Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



257 



determined to escape, and when evening 

 came and tlie white Elephant lay down, 

 Charley pretended to be asleep and lay 

 quite still until he heard him snore, then 

 rising quietly he stole through the jungle 

 to a clump of tall trees with dense foliage 

 in which he might lie concealed and pass 

 the night. 



He gained the clump, selected one of the 

 slenderest trees, and just commenced the 

 ascent when he heard a rushing and a shout- 

 ing from the direction of the camp; he be- 

 gan to climb as rapidly as possible, but be- 

 fore he could get far the white Elephant 

 was upon him, and just succeeded in grasp- 



ing him firmly by the ankle with the end of 

 his trunk. 



Charley clung to the tree with despera- 

 tion, and the Elephant tugged with all his 

 might, until Charley felt his strength giving 

 way. Whatever put it into his head he does 

 not know to this day, but at the critical 

 moment, when his strength was giving way, 

 he shouted, " Mother ! mother ! " with all 

 the strength of his lungs. 



"Charley, Charley, my darling boy!" 

 came the prompt response, and Charley 

 sprang up in bed with the pillow tightly 

 clutched in his arms, and dropped it quickly 

 to be folded in the embrace of his mother. 



C. F. Amery. 



BIRD MIGRATION IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



THIS interesting report, prepared by 

 Prof. W. W. Cooke, with the assist- 

 ance of Mr. Otto Widman and Prof. D. E. 

 Lang, and edited by Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 

 is the first fruit of the co-operative labors 

 of the Division of Economic Ornithology 

 of the Department of Agriculture and the 

 Committee on Bird Migration of the Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union. Every observer 

 of nature is acquainted with the fact that 

 although we have some birds native to the 

 soil, birds that are always with us, and 

 others which sojourn with us only in sum- 

 mer or winter, a great many of our familiar 

 birds are only spring and fall visitors, birds 

 of passage, which pause but a while for 

 rest and refreshment on their long journey 

 to and from their breeding grounds in the 

 far North, and their winter feeding grounds 

 in the tropics; but until now very little has 

 been known of their rate of flight, the 

 measure of its continuity, or of the relation 

 of waves of migration to barometric pres- 

 sure and temperature, on all of which points 

 the systematic measures recorded in the 

 present report have thrown clear light. 

 One hundred and seventy observers, more 



or less familiar with ornithology, were sta- 

 tioned at various points along the line of 

 flight, and their recorded observations of 

 the first and last appearance of each spe- 

 cies, and of the flight of great waves of 

 birds, afforded, on careful comparison with 

 each other, fairly reliable data for deter- 

 mining the rate of flight of each species, 

 and a vast number of facts in connection 

 with the interesting phenomenon of bird 

 migration. The report consists of two 

 parts, (i) an introductory portion treating 

 of the history and methods of the work, to- 

 gether with a general study of the subject 

 of bird migration, including the influence 

 of the weather upon the movements of 

 birds, the progression of bird waves, and 

 causes affecting the same, the influence of 

 topography and altitude upon migration, 

 and the rates of flight in the various spe- 

 cies; and (2) a systematic portion in which 

 the five hundred and sixty species of birds 

 known to occur in the Mississippi Valley are 

 treated serially, the movements of each 

 during the seasons of 1884 and 1885 be- 

 ing traced with as much exactness as the 

 records of the one hundred and seventy ob- 



