46 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



migrants are in the habit of seeking mates every season, 

 and not keeping to the same mate year after year," he 

 believes "that almost if not quite all birds are fairly 

 constant in their attachments." 



To determine whether most or even a proportion of 

 our birds are permanently mated or but for a season, 

 requires so great an amount of patient observation that 

 it is not surprising the subject has been practically neg- 

 lected. A chance occurrence, years ago, called my at- 

 tention to this subject, and I commenced, at that time, 

 a series of observations, which have been repeated dur- 

 ing each of the succeeding summers. While by no 

 means what I wished, I have, probably, gathered suffi- 

 cient material to, at least, warrant calling attention to 

 the subject, especially as the remarks in " Science Gos- 

 sip," quoted above, are likely to bring the subject prom- 

 inently before active, out-door ornithologists. 



The birds that I have studied, in hopes of reaching a 

 satisfactory conclusion, were all land birds ; and these 

 may be separated, for convenience of study, into two 

 classes, Resident species and Summer migrants. 



Of sixteen resident species of birds, my observations 

 show that during the whole year the sexes remain to- 

 gether ; and of these sixteen only three the crow, pur- 

 ple grakle, and cedar-bird are-gregarious. Of course, in 

 the latter case, it is impossible to determine whether the 

 mated pairs of the early summer remain together or 

 not, associated as they are with other pairs ; but cer- 

 tainly there is no more reason why permanently mated 

 birds should not form flocks than that individuals or 

 unmated birds should do so. It is, furthermore, highly 



