coast southward to Florida and travel thence by island and mainland 

 to South America (fig. 17, route 2). As will be seen from the map, 

 a seemingly natural and convenient highway extends through the 

 Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles to the 

 South American coast. Resting places are afforded at convenient inter- 

 vals, and at no time need the aerial travelers be out of sight of land. It 

 is not, however, the favored highway, and only about 25 species of 

 birds go beyond Cuba to Puerto Rico along this route to their winter 

 quarters, while only 6 species are known to reach South America by 

 way of the Lesser Antilles. The obvious draw-back is lack of adequate 

 food. The total area of all the West Indies east of Puerto Rico is less 

 than that of Rhode Island, so that if only a small part of the birds of 

 the eastern United States were to travel this way, it is doubtful whether 

 even the luxuriant flora and fauna of tropical habitats would provide 

 food sufficient for their needs. Nevertheless, many thousands of 

 coots, widgeons, pintails, blue-winged teal, and other waterfowl and 

 shorebirds regularly spend the winter season in the coastal marshes 

 and the inland lakes and ponds of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. 

 The map (fig. 17) also will show that route No. 3 presents a direct 

 line of travel for Atlantic coast migrants en route to South America, 

 although it involves much longer flights. It is used almost entirely 

 by land birds. After taking of! from the coast of Florida there are 

 only two intermediate land masses where the migrants may pause for 

 rest and food. Nevertheless, tens of thousands of birds of some 60 

 species cross the 150 miles from Florida to Cuba where about half this 

 number elect to remain for the winter months. The others do not 

 hesitate to fly the 90 miles between Cuba and Jamaica, but from that 

 point to the South American coast there is a stretch of islandless ocean 

 fully 500 miles across. Scarcely a third of the North American 

 migrants leave the forested mountains of Jamaica to risk the perils of 

 this ocean trip. Chief among these is the bobolink, which so far out- 

 numbers all other birds using this route that it may be well called the 

 "bobolink route" (fig. 19). As traveling companions along this route, 

 the bobolink may meet a vireo, a kingbird, and a nighthawk from 

 Florida ; the chuck-wills-widow of the Southeastern States ; the black- 

 billed and the yellow-billed cuckoos from New England; the gray- 

 cheeked thrush from Quebec; bank swallows from Labrador; and 

 the blackpolled warbler from Alaska. Sometimes this scattered assem- 

 blage will be joined by a tanager or a wood thrush but the "bobolink 



55 



