in the Laguna Madre oiTp the coast of Texas or in the Valley of Mexico 

 (fig. 17, route 6). This route also represents the travels of many of the 

 land birds of the Rocky Mountain rtgion. Such birds perform com- 

 paratively short migrations, most of them being content to stop when 

 they reach the middle districts of Mexico, only a fev^^ passing beyond 

 the southern part of that country. 



Observations made in the vicinity of Corpus Christi, Tex., have 

 shown one of the short cuts (fig. 17, route 5) that is, in effect, a part of 

 the great artery of migration. Thousands of birds pass along the 

 coast to the northern part of the State of Vera Cruz. As the coast of 

 the State of Tamaulipas to the north is arid and so entirely unsuited to 

 the needs of birds that are frequenters of moist woodlands, it is probable 

 that much or all of this part of the route is a short distance off shore. It 

 is used by such woodland species as the golden-winged warbler, the 

 worm-eating warbler, and the Kentucky warbler. 



Pacific coast route 



Although it does present features of unusual interest, the Pacific 

 coast route is not of so great importance as some of the others described. 

 Because of the equable conditions that prevail, many species of birds 

 along the coast from the Northwestern States to southeastern Alaska 

 either do not migrate at all or else make relatively short journeys. This 

 route has its origin chiefly in Alaska, the general region of the delta 

 of the Yukon River marking its northern terminus, although a few 

 species join it after a flight westward along the Alaskan Arctic coast. 

 Some of the scoters and other sea ducks of the north Pacific region, 

 and the diminutive cackling goose which breeds in the delta of the 

 Yukon River, use the coastal sea route for all or most of their southward 

 flight. The journey of the cackling goose, as shown by return records 

 from birds banded at Hooper Bay, Alaska, has been traced southward 

 across the Alaska Peninsula and apparently across the Gulf of Alaska 

 to the Queen Charlotte Islands, the birds following the coast line south 

 to near the mouth of the Columbia River. There the route swings 

 toward the interior for a short distance before continuing south by 

 way of the Willamette River Valley. The winter quarters of the 

 cackling goose are chiefly in the vicinity of Tule Lake, on the Oregon- 

 California line, and in the Sacramento Valley of California, though a 

 few push on to the San Joaquin Valley. 



63 



