1S90. Cory on West Indian Birds. ^7^ 



latter, the roosting flights are doubtless started by a lew experi- 

 enced birds who, with a definite purpose in view, lead the way 

 over familiar ground to an old haunt. Others follow and the rout 

 becomes general, although many of the birds which it includes 

 are probably at first as ignorant as they are careless of whither 

 they arc going and to what end. A further resemblance to mi- 

 gration may be found in the manner in which the different sets of 

 birds perform their journey — not all together nor vet quite inde- 

 pendently of one another, but in what is virtually a straggling 

 arm)- where the new recruits are always more or less directly 

 under the guidance of veteran leaders. In short, so closehj 

 do these evening flights resemble those of migration that I 

 can trace only two marked distinctions: (1) They are com- 

 paratively local affairs extending at most over 011I3 a few square 

 miles; (2) they are undertaken, not because of the necessity of 

 escaping from a region where food will soon fail or the climate be- 

 come unbearable, but seemingly from a mere impulse to assemble 

 nightly in one place for mutual companionship and protection. 

 Neither of these differences is really fundamental, nor can either 

 affect the obvious significance of (he fact, established 1>V Mr. 

 Faxon, that the young are at first led to the roost by their parents. 

 If the guidance; of old birds is necessary along tne short and sim- 

 ple paths to the roosts, can it be doubted that it is even more es- 

 sential on the long and difficult journey southward? 



ON A COLLECTION OF BIRDS MADE DURING THE 



WINTER OF 1S89-90, BY CYRUS S. WINCH, IN 



THE ISLANDS OF ST. THOMAS, TORTOLA, 



ANEGADA, AND VIRGIN GORDA, 



WEST INDIES. 



by charles b. cory. 



St. Thomas. 



Dafila bahamensis (/,/«>/.). 

 Aythya affinis (Eytoii). 

 Tyrannus dominicensis (Crtnel.'). 



