General Notes. 12 1 



In the early part ot" October, 1S79. I paid my usual yearly visit to my old 

 home, and scarcely had arrived at the house ere my father informed me. 

 as a bit of news which he was well aware would both interest and surprise 

 me, that the Red-headed Woodpeckers had all migrated: that for a number 

 of nights preceding he had heard overhead their well-known notes as 

 they winged their way to some more or less distant region : in short, that 

 the woods which had been their home ''knew them now no more." The 

 following day I began collecting, and though some eight miles of wood- 

 land were traversed only three specimens of this species were observed, 

 these being young individuals and in all probability of one brood, since 

 they were sporting together among some large black-gum trees. My stav 

 was prolonged to the end of the month, and though I was in the woods 

 almost every day. my excursions radiating in every direction from the 

 town, these three lingering individuals seen the first day were all that were 

 met with, even the same clump of gums having become entirely deserted. 



This wholesale migration of a single species, when all other members 

 of the family remained in their normal abundance, is to me wholly inex- 

 plicable. It has never occurred before, to my knowledge, in that particu- 

 lar region ; and my father, who has lived there upwards of forty years (he 

 can remember when the Parakeets flew in large flocks, and were a nuisance 

 to the farmer) cannot call to mind another instance. Whether or not they 

 have since returned. I do not know, but in all probability their absence 

 was but temporary. 



In connection with this matter, a list of the Woodpeckers found in the 

 vicinity of Mount Carmel, arranged according to their relative abun- 

 dance, may not be out of place. 



1. Melanerpes erythiocephalus. "Red-head"; -Black Wood- 

 pecker". Usually most numerous in winter, when however, less gener- 

 ally distributed, being mainly confined to the sheltered bottoms. 



2. Centurus carolinus. "Checkered Woodpecker"; "Wood- 

 chuck": "Chuck." 



3. Colaptes auratus. "Flicker": "Yellow Hammer." [In the 

 fall of 1879, I shot upwards of thirty specimens of this species in order to 

 find, if possible, an individual inclining to the "kybridus" style, but suc- 

 ceeded in securing only one which departed in the least from typical 

 auratus,* this one having merely a very slight red suffusion at the ends of 

 the black cheek-patches. In addition to these thirty-odd specimens, I have 

 handled probably a hundred and fifty more shot in the same localities 



* Two adult males obtained the same day (Oct. 20, are remarkable for very small 

 size and certain peculiarities of coloration, which, however, do not tend in the least 

 towards mexicanus. These two specimens compared with two from Florida in my 

 collection measure as follows : — 



