On Birds observed in Amelia County, Virginia. 79 



round my house, where they were not molested, and though thoy 

 never assemble in flocks, I have counted as many as tiurteen on 

 one small tree near my corn house, nine of which were males. 

 They are very bright, handsome birds, and their song is sweet 

 and powerful, but rather monotonous. I have seen the female 

 in spring, singing in the woods just as well as the male. They 

 build their nest in some bush or low tree, generally only a few 

 feet from the ground. It is generally composed chiefly of the 

 stalks of the Michaelmas-Daisy {Aster Americanus), and I do 

 not think I have ever seen a nest that had not some of this 

 material in it. It is locally known as the Red-bird, and is pro- 

 tected b}'" law. 



PiPiLO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS (Vieill.) Red-eyed Towhee. — It is 

 commonly known as the Ground-robin. In March they are often 

 quite numerous ; the earliest that I have taken was on the 22nd 

 of February. Some remain all the summer, and assemble in 

 flocks in the autumn, and these being augmented probably by 

 those migrating from the north, it becomes a very common bird 

 in the bee-innins: of October. After the middle of that month 

 most of them have left, and I doubt if any remain during the 

 coldest part of the year. It frequents thick bushes and under- 

 wood, and always keeps near the ground. 



Eremophila alpestris (Boie.) Shore Lark — It comes to this 

 district in flocks during winter. Some years I have not seen 

 one ; in others I have noticed that they appeared whenever the 

 weather was unusually severe, and then only, leaving whenever 

 it became the least warmer. They prefer open pasture fields, or 

 stubble that has been grazed bare, and seem during their stay to 

 be much attached to a locality which they consider suits them. 

 I have always found them rather wild and hard to approach 

 within shot ; and I have noticed a flock that I had disturbed, 

 fly over another flock — who were feeding in a valley where they 

 had not observed me — and swoop down at them several times, 

 until they induced them to rise and join them, when they all 

 flew ofl" out of danger. 



DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS (Swains.) Boh-o-linh or Rice-hird. 

 — It arrives in flocks about the middle of Ma,y. I have not seen 

 it before the 8th of that month. They stay but a very short 



SciEN. Proc, K.D.S. Vol. hi., Pt. hi. H 2 



