160 Williams, Birds of Leon County, Fla. [April 



— for so it was then — was simply alive with titlarks. Flocks of hundreds 

 were feeding over the ground and now and then, when disturbed by some 

 roving hound or cur of the neighborhood, a veritable cloud of the birds 

 filled the air. I afterwards found them feeding in high, newly plowed land 

 and on several occasions met with them in some leafless tree in the middle 

 of a field. The bird is a common winter resident. 



Galeoscoptes carolinensis. Catbird. — Observations made during the 

 fall and winter of 1904-5 lead me to the belief that if the bird is a winter 

 resident at all it is quite rare. The history of those observations is as fol- 

 lows: First of season seen Oct. 3, several in Lively 's woods and they were 

 very noisy; a few days later I noticed a marked diminution in their num- 

 bers; by the 28th they were only occasionally seen or heard, and after the 

 10th of Nov. I did not see them again till Jan. 29, 1905, when I found one 

 in a deep woodland near town, feeding on the berries of Smilax. None 

 were seen again till March 10, when I found one in our yard. I left home 

 shortly thereafter, so know nothing of the spring movement. 



Certhia familiaris fusca. Brown Creeper. — I was passing through 

 the pasture on the morning of Oct. 28, on my way home from Lively's 

 woods, when passing under a gigantic live oak, I detected the high notes 

 of this bird. A few moments' search revealed the little fellow climbing 

 up the side of an upright limb near the top. On Jan. 29, 1905, I found an- 

 other in a strip of woods a mile from town, and on Feb. 26 saw another 

 searching the main trunk of a large pine. The bird is a winter resident in 

 limited numbers. 



Polioptila cserulea. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. — My records of this 

 bird's occurrence throughout the winter of 1904-5 establish its constant 

 residence in the county, though it is quite probable that those we have in 

 winter are birds from the north while our summer residents move further 

 south at that season. 



173. Hylocichla fuscescens. Wilson Thrush. 'Whieu' — the weird 

 notes of an unknown and unseen bird fell upon my ear during the first 

 few mornings of my visits to Lively's woods. It was annoying in the 

 extreme to leave the place in ignorance of the author, but I was unable to 

 see the bird. Finally on Sept. 11,1 was able to record the species. I saw 

 one sitting upon the lower branch of a scrub oak with drooping wings and 

 a querulous air. Until Oct. 9 they were quite common and whiled away 

 a part of their seemingly aimless life chasing each other around the woods. 

 They disappeared by the middle of the month. 



Hylocichla guttata pallasii. Hermit Thrush. — This bird is asso- 

 ciated with my childhood, perhaps more intimately than any other species, 

 resident or migratory. In the days of that instrument of the devil, the 

 sling shot, it was an easy mark. It sickens my soul now to recount the 

 numbers that must be recorded against me somewhere. If a stricken con- 

 science is any expiation of my crime I must be partially forgiven. But all 

 that is necessary in a paper of this character has been recorded in my for- 

 mer article and I only wish to continue longer that I may boast of having 



