Yol i909" VI ] CoLE > The Egging of Wild Birds. 137 



Hylocichla fuscescens. Wilson Thrush. — A few pairs breed on the 

 summit of Brasstown Bald, where they are confined to the dense rhodo- 

 dendron thickets on the cool slopes. One was secured July 16, and on the 

 following day several were heard calling and singing faintly. 



Planesticus migratorius achrusterus. Carolinian Robin. — Occurs 

 sparingly on Brasstown Bald and in the surrounding valleys. An adult 

 and a young bird were taken at 4500 feet. The robin is mentioned as a 

 breeder by Gerhardt. 1 



Sialia sialis. Bluebird. — Fairly common; seen up to 4000 feet on 

 Rich Mountain. 



THE TAGGING OF WILD BIRDS AS A MEANS OF STUDY- 

 ING THEIR MOVEMENTS. 2 



BY LEON J. COLE. 



It is needless in introducing this subject to dwell upon the so- 

 called mysteries of migration. To call the facts of migration 

 mysterious is merely to say that we do not understand them, for 

 when we do come to understand them, though they may still remain 

 marvellous, they can no longer be mysterious. That migration 

 will nevertheless still probably remain a phenomenon to be wondered 

 at is because it is, in all likelihood, of a nature widely different 

 from anything in the ordinary experience of mankind. If man 

 possesses any such homing sense, it is only in the most rudimentary 

 and undeveloped condition. And it is probably for this very 

 reason, this element of mystery, that man has from earliest time 

 taken a lively interest in the question of the migration of birds. 



But how much nearer are we to a real solution of the problem 

 of migration than we were a hundred or two hundred years ago? 

 Much data has been accumulated, many details have been learned 

 as to where birds go and to a certain extent by what routes, and 

 many poorly grounded theories have been overturned and left 

 behind. But still the goal is ahead. For although the coming 



1 Naumannia, V, 1855, pp. 390-391. 



2 Read before the American Ornithologist's Union, Cambridge, Mass., November 

 18, 1908. 



