ig09] Burrill, Briefer Articles. 131 



Dr. M. T. Cook's list for Indiana. It has so far been mentioned 

 in J. M. Aldrich's Catalog of North American Diptera as from 

 Illinois, where it was described, and the gall and larva figured 

 by Walsh (Amer. Ent. 1 1107; repeated by Riley in his 5th Mo. 

 Rept, p. 116; and the figure repeated with note by A. S. Packard 

 in his Guide to the Study of Insects, p. 377, fig. 284) and in J. 

 Williams' account "On Grape- Vine Galls. Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. 

 Ontario for 1877, 1877, p. 48-51, fig. 37-41. 



SWALLOW MIGRATION, 1909. 



BY ALFRED C. BUBBIIX. 



Passing through the region of Fox Lake, Dodge Co., Wis., 

 the first week of September, 1909, was made memorable by the 

 great flocks of blackbirds and other myriads of swallows gather- 

 ing for their autumn migration. I should say over three miles 

 throughout the lowlands of Fox Lake, and again in lowland pas- 

 ture plateaus west of there,, the swallows were present in thou- 

 sands. No need to go to the classic points of swallow assemblage, 

 the New Jersey or Potomac marshes, in order to have unrivaled 

 opportunity to study variation in the budding instincts in birds of 

 the year. Though not able to stop on horseback (under military 

 discipline), the birds flew so close to the heads of the horsemen 

 that there was no trouble in identifying the barn swallow (Cheli- 

 don erythrogaster), tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), and bank 

 swallow (Riparia riparia). With all the bird lists published and 

 all the bird students in Wisconsin, is there not someone not only 

 competent but also instantly able to give us an annotated list of 

 the chief flocking points of those bird species which come together 

 annually in this way, for at least southern Wisconsin? It is 

 known in the East and on the Mississippi River that old flocking 

 places have been abandoned with the advent of man, and it is a 

 comment on bird psychology too important to be so markedly 

 neglected in ornithology. Even if some bird statistics that our 

 nation's bird life has decreased 46% be true, it will still be inter- 

 esting to see where else the remaining masses of birds gather. 

 The reasons for changing a flocking point should make a good 

 comparative study of bird psychology and a contribution to the 

 study of migration in general. But most students do not even 

 know where the chief points of assemblage are. I think I am 



