376 Bird -Lore 



brushing my clothes. They sought food on or close to the ground, with feathers 

 fluffed out nearly straight from their bodies. Chilled and starving, the Httle 

 creatures seemed unmindful of their course, and soon two dead Nashville 

 Warblers were brought to me by little girls, who had found them hanging to 

 barbs of a wire fence. On later days, other Warblers were found impaled on 

 barbed- wire fences. 



Frost and ice were seen on the morning of May 20. The weather continued 

 very cool until the 25th, the afternoon of that day having been rather sultry, 

 and the Warblers present were seen collecting food from the trees. The follow- 

 ing morning was still and foggy, and a host of Warblers arrived, representing 

 sixteen species. Early in the forenoon the mercury began to fall, reaching 40° 

 by dusk. Meanwhile some of the birds, seemingly tame, could be taken in the 

 hand, and a dead Wilson's Warbler still warm was picked up. Others were 

 seeking all sorts of shelter for the night, where their dead bodies were found 

 the next morning. Among these places of refuge were wood-piles, hen-coops, 

 barns, sheds, cellars, and even the interior of houses, where, in spite of warmth, 

 they died. 



Ice and frozen birds were much in evidence on the morning of May 27. 

 One young man related that in the woods in gooseberry bushes he found dead 

 birds in a sitting posture. On our place, mostly in and about the barn, we 

 picked up fourteen of the victims. The neighbors' cats were out early eating 

 the bodies they found, or a larger number would have been collected; however, 

 thirty-eight dead were gathered from a small area. There were a few small 

 Flycatchers, one Blue-headed Vireo, and the remainder belonged to the Warbler 

 family. Of the last named there were Nashville, Tennessee, Yellow, Black- 

 throated Blue, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Connecticut, Mourning, Maryland 

 Yellowthroat, Wilson's Canada, and Redstart. There was one specimen each 

 of Black- throated Blue, and Mourning Warblers, species rare in this region, 

 and of Magnolia Warblers there were eleven, although this species has not been 

 deemed a common one during migration. Of the Grinnell's Water-Thrush 

 several were present, but no dead ones were found, nor did succeeding migra- 

 tions indicate a very great reduction in this species nor in the Myrtle and 

 Palm Warblers; but, in view of the estimates that are to follow, it should be 

 kept in mind that the Myrtle Warbler is a scarce spring visitor here, though 

 abundant in autumn, and the Grinnell's Water-Thrush is more numerous in 

 the latter season than in the former. Until June 6 there were a few Warblers 

 present each day. It seems now as if there more of them seen then than there 

 have been since, which induces a belief that some of the survivors perished 

 later in the season. 



That total annihilation overtook no species has been proved by the appear- 

 ance of at least one individual of each species since. Eight spring migrations 

 have passed since the slaughter of the innocents. That some species came near 

 to extermination in this region is made clear by notebook records. Prior to 



