between normals for January and July averages 

 42° F. There are, however, conspicuous alternations of warm and 

 cold spells in spring, which injure early blooming fruit trees, espe- 

 cially peaches, and which doubtless afl'ect in no inconsiderable way 

 the movements of migrating birds. 



The region lies within the Carolinian Faunal Area but close to 

 the isotherm marking the northern limit of the Austro riparian. 

 This is indicated by the following comparison of the temperatures 

 taken at Ashland in 1908, with those marking the northern limits 

 of the Lower Austral and Carolinian respectively : — 



Sum of mean daily temperature, above 4-3° F. 



Ashland 1908 16212 



Northern hmit Austroriparian 18000* 



Northern limit Carolinian 11500' 



Mean temperature for the six hottest consecutive weeks. 



Ashland 1908 77. IF. 



Northern limit Austroriparian 78.8' 



Northern limit Carolinian 71.6' 



From this condition of affairs a few lower austral forms might be 

 expected to invade the region about Ashland, but aside from the 

 Black Vulture and Mockingbird no typical ones were observed. 

 One should be on the lookout for such forms as Chuck-will's-widow, 

 Brown-headed Nuthatch, Southern Hairy Woodpecker, Red- 

 cockaded Woodpecker, Blue Grosbeak, Swainson's Warbler and 

 Prothonotary Warbler. 



In the following list only those birds are mentioned which were 

 observed by the writer within a radius of five miles of Ashland and 

 during the period from September 10, 1907, until June 17, 1908. 



' Merriam, Life Zones and Crop Zones of the United States, 1898, p. 55. 



