EASTERN REDWING 125 



light on the migratory movements of the species, and suggests that 

 similar studies of other species might be equally enlightening. 



As a result of his studies at Ithaca in 1911 and 1910, he divides the 

 migratory waves into seven classes as follows: "Vagrants" arrived 

 from February 25 to March 4; migrant adult males from March 13 

 to April 21; resident adult males from March 25 to April 10; migrant 

 females and immature males from March 29 to April 24; resident 

 adult females from April 10 to May 1; resident immature males from 

 May 6 to June 1 (1910); and resident immature females from May 

 10 to June 11 (1910). 



The "vagrants" come during the first warm days of spring, al- 

 though the marshes may still be frozen and the ground still covered 

 with snow; they are supposed to be birds that have wintered not 

 very far south; they do not appear every year, but when they do come 

 they are seen in February; they "are for the most part adult males, 

 but immature males or females may be found among them. They 

 are never in large flocks, and often occur singly. The reproductive 

 organs are very small. * * * They do not frequent the open marsh." 

 Of the arrival of the migrant males, Allen (1914) says: 



The first true migrants arriving in the spring are adult males. They appear 

 in flocks, some of which contain a hundred or more birds, and ordinarily are 

 first noted in the marsh, although occasionally seen in tree tops or stubble fields 

 on the uplands. * * * At this season of the year, about 4:30 in the afternoon, 

 let us take a stand at the upper end of the marsh and gaze southward up the 

 Inlet Valley. Presently we discern what appears like a puff of smoke in the 

 distance, drifting in at a considerable height. After a minute or two the smoke 

 is resolved into an aggregation of black specks, and then, as it drops lower and 

 lower, it takes on that irregular form so characteristic of Redwinged Blackbirds. 

 With one last swoop and flutter of wings, they alight on the more prominent of 

 the few scraggly trees at the southern end of the marsh. The migration has 

 begun. For a few moments they shake out their feathers and give vent to their 

 feelings in song. It is but a short time, however, before they start again for the 

 north. 



A few birds drop out of the passing flocks and settle down into the 

 marsh for a while, but they soon rise again and join another migrat- 

 ing flock. Flocks coming in late in the day fly low and settle for the 

 night in the scanty shelter of the still dormant flags. 



Every available perch, not so high as to be conspicuous, is filled with birds 

 down to the water's surface, but were it not for the unspeakable din that arises 

 from the hundred of throats, one would scarcely be aware of their presence, so incon- 

 spicuous are they against the dark water. If one disturbs them now, there is a 

 rush of wings, but they do not fly far. Raillike they drop back into the marsh 

 a short distance away, and soon resume their indescribable discord. * * * 



This period of the migration, which I have termed the arrival of migrant adult 

 males, continues for about two weeks before the resident birds begin to arrive. 

 Each evening there is a well-defined flight into the marsh; each night the birds 



