BIRD-MIGRATIOX. 805 



mit any discussion of but few of these interesting questions. From 

 their very nature it is evident that futile must prove the labors of him 

 who would attempt to solve these problems alone. Only through the 

 concerted action and labors of many observers in different and widely 

 separated regions can any reliable conclusions be reached. Not until 

 recently has the subject of bird-migration been studied systematically 

 in this country or elsewhere. 



Three years ago a gentleman * in the Mississippi Valley addressed 

 personal letters to several hundred naturalists, teachers, ministers, 

 farmers, and others in the different Valley States, asking them to co- 

 operate with him in studying the movements of the birds of this re- 

 gion. They were requested to note only the more common phenom- 

 ena of migration, such as the time of arrival and departure of each 

 species, the time of breeding, and the comparative abundance of the 

 various species. They were asked to record such observations as they 

 could, and send in reports to him of what they had seen. More than 

 one hundred observers were thus secured, who reported to him the re- 

 sults of their observations, and this, if I mistake not, was the first 

 corps of migration observers in America. 



A little later, in September, 1883, the American Ornithologists' 

 Union was organized. Among the committees appointed at its first 

 meeting was one on " The Migration and Geographical Distribution 

 of North American Birds." Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of Locust Grove, 

 New York, was made chairman of this committee. It has been and is 

 the purpose of this committee " to investigate in all its bearings, and 

 to the fullest extent possible, the subject of the migration of birds in 

 the United States and British North America. Its work is not limited 

 to the accumulation of records of the time of arrival and departure of 

 the different species, but it embraces as well the collection of all data 

 that may aid in determining the causes which influence the progress 

 of migration from season to season." For example, severe storms, 

 gales of wind, long periods of unusally high or low temperature, are 

 some of the atmospheric conditions which are known to exert marked 

 effects upon the movements of birds. 



In order to secure as many observers as possible, and that the 

 material collected by this great army of. observers be speedily elab- 

 orated, the United States was divided into a dozen or more districts, 

 each of which was placed in charge of a competent superintendent. 

 The superintendent's duties are to secure as many observers in his 

 district as he can, to give them all needed instructions concerning the 

 work, to act as a means of communication between the observers and 

 the chairman of the committee, to collect, at stated times, the results 

 of their observations, and submit them to the committee. The chair- 

 man will arrange, condense, and systematize these reports, and present 



- Professor W. "W. Cooke, then of Jefferson, Wisconsin, now of Burlington, 

 Vermont. 



