COLLECTING BIRDS AND MAMMALS IN 

 NORTH CAROLINA 



By W. M. PERRYGO 

 Division of Mammals, U. S. National Museum 



To continue the study of the geographic distribution of birds and 

 mammals in our mountainous States in the Southeast, from which 

 a representative collection has been lacking in the National Museum, 

 the officials of the Museum decided to work this year in North 

 Carolina. This State is most interesting for this type of work be- 

 cause of its variety of terrain. On the broad coastal plain are vast 

 areas covered by pine and cane, with great cypress swamps along the 

 lower courses of the many streams. The central part of the State, 

 the Piedmont area, with its broad farms and wooded hills leads 

 gradually into the western mountains, and so to the high crest of 

 the Appalachian Range. 



Throughout the season we had the cooperation of J. D. Chalk, 

 Commissioner of Game and Fish, Department of Conservation, at 

 Raleigh; also the help of officials connected with the National Forests 

 and of the many land owners on whose land we collected. 



With Gregor Rohwer as my field assistant, I left in April 1939 

 to begin work in the northeastern part of the State near Elizabeth 

 City. Here we remained for 2 weeks working in the cypress swamps 

 in pine woods, along river banks, and through the farm lands search- 

 ing for the desired birds and mammals. As the spring migration began 

 in full force, we moved inland to Sampson County in the vicinity of 

 Clinton and worked along the streams and cypress swamps, obtaining 

 many interesting specimens. 



The first week in May we continued down to Brunswick County 

 in the lower austral zone of the extreme southeastern part of the 

 State, establishing a base at Southport. Here we found beautiful 

 painted buntings, with blue head, green back, and red breast ; brown- 

 headed nuthatches ; red-cockaded woodpeckers ; towhees with white 

 eyes ; and many other interesting denizens of the southern woods. 

 While here, we crossed to Smith Island, where we made some very 

 interesting collections. 



Moving to Richmond County for the latter part of May, we 

 w r orked in the cotton- and corn-growing section along the Pee Dee 

 River near Rockingham. The early part of June found us in Chero- 

 kee County near Murphy, in the extreme southwest, investigating 



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