BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE 335 



Dr. Wilbur K. Butts (1931), during an able study of the chickadee 

 by means of marked individuals, attempted to determine the extent of 

 migration of the species at Ithaca, N. Y. Even with the aid of colored 

 bands, the evidence of migration, except in minor degree, seemed not 

 conclusive to him, as his following summaries show. He says: 



In considering these evidences of a migratory movement, it should be remem- 

 bered that even if birds appear to be more numerous during the winter, it is not 

 proved that there really are more individuals present. Many birds are so much 

 more conspicuous in winter than in summer that they may seem to be more 

 abundant. The distributional records show that there is a movement of Qiicka- 

 dees, but it is not proved that there is a distinct north and south migration. 



Bird-banding operations at some stations seem to indicate that there is an arrival 

 of Qiickadees in the fall and a departure in the spring, but the records have as yet 

 no proof of a distinct north-and-south migratory movement. Published records 

 show only two Chickadee recoveries at points other than the place of banding. 

 These two were recovered at distances of only three and twenty miles. The rec- 

 ords do show, however, that there are many permanent resident individuals. The 

 records at most stations do not show whether there are more individuals present 

 in winter than in summer, since at most stations few Chickadees are trapped in 

 the breeding-season. Individuals which are recorded only during the winter months 

 may really be present throughout the year. * * * 



The records seem to indicate, also, that there are very few birds passing through 

 Ithaca in the fall. Only four birds were recorded but once. It should be re- 

 membered, however, that transient visitants are much less likely to get caught 

 than are the resident individuals. Accordingly, there may have been more in- 

 dividuals passing through than the records seem to indicate. All through the fall 

 many unhanded birds, which may have been transients, were seen. 



The evidence shows that there were but few, if any, arrivals from the South 

 in the spring. * * * 



Since some of the records in the North indicate a greater abundance of birds 

 in fall and spring, it is possible that there is a migration of birds from the ex- 

 treme northern part of their range, where we as yet have no records, and this 

 may account for the increase in numbers of the Chickadee in the United States. 



Additional evidence of southward migration is furnished by the fol- 

 lowing note by William Palmer (1885): "This bird has been very 

 abundant here [near Washington, D. C] during March and April, 

 nineteen specimens having been taken, while many others were seen. 

 Owing probably to the severe winter they were driven south, returning 

 about the middle of March. The first specimens were taken on March 

 15, and others were taken every week until April 19, when six were 

 shot and many others seen. The weather during April was fine and 

 warm, and the birds were singing and appeared quite at home. But 

 few P. carolinensis were seen until the last week in April, showing that 

 they too had been driven much further south." 



W. E. Saunders has sent us some notes on the migration of chickadees 

 at Point Pelee from 1909 to 1920, from which it appears that the fall 



