DICKCISSEL 161 



According to Godfrey (1954) three birds were observed and a speci- 

 men collected as far north as the Moisie River on the Gulf of St. 

 LawTence, and another was collected 150 miles farther east on the 

 north shore of the Guh" at Bale Johan Beetz. The northeasternmost 

 record is of one observed and one found dead at Terra Nova in central 

 eastern Newfoundland. There are a number of records for Nova 

 Scotia and New Brunswick. This spread to northeastern United 

 States and Canada suggests that the dickcissels come directly west- 

 ward from the gi-eat breeding grounds of the Middle West and travel 

 north of the barrier of the higher Appalachian mountains, probably 

 aided by the prevailing winds at that time of the year. They continue 

 eastward until stopped by the Atlantic Ocean, which most of them 

 reach on the Massachusetts coast. From there they fan out north- 

 ward to Maine and Canada, and possibly a few to the south. This 

 assumption seems reasonable when we consider that the great majority 

 of records are from coastal New England, many from such islands as 

 Block Island, R.L, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, Mass., Mon- 

 hegan Island, Me., and Machias Seal Island in the Bay of Fundy. 

 Some that continue on have taken refuge on boats at sea (Fleisher, 

 1926; Holt, 1932; Rand, 1929; Lamm, 1956). No doubt some adven- 

 tm'ous individuals are lost at sea. 



In the spring the dickcissels wintering east of the Alleghenies 

 probably return to their Middle West nesting area by a direct east- 

 west migration over the route previously mentioned. This east-west 

 and west-east migration has a parallel in several other species, for 

 example the evening grosbeak, in which it has been a gradual but now 

 a fixed habit. Even as the evening grosbeak is now nesting in north- 

 eastern United States and southeastern Canada, the dickcissel 

 may again nest in New England, although it is not safe to predict the 

 future status of so erratic a bird. 



As yet I Imow of no recent nesting record of the dickcissel in New 

 England and eastern Canada. All the eastern nesting records thus 

 far have been from New York and the more southern States. John W. 

 Aldrich's map of the breeding distribution of the dickcissel taken 

 from U.S. Fish and Wildlife species distribution card file show the 

 folloAving number of localities in the States east of the Mississippi 

 and Ohio Rivers: Mississippi 1, Alabama 6, Georgia 2, Tennessee 2, 

 Kentucky 1, West Virginia 2, Pennsylvania 2, and New Jersey 1 

 (Aldrich, 1948). A considerable number of nestmg records, chiefly 

 in the Gulf and southern States, have been made since Aldrich's map 

 was published. 



I am inclined to believe that the dickcissels nesting in our southern 

 States reach there from the south in the spring rather than coming 

 directly from the west in the fall over the route suggested for our 



