DICKCISSEL 165 



three dozen breeding records for Michigan, chiefly from the southern- 

 most two tiers of counties. 



The first male dickcissels make their appearance in central Illinois 

 about the last week of April or first week of May. The males invariably 

 sing from the time they arrive and, since they always perch in con- 

 spicuous open places such as the top of the highest weed stalk, a fence 

 post, or telephone pole, they are not apt to escape the field observer's 

 notice. The arrival of the females is never heralded by song, and they 

 are often overlooked. In general I found they arrive about 6 to 10 

 days after the males. Field trips made daily during the migration 

 period at Urbana for 18 consecutive years recorded the first arrival of 

 the males as follows: 1901, May 7; 1902, May 2; 1903, May 16; 1904, 

 May 5; 1905, May 11; 1906, May 5; 1907, May 5; 1908, April 25; 

 1909, April 29; 1910, May 10; 1911, April 29; 1912, May 2; 1913, May 

 4 : 1914, April 28; 1915, April 28; 1916, May 5; 1917, April 24; and 1918, 

 May 2. The average of these 18 years is May 3. The average of a 

 7-year series of records made by T. E. Musselman at Quincy, in 

 extreme western Illinois, is April 29, 4 days earlier than those at 

 Urbana. The earlier dates at Quincy, which is on the Mississippi 

 River, support the view that the vanguards of the migration waves 

 follow the large river courses. 



In addition to the States included in the preceding account of the 

 spring migration, the dickcissel also nests in the Great Plains States 

 as far west as eastern Colorado. Individuals have strayed farther west 

 to the western slope of Colorado (McCrimmon, 1926); to southwestern 

 Wyoming (McCreary and Mickey, 1935); on the shore of Lake Mead, 

 Nev. (Pulich, 1953) ; Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. (Bryant, 1952), 

 and Santa Monica, Calif. (Stager, 1949). In fact wanderers may be 

 expected in any part of western United States. Dickcissels also nest 

 abundantly eastward in Indiana and Ohio, and are now nesting in 

 increasing numbers in the eastern States, especially the more southern 

 States of the Atlantic seaboard. 



Nesting. — In central Illinois the first nests of the dickcissel may be 

 found during the last week of May, soon after most of the individuals 

 have arrived at their summer haunts. My earliest record is of a nest 

 found May 22, 1899, in a meadow of clover and timothy near Atwood, 

 111. The earliest nest reported by I. E. Hess at Philo, 111., is one of 

 five eggs found May 31, 1896. T. E. Musselman, of Quincy, 111., 

 found a nest of four eggs near a putting green on the Quincy golf links 

 as early as May 21, 1918. As would be expected, first nesting dates 

 are somewhat earlier in our southern States. For example, in Mis- 

 sissippi Charles L, Stockard (1905) reports that the dickcissels appeared 

 late in April 1900, in a field of luxuriant vetch. During May, 14 

 nests were foimd and at least as many more could probably have been 



