538 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Table 1. — Records of Land Birds Over the Open Gulf — Continued 



The tabic includes records of 64 species, 28 of 

 which have been observed more than once. If 

 the summary were to include the herons and sand- 

 pipers seen over the Gulf and discussed in the 

 section on coastal birds, the total of nonpelagic 

 birds definitely recorded at sea would be increased 

 to 73 species. The seasons covered by these ob- 

 servations extend from March 29 to May 11 and 

 fi-om August 16 to November 28. Sixty-one of 

 the species listed in the table have been observed 

 in spring, but only twelve have been definitely 

 seen in fall. 



There are 140 entries in the table, and for 123 

 the approximate position of the observations is 

 known. Among these 123 entries, only 3 repre- 

 sent birds seen less than 10 miles from land; only 

 9, less than 20 miles from land; and no more than 

 12, less than 30 miles from land. Thus the pub- 

 lished data so far offer little to support the idea 

 advanced by Williams (1945, 1947) that migrating 

 birds cut chords of varying length across inden- 

 tures of the coast, an idea, incidentally, at vari- 

 ance with experience of European observers who 

 have studied the relation of migration routes to 

 coast lines. While the watez-s rather close inshore 

 are those most frequented by boats and therefore 

 the waters over which maximal proportions of the 

 birds present might be expected to be seen, it is 

 highly questionable that the present records re- 

 flect the true relative abundance of land birds 

 over various sections of the Gulf. Certainly many 

 more land birds must have been seen from time 

 to time over inshore waters than have been 

 reported. 



Moreover, the majority of the records are sup- 

 plied by four observers: Frazar, Bullis, Helmuth, 

 and Howell, who were, respectively, 30, 60, 80 

 (estimated), and 121-179 miles offshore from 



Louisiana when birds appeared in numbers on or 

 near their boats. Just as concentrations of spe- 

 cies and individuals in spring on land on the 

 northern Gulf coast are associated with inclement 

 weather, so are these exceptionally high counts at 

 sea. Three of the notable concentrations occurred 

 after the passage of moderate or severe cold-front 

 storms and the coincident shift of the winds to 

 the north, which imposed an obstacle to north- 

 ward flight. But the fourth spectacular flight, 

 that observed by Bullis, which involved thou- 

 sands of small land birds, was recorded mainly 

 when the winds were southerly, even though the 

 skies were heavily overcast. In ah cases where 

 the direction of flight of land birds over the Gulf 

 has been recorded, they were proceeding in the 

 seasonal direction of migration. This has been 

 the case irrespective of the direction of the wind 

 at the time the observations were made. 



The foregoing discussions should make it ap- 

 parent that, in the present state of our knowledge, 

 any record of any pelagic bird, or of any land bird, 

 anywhere over the Gulf of Mexico, as well as of 

 any coastal species seen offshore, has potential 

 significance and is worth recording. 



LITERATURE CITED 



American Ornithologists' Unio.n Committee. 



1931. Check-list of North American birds. 4th ed. 

 Amer. Orni. Union, Lancaster, Pa. 



Anonymous. 



1927. Birds of the air have their refuge. Fireman's 

 Fund Record 47: 15. 



Atwoou, Earl L. 



1943. Recent interesting Louisiana records. Auk 60: 

 453-455. 



Barbour, Thomas. 



1943. Cuban ornithology. Mem. Nuttall Orni. Club, 

 No. 9: 1-144. 



