146 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



and it extends over a shorter period. Beginning a few minutes before sunrise, 

 flocks are continually in sight for about thirty minutes. Their formation is open 

 and they vary in numbers from a few to over ten thousand birds, the largest flocks 

 extending to the east and to the west as far as the eye can see, but generally not 

 more than a hundred birds deep. * * * The method of segregation of these birds 

 in the morning flight is interesting. A single male or a small group of males, 

 finding themselves in a flock of females, drop out of the ranks and await the appear- 

 ance of a flock of their own sex, or until their own numbers are sufficiently aug- 

 mented to form a flock of some size, which they are again up and away. * * * 

 The fall migration continues until about the middle of November. The last birds 

 seen are generally scattered flocks of females." 



The southward migration from Cape Cod, and perhaps from other 

 localities in southern New England, aoparently starts much earlier 

 than from Ithaca, N. Y., as described above, due to different condi- 

 tions in the marshes. Fred M. Packard (1936) writes: "The swamps 

 of Cape Cod differ considerably from those about Ithaca. Cat-tails 

 are few at the station, and the marsh plants rarely grow taller than 

 four feet, affording but little shelter. * * * While the marsh studied 

 by Dr. Allen is an ideal place for birds to remain undisturbed during 

 the molting period, the swamps of Cape Cod seem poorly suited for 

 such a purpose." From "the almost complete absence of Red-wings 

 in September and later at the station," and from the dates and locali- 

 ties of recoveries of birds banded at the station, he concludes that they 

 "begin the southward migration in July and August before the summer 

 molt is started, and that they probably complete the molt in swamps 

 after their migration has begun. Unlike the swamps of Cape Cod, 

 many of the marshes on the flight route, such as those found near 

 Newark and Salem, New Jersey, afford suitable protection for molting, 

 comparable to that provided by the marsh at Ithaca." 



His map, showing fall and winter recoveries of banded birds, indi- 

 cates that the flight route from Cape Cod follows along the north shore 

 of Long Island Sound to northern New Jersey, across that State to the 

 Delaware River, avoiding the seacoast of New Jersey, and then along 

 the coastal marshes to South Carolina. All but 1 of his 18 recoveries 

 came from these marshes. 



Milton B. Trautman (1940) has this to say about the migration of 

 redwings at Buckeye Lake, Ohio: "During fall the species was more 

 numerous than it was at any other season, and many thousands were 

 present daily. On September 10, 1927, Edward S. Thomas took a 

 picture of a small part of a flying flock. There were more than 400 

 birds in the picture, and we estimated that there were at least 10,000 

 in the flock. Undoubtedly, there were days during each fall when 

 20,000 to 50,000 were present." 



Winter. — The winter range of the eastern redwing includes much 

 of its breeding range in the southeastern and southern States. Most 



