350 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



hundred rods, in the form of a long, low, more or less winding and attenuated 

 sand spit. Stationed about half way out on this, it was most amusing to watch 

 the little mites come buzzing over the last half of the red-cedar bushes and then 

 drop down towards the ground and, without pause or hesitation, follow every 

 winding of the ever-changing sand to its extreme end, and then, with a sudden 

 and resolute turn, square away for Pelee Island, just visible on the horizon. 

 Dr. Jones was stationed on the opposite islands from August 26 to September 

 2. 1905, and makes the following statement as to the movements of the species 

 over the waters of the lake : "Hummingbirds were passing during the daylight, 

 and all those noted were flying very low. In fact they dropped down between 

 the waves for protection from the wind, which was quartering, or at right angles 

 to their line of flight and seemed to disturb them. I noticed that in the strong 

 westerly wind, all birds headed southwest, but always drifted south." 



I remember seeing, in Lexington, Mass., on two or three occasions in 

 September, a single hummingbird, a dozen feet from the ground, 

 bounding past me through open country, undulating in long, low 

 waves as it held a rapid course toward the southwest — the line of 

 migration in autumn through eastern Massachusetts. And again in 

 May I once saw a lone bird steering due north, or a little east of north, 

 flying, straight as an arrow, not 2 feet above the grass blades. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Eastern North America and Central America. 



Breeding range. — The ruby-throated hummingbird breeds north 

 to rarely southern Alberta (Camrose) ; southern Saskatchewan (In- 

 dian Head and Fish Lake) ; southern Manitoba (Aweme, Shoal Lake, 

 and Big Island Lake) ; northeastern Minnesota (Rice Lake and Isle 

 Royal) ; southern Ontario (Goulais Bay, Algonquin Park, Cobden, 

 nnd Ottawa) ; southern Quebec (Montreal, Quebec City, Kamouraska, 

 and Godbout) ; New Brunswick (Chatham) ; Prince Edward Island 

 (Malpeaque Bay) ; and Nova Scotia (Pictou). From this north- 

 eastern point, the range extends southward along the Atlantic coast 

 of the United States to Florida (St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, New 

 Smyrna, and Princeton). South to Florida (Princeton, Fort Myers, 

 St. Marks, and Pensacola) ; southern Louisiana (Thibodaux and New 

 Iberia) ; and southern Texas (Houston, Victoria, and San Antonio) . 

 West to eastern Texas (San Antonio and Waco) ; Oklahoma (Nor- 

 man, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa) ; Kansas (Clearwater, Wichita, and 

 Hays) ; South Dakota (Vermillion, Arlington, and Faulkton) ; east- 

 ern North Dakota (Wahpeton, Fargo, and Argusville) ; and rarely 

 Alberta (Camrose). 



Winter range. — The normal winter range extends north to southern 

 Sinaloa (Escuinapa) ; probably rarely southeastern Texas (Port 

 Arthur) ; probably rarely southern Alabama (Fairhope) ; and Flor- 

 ida (Pensacola, Tallahassee, and Jacksonville). East to Florida 

 (Jacksonville, St. Lucie, Miami, Royal Palm Hammock and Key 



