Bird Studies in Lorain County, Ohio. 53 



species, some within the families, as the Icteridse, or black- 

 bird group. Sometimes this instinct is hardly apparent, but 

 with some species it is very marked, the birds of a species 

 even nesting in communities. It is, perhaps, suggested in 

 the species which usually show faint traces or none, by the 

 community of interest exhibited at the call of distress from any 

 bird. In the winter this faint instinct shows far more promi- 

 nently than at any other season with the birds as a whole. 

 Then the smaller woods birds habitually go in troops or 

 companies. Some species are habitually found together, or 

 found in these troops, while others are more independent 

 and wander from the troop when occasion seems to demand. 

 It must not be supposed that when I say that some species 

 are habitually found together that therefore they may never 

 be found alone. That would be carrying the statement over 

 into the impossible, but it is true that certain species are 

 rarely separated in the winter months. It is also true that 

 these same troops of species are the leaders of troops dur- 

 ing the height of the spring warbler migration. The point 

 I wish to make is, that birds are not, as a rule, scattered 

 helter-skelter about any region. They are more evenly dis- 

 tributed over any given region during the period of nesting 

 than at any other time. 



The species which almost always form a bird troop in 

 winter are as follows: Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, 

 Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, 

 Blue Jay. With these are often associated the Red -bellied 

 Woodpecker, Flicker, Song Sparrow, Cardinal, Tree Spar- 

 row, Junco, Goldfinch, Red-breasted Nuthatch and Brown 

 Creeper. Still rarer species which may be attracted by the 

 food rather than by a desire for company, may be men- 

 tioned: Cedar Waxwing, American Crossbill, Purple Finch 

 and Pine Siskin. All of these are woods birds. Out in the 

 fields we frequently find the Horned and Prairie Horned 

 Larks, Lapland Longspur and Snowflake, in companies. 

 Such species as the Crow, Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, 

 Bob-white and the water birds, are naturally gregarious 



