150 



THE OOLOGISl 



of Black-throated Blue and ]\Iyrtle. all 

 the species seen that day were hurry- 

 ing south under pressure of unnatural 

 excitement, and had probably under- 

 gone considerable hardship, as , the 

 ground was covered with half a foot 

 of snow sixty miles north of here and 

 about three inches at half that dis- 

 tance. 



The woods where I hunted had been 

 greatly reduced in size since 1905, 

 and I was able to note the course of 

 arrivals in many cases and departure 

 in nearly all. The length of the River 

 Range is about thirty miles and its 

 general course approximately S. 45 

 degrees E. This woods is situated on 

 the south side and is the last piece of 

 thick timber as you follow down the 

 river, there being only a grove be- 

 tween this point and the Detroit 

 River. It is an interesting fact that 

 while the Warblers came down this 

 water-way two-thirds o fthe Robins 

 took the reverse course. They mainly 

 came from the east and had ])robably 

 crossed the Detroit River, but several 

 large flights came from the south. La- 

 ter, however, my piece of timber was 

 the limit of their eastern movement 

 and they went due south from here 

 to a large piece of thick woods. This 

 was the program in 1905 except from 

 September 20 to October 5 when they 

 went southwest to follow a chain of 

 large woods that extended far south- 

 ward. The lesser number of warblers 

 came from the northeast and had evi- 

 dently followed the Detroit River. 

 During September about twenty-five 

 per cent, were apparently not migrat- 

 ing but taking life easy and remain- 

 ing in the woods. I suppose these 

 were the main night, travelers and if 

 so, when do migrating warblers sleep? 

 All seen by me exhibited the charac- 

 teristic activity of the family. We 

 all know that large numbers travel 

 by ni.ght, but who has seen them 



asleep during the day? Judging from 

 my own experience with night migra- 

 tion, they sleep from about 11 p. m. 

 to 4 a. m. Of course, I really know 

 nothing positively, and my belief is 

 based only on the fact that the birds 

 were not heard calling between the 

 above mentioned hours, and on the 

 actions of a captive Indigo Bunting 

 (Cyanospiza cyanea). The bird was 

 not over a month old when trapped 

 in the summer and soon showed no 

 desire to escape from its cage. It ap- 

 peared contented, and slept peacefully 

 all night until the advent of the fall 

 migration; even then, there was no 

 change in the day time, but soon after 

 dark it became restless. The perform- 

 ance began with a hopping to and 

 fro on its perch with frequent pauses 

 to partly squat, as if about to spring 

 into the air. At the first call note of 

 a passing migrant it uttered a sharp 

 metallic chirp and flew about the 

 cage, making frantic efforts to escape 

 and. when somewhat exhausted, 

 climbed parrot-like about the cage top 

 trying to force its head between the 

 wires. Toward midnight it quieted 

 down and slept a few hours but be- 

 came active before daylight. This 

 dominating influence ceased suddenly 

 the latter part of October, and had 

 the bird been released after that per- 

 iod it probably would have perished 

 from loss of that mysterious guidance 

 to the south, but, opposed to this, we 

 find the latest warblers the most 

 eager to accomplish their .iourney. To 

 my mind the early migration demon- 

 strates an instinctive movement. 

 Nothing would seem more natural 

 than the warblers retreating after ex- 

 periencing actual contact with cold or 

 lack of food, but th^ first birds are on 

 their way long before the least inti- 

 mation of cold and while food is 

 abundant. I have seen several small 

 flocks of .iuvenile Redstarts migrat- 



