Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri. 7 



the former Is somewhat more severe than that of the latter, the 

 summers being hotter, the winteis oolder. It is therefore not 

 sui prising to find slight differences in the summer and winter 

 faunas of the two regions, while the migrations occur at nearly 

 the same time, owing to the similarity in temperature of the 

 spring and fall months. 



V. THE CLIMATE. 



The climate of Missouri, continental as H is in a high degree, is 

 one of great variations. Generally speaking it may be said that 

 it is characterized by hot summers and moderately cold winters, 

 With exceptions of modd'ately hot summers and very cold winters. 

 Maximum temperatures of eighty degrees and over occur during 

 the summer on eighty to ninety days; ninety degrees and over 

 on twenty to thirtv day. In ordinary winters the temperature 

 reaches to and below the freezing point on about eighty days 

 and fahs below zero on trom ten to twenty days. There are on 

 record a few exceptionally moderate winters like that of 1905-'06 

 when the zero mark was hardly reached, or reached only in the 

 more northern counties. There is little diffe-'ence in the amount 

 ami duration of the summer's heat in the different parts of the 

 state, but there is a difference of five degi'ees in the average 

 winter temperature between the northwest and the center, and 

 from ten to fifteen degrees between that of the northwest and 

 the southeast. All waves, cold and warm, appear first in the 

 northwest and advance southeastward, requiring about twenty- 

 four hours to reach the southeastern corner of the state. The 

 most pronounced polar waves of midwinter are nearly as cold in 

 one part of the state as in the other, but cold periods are generally 

 of shorter duration in the southeast, moderating more rapidly un- 

 der the more southern sun and the lower elevation. This is espe- 

 cially noticeable in the beginning and at the end of winter, but, due 

 to its northwest-southeast course, the chilling effect of a departing 

 high barometer may still be felt strongly in the southeast when 

 the approaching low barometer has already entered the state "n 

 the northwest with rapidly rising temperature. Such conditions 

 are particularly striking in spring, when north-bound migrants 

 are thereby enabled to depart, while no migration reaches us 

 from the south, then still under the influence of the cold east and 

 southeast w'nds of the departed high pressure. The first frosts 

 occur late in October, in the southern part sometimes not before 



