On Birds observed in Aryielia County, Virginia. 63 



tending in one direction. You will probably see the Carolina and 

 the tufted tit, one or two of the smaller woodpeckers, the white- 

 bellied nuthatch, perhaps the gold-crested wren, and one of the 

 small warblers, generally Dendrosca coronata. Busy as they 

 are searching for insects, they all seem to keep together, and in 

 a few minutes pass away ; not one will remain, and the woods 

 will be as silent as if there were no living thing for miles around. 

 In an hour perhaps you may meet another little flock, acting just 

 in the same way. In the spring you may see somewhat the 

 same thing, but the flocks are smaller, and composed generally 

 only of tits, and perhaps a couple of woodpeckers. 



At first I was under the impression that in autumn these little 

 flocks were all moving southward, but longer experience has 

 convinced me that this is not the case, but that their regular 

 migrating movements are performed, in most instances, during 

 the night, and that in the daytime they devote themselves to 

 searching for food, and move about the woods without any regard 

 to the points of the compass, generally following the direction of 

 the valleys or streams where veins of deciduous trees run through 

 the forest of pines. 



I have also often noticed a sudden incursion of some species not 

 generally abundant. The locality where they are observed will 

 now be alive with them, quarrelling, chattering and fussing about 

 looking for food, moving on their course being apparently the 

 idea furthest from their thoughts ; perhaps another day may be 

 spent by them in the same way, at the same spot, and on the next 

 not one will be found in the district. 



The migration southward seems to be performed more regularly 

 and leisurely than when going north. In spring they will some- 

 times, with favourable weather, pass through in a great hurry, 

 the bob-o-links, for instance, seldom staying more than two days 

 or three. In other years they will often hang about for a long- 

 time, and a spell of bad weather will sometimes drive them away 

 from the district entirely, to reappear when it is over, when they 

 remain in varj/ing numbers, occasionally for weeks, and that with 

 species not one of which stays all the summer. 



Partial migration, I think, also takes place to a very large 

 extent, but is not so easily observed. For instance, the robins 

 (Turdus niigratorius), bluebirds, tits, and nuthatches, which we 



SciEN. Proc, K,D.S. Vol. in., Ft. iit. G 2 



