102 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 237 part i 



secretive. * * * In this southward movement the species was 

 found in the same brushy cover which it inhabited in spring and 

 summer and was Kkewise found wherever herbaceous plants grew 

 tall and abundant and the weed seed crop was large." 



Lynds Jones (1910), speaking of the Cedar Point region in Ohio, 

 says, "This is one of the species which helps form the great wave of 

 migi'ation in spring. I have not noticed any distinct fall movement 

 of birds from farther north." However, E. W. Jameson, Jr. (1942) 

 says that along the northeast shore of Lake Erie flocks of from 5 to 18 

 or 20 adult and immature birds were seen daily from Aug. 20 until 

 Sept. 22, 1942. 



Herbert L. Stoddard, Sr., (MS.) writing about southwest Georgia 

 states: "After the breeding season is over and the young birds are 

 'on their own,' the 'Indigos' linger with us in numbers throughout 

 October, At this season they are flocking with other finches, largely 

 in the vicinity of 'dove fields' of ShaUu, or around the occasional 

 sorghum patch in the farming sections." 



R. W. William, Jr. (1906) says that during the latter part of August 

 he found the species "very abundant in the sweet gums and oaks 

 scattered here and there" in Leon County, Fla. The birds were 

 extremely wary and remained in the topmost branches of the largest 

 trees. 



J. J. Audubon (1841) says that, "Towards fall, the young congregate 

 into loose flocks or parties of eight or ten individuals, and proceed 

 southward. * * * They are fond of basking and rolling themselves 

 in the roads, from which they gather small particles of sand or gravel." 



Eugene P. Odum (1960) and his coworkers (Odum, ConneU, and 

 Stoddard, 1961) have made interesting studies of the migrating 

 birds killed at a TV tower in northern Florida. Between September 

 23 and October 9, 55 indigos were obtained; these dead birds were 

 ground up and their body fats extracted chemically. Total fat 

 averaged about 2 grams per bird (13.45 percent of body weight). 

 From these and other data, these investigators estimated flight 

 distances from 100 to 1,820 killometers. They concluded: "According 

 to our estimates only about six individuals out of a sample of 55 

 birds extracted would have been able to continue across the Gulf. 

 Most of the individuals would have had to follow the coast or stop 

 for extensive refueling, since the average fat index for the whole 

 group was only about 13 percent." It now appears from the un- 

 published work of Johnston that a significant portion of the popu- 

 lation migrates southward through peninsular Florida. 



Winter. — Indigos spend the winter rarely in the southeastern 

 United States but more commonly in south Florida. There are 

 occasional winter records for the District of Columbia (Stewart and 



