368 Bruner and Feild, Birds of Western North Carolina. [july 



owner said that a pair had been about the place for years, season 

 in and season out. 



As far as I can conchide, then, two Palmer's Thrashers, having 

 mated for life, select a suitable cholla, and build a nest that shall 

 serve indefinitely with such yearly repair as it requires, for the 

 rearing of young in the breeding season, and for sleeping quarters 

 the rest of the year. That the young return to the parental nest 

 I do not believe, but I should be interested to know what becomes 

 of them. At any rate it is clear that after the young are launched, 

 the old pair, while remaining inseparable, lapse into a condition of 

 conjugal camaraderie, and that the male quietly courts his mate 

 anew each spring in anticipation of nesting. 



NOTES ON THE BIRDS OBSERVED ON A TRIP THROUGH 

 THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



BY STEPHEN C. BRUNER AND ALEXANDER L. FEILD. 



This paper is the outcome of a trip made by the authors through 

 the mountains of western North Carolina. Our purpose in taking 

 this trip, which was made in the summer of 1911, was to study the 

 birds characteristic of this section and to secure additional informa- 

 tion, if possible, concerning their occurrence. Before giving the 

 ornithological records and observations made during this time, a 

 short introduction will serve to give some idea of the character of 

 the country visited and the nature of the trip. 



Our route lay through the heart of the Appalachian mountain 

 region and covered a distance of over one hundred miles. Seven 

 counties were visited, one of which was in Tennessee. Only 

 records from North Carolina are included in this paper. The six 

 North Carolina counties traversed were Caldwell, Avery, INIitchell, 

 McDowell, Yancey, and Buncombe. The scenery of this portion 

 of the state is unsurpassed in its beauty and grandeur by any in 

 eastern North America. To give some idea of its superiority to 



