Notes from Field and Study 



131 



breaking their b?st previous records. The 

 fifth wave was a smaller one, on May 2, 

 bringing three Warblers, the Catbird, 

 House Wren, Swift, and Veery, and on 

 Maj- 4, nine more species arrived. What 

 might be called slight waves occurred on 

 the 1 2th and 13th, and again on the i6th, 

 but on the whole, May 4, marked the 

 climax which, in other years, has not been 

 reached until from the nth to the i6th. 

 After ]May 4, there was a distinct diminu- 

 tion in the number of transients present. 

 -Although throughout the migration 

 period the weather was cold and wet. I 

 have been told that a number of unusually 

 early arrivals were recorded in Washing- 

 ton and in other places, so that this rapid 

 migration after a late start must have 

 been general along the Atlantic coast. 



During the eight 'waves' mentioned, 

 which included fourteen days, 63 species 

 arrived, or 4.5 a day; while during the 

 entire remainder of the season, or sixty- 

 two days (if counted from March 11 to 

 May 26), only 45 species arrived, or .72 

 species a day. Twenty-two of the thirty- 

 one records broken occuired during the 

 waves, as well as the three new records 

 established, and two of the three birds 

 only one day late. 



All but nine of the 108 records given 

 below were made on a 250-acre tract 

 about two miles east of the Hudson River. 

 The first column shows the 1914 Spring 

 migration, and the second gives the best 

 previous records I have made. The 

 Warblers were most affected by what- 

 ever caused the early movement, no less 

 than fifteen arriving ahead of time, while 

 many of the larger species lagged behind. 

 Migrants that I have recorded in spring 

 in other years, but missed during that of 

 1914, are: Bonaparte's Gull, Red-breasted 

 Merganser, American Scaup, BufBehead, 

 Canada Goose, American Bittern, Wood- 

 cock, Pectoral Sandpiper, Killdeer, Red- 

 headed Woodpecker, Whippoorwill, Hen- 

 slow's Sparrow, White-crowned Spar- 

 row, Purple Martin, Philadelphia Vireo, 

 Brewster's Warbler, Mourning Warbler 

 Yellow - breasted Chat, Gray - cheeked 

 Thrush. 



