68 MICHIGAX ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. • 



Pre-eminent among; individual observers is undoubtedly the late Herr 

 Giitke, of Heligoland, whose observations cover a period of some fifty 

 years, while in this country Mr. Leverett M. Loomis has accumulated 

 a mass of notes on the movements of the water birds oft" the California 

 coast, and Mr. Otto AMdmann has for years kept accurate records of 

 migration in the Mississippi valley, which are largely quoted by Cooke 

 in the work mentioned. Some information has also been gathered rela- 

 tive to the movements of birds at night by observations at light houses,^ 

 and by the use of telescopes turned upon the moon, a record being kept 

 of the birds that crossed the illuminated field. A more or less system- 

 atic attempt has been made at the former, and I believe Mr. Winken- 

 werder at the University of Wisconsin is at present carrying on investi- 

 gations in the latter line. Some data are gathered also from the birds 

 that meet with accidents while migrating, such as flying against towers, 

 buildings, wires, etc. 



While at Woods Holl in the summer of 1900 I had the pleasure of 

 hearing Dr. Kobert H. Wolcott give the results of some of his studies on 

 migration in Nebraska, in which he seemed to show beyoud doubt that 

 at least some of the birds, in coming into Nebraska in the spring, follow 

 natural routes such as the water-ways; for example, certain species were 

 found to arrive successively at intervals along the Missouri, the 

 Platte, and finally at localities on streams tributary to the Platte. It 

 was with an idea of finding whether similar routes could be mapped 

 in Michigan that I latelv undertook to work over the records accumu- 

 lated by the migration committee of the Michigau Ornithological Club. 

 I found, however, that the records for any one species were far too few 

 and scattered to give any satisfactory results. Although the sheets in 

 use give much valuable infornuition, there are several reasons whv, it 

 seems to me, what might be called an intensive method might be em- 

 ploj-ed to advantage in place of this more extensive one. The ideal would 

 be, of course, a method which would give us complete records of the 

 ntovemeuts of every species of bird at each station where there is an 

 observer, not only for the period of migration, but throughout the year; 

 but for obvious reasons these cannot be obtained. In ihe first place, 

 to obtain such records would require practically the whole time of the 

 observer, while for these notes we have to depend almost entirely upon 

 persons whose time is mostly taken up in other ways, and who study 

 birds only as a pleasure and pastime during leisure hours. And again, 

 many of these observers, though familiar with the commoner species 

 of birds, and whose notes on these species are perfectly reliable, are not 

 familiar with the bulk of the birds; and in their migration blanks the 

 list of species is often small, or otherwise, apt to be inaccurate. 



Some common bird should be selected, one which is familiar to all 

 amateurs, and blanks sent out with full instructions for recording the 

 data with regard to this species for all times of the year. The species 

 selected should also be one that makes its presence known when it is 

 in a locality, without requiring too much search to find it. It should 

 also be one in which the female is easily distinguishable from the male. 



'^ In this connection, Rird ^ligration. liy William nrewster. Memoirs of the Xiittall Ornith- 

 ological Club, No. 1. Cambridge, Mass.. ISSG. 



Notes on bird migration are scattered throughout aU the ornithological publications : no 

 complete bibliography has ever been made, and would be both very extensive and difficult to 

 compile. • 



