164 



THE OOLOGIST 



and eleven degrees lower than on the 

 tenth. The barometer was also lower 

 than on either of the other occasions, 

 reading 29.90 inches. I reached the 

 "Square" at 5 A. M., and by the time 

 an hour had passed, more birds than 

 ever had been seen. First there came 

 single birds, one after another, until 

 fifteen had been recorded in my field 

 note book. These were all flying 

 steadily southwest and roughly speak- 

 ing they were perhaps one hundred 

 and fifty, to two hundred feet in the 

 air. Had it not been for their con- 

 tinual calling to one another, it would 

 have been impossible to even guess at 

 their identity. At just six o'clock 

 two flocks containing twenty-five birds 

 each, appeared in the northeast. The 

 flocks were about two hundred feet 

 apart, flying at the same level and 

 not over one hundred feet from the 

 ground. All of these birds dropped 

 into the woods near by to feed. They 

 had probably been in company for 

 some time as they flew similarly (see 

 Fig. 3), and after a short rest left 

 the woods together, flying to a thicket 

 some five hundred feet away where 

 they remained all day. The total 

 number of birds noted in one hour 

 on this morning was sixty-five, which 

 is more than is usually seen here dur- 

 ing an entire year! 



After the sixteenth the numbers of 

 individuals dwindled rapidly. On the 

 morning of the eighteenth I took two 

 more young males from a band of 

 twelve which were found in a thicket. 

 On the twentieth I saw three in the 

 woods about 7 A. M. These birds 

 were feeding upon the ground at the 

 foot of some cedar trees. They were 

 very shy and took wing when I ap- 

 proached with my gun. A slight drop 

 in the temperature on the night of 

 the 27th, brought a few more down 

 from the north, seven being noted on 

 the morning of the twenty-eighth in 



the woods, and with them was a sin- 

 gle Hylocichla guttata pallisi. After 

 this none were seen until October 

 9th, when I succeeded in taking a 

 male in fine plumage from a band of 

 two individuals. The stomach of this 

 bird was well filled with parts of 

 a large locust, many weed seeds and 

 one very large downey seed, as large 

 as, and about the same shape as a 

 pumpkin seed. 



On the morning of October 10th, 

 about 8 A. M., three Olive-backed 

 Thrushes were noted in the woods 

 near my home. One of these birds 

 had lost most of its nape feathers 

 so that the skin of its neck could be 

 plainly seen, and being thus plainly 

 marked, I decided to watch the birds 

 carefully through the day, keeping 

 tabs upon their movements. This 

 was not difficult and they stayed in 

 the same locality during all of that 

 day, quietly feeding and occasionally 

 calling to one another in well modu- 

 lated voices. At 5:15 P. M., they be- 

 came restless and as darkness came 

 on several other birds of the same 

 species joined the band of three which 

 I had been watching. These new 

 comers came from various parts of 

 the woods and I had not been aware 

 of their presence during the day. It 

 is possible that they had been to- 

 gether on the previous night's jour- 

 ney and had scattered in the woods 

 at daylight, only to band together 

 again at evening. By 6 o'clock it was 

 entirely dark and soon I heard the 

 flock leave the woods. They must 

 have mounted straight in the air to 

 a desired height, as 1 could hear them 

 calling directly above me for quite 

 some time before the voices began 

 to grow fainter, telling that they had 

 turned southward. I had often won- 

 dered at what time the birds started 

 their night's journey and this obser- 

 vation was indeed a fortunate one. 



