to {ah-imX?. Oil nir<fs of C//cs/rr Cfluiiiy. Soiif/i Caiolnin. [ j.inu.nV 



"new occurrences still arise as long as any inquiries are kept 

 alive." Knowledge of this sort is gained slowly. The power to 

 grasp expands with advancing experience, and facts accumulated 

 in earlier years, the chief import of which was not perceived at 

 the time of their gathering, are seen in the end to be conspicuous 

 illustrations of great ornithological truths. In an extended series 

 of years seasons, too, happen that are peculiarly propitious for 

 investigation in certain directions, and circumstances then become 

 palpable that have previously eluded satisfactory interpretation. 

 Such, in an eminent degree, were Deccml)er, 1SS9, and January. 

 1S90. 



The birds, species and subspecies, added since the publication 

 of the last list, numi)er twenty-three, raising the total, exclusive 

 of the English Sparrow, to two himdred and two. These are 

 believed to represent only about four fifths of the normal avi- 

 fauna of the County, the river districts being expected to yield the 

 bulk of the remaining fifth. Forty -two are 'resident' ; sixty-seven 

 are known as migrants ; fifty, besides 'residents,' occur in the win- 

 ter season ; thirty-six have been found to be breeding summer vis- 

 itants ; seven are of doubtful rank, owing to insufficient observa- 

 tion. The general character of the fauna is Louisianian. The near 

 proximity of the mountains exerts a modifying intluence upon it, 

 lessening the force of the Louisianian, however, rather than 

 bringing into marked prominence the Carolinian. 



The Trans- Appalachian Move?uent.* — A peculiar complexion 

 is given to tiie bird fauna of this region through the inlusion of 

 such characteristic Western species as Animodra?7i?is lecontcii 

 and Scolccophagus cyanocephalus. If these birds could he tlis- 

 missed with the simple statement that they were stragglers that 

 had wandered from their usual habitat, their presence would be 

 of little moment, but when it is understood that the former has 

 occurred in considerable abundance and in successive seasons, 

 the matter assumes a ver}' difi'erent aspect, and one urgently 

 requiring investigation. Besides the two birds mentioned, quite 

 a number of others, commonly regarded as belonging to the 

 western side of the Appalachian highlands, have been taken, as 

 well as most of the rarer land species of the Atlantic slope 



*This portion of the article was read, under a separate title, before the Eighth Con- 

 gress of the American Ornithologists' Union. 



