74 



OKNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 14-Ko. 5 



IS, Dec. IG, 1887. 2.75x2.22; 2.75x2.17. 

 Height of nest, 60 feet. 



19. Dec. 17, 1887. 2.62x2.17. Perfectly 

 fresh ; height of nest, 59 feet. 



20. Dec. 18, 1887. 2.68 x 2. 14; other broken. 

 Well incubated ; height of nest, 59 feet. 



21. Dec. 18, 1887. 2.77x2.19; 2.80x2.19. 

 Height of nest, 56 feet. 



22. Dec. 19, 1887. 2.79x2.05; 2.80x2.14. 

 Height of nest, 59 feet. 



23. Dec. 29, 1887. 2.87x2.11. Ne-st deserted, 

 egg sunk in lining; height of nest, 56 feet. 



24. Jan. 4, 1888. 2.61x2.03; 2.63x2.04. 

 Height of nest, 65 feet. 



25. Jan. 20, 1888. 2.70 x 2.08. Perfectly 

 fresh. 



26. Feb. 8, 1888. 2.96x2.18; 2.89x2.16. 

 One-third incubated ; height of nest, 8(5 feet. 



This last was taken near San Mateo, all the 

 others within a few miles of the Indian River, 

 Florida. Wherever the species of tree in 

 which the nest is placed is not stated it is a 

 pine. Etjbert Bagy. 



Utica, N.Y. 



Fall Migration of Birds at Duluth, 

 Minn. 



The season of migration is one of peculiar 

 interest to ornithologists at the head of Lake 

 Superior. This large body of water, with its 

 northern limit running southwesterly and ter- 

 minating in a constantly narrowing arm, pre- 

 sents a barrier to the southward movement of 

 the large mass of Hawks, Flickers, Cowbirds and 

 the vast army of smaller birds which spend 

 the summer in the wilderness north of here, and 

 during the fall migration, as they reach its 

 northern margin, instead of passing over the 

 the water to the opposite shore, which lies in 

 a dark line in the distance, they veer to the 

 southwest, passing around and over the city 

 which lies on the extreme end of the lake. 



Those of us who endure the vigor of a win- 

 ter in this Northern clime cannot but envy the 

 birds who are able to follow an instinct which 

 we all possess and feel when the autumnal 

 winds presage a long dreary winter. Then a 

 stroll up a hillside beyond the city reveals a 

 wealth of bird life. One day it may be mostly 

 Flickers, but these in vast numbers, some 

 flying in long undulations high above, while 

 others pass from stump to stump along the 

 hillside, a steady stream lasting perhaps a 

 week, when the Flickers disappear and a troop 

 of Robins follow, silently flitting in the same 



direction. The small boy is on hand with his 

 sling shot, and the "sportsman" shows his 

 bunch of robins or Yellow-hammers thought- 

 lessly slaughtered. 



Just before the Robins arrive the smaller 

 Hawks are moving in the same course, and for 

 a few days nearly every stump has its sentinel 

 keenly alert for stray grasshoppers, but every 

 move taking them in the same southwesterly 

 direction. The only other bird seen in large 

 quantities and following the general path is the 

 Cowbird, not a constant passage of single birds, 

 but in flocks of 50 to 250. Mingled with these 

 most jilentiful and common birds are to be 

 seen the rarer, and, from their habits, less con- 

 spicuous ones, while the larger Hawks wheeling 

 high above, follow the line of shore until the 

 city is reached, then take a southerly course. 



During the spring migration everything is 

 changed. From the South the same troop 

 comes, but without the shore line to divert 

 them to this particular hillside, they are scat- 

 tered, and unless one is on the watch they 

 seem no more plentiful than at other seasons 

 of the year. 



A vicinity surrounded by a hundred miles of 

 pine forest is not particularly attractive to birds 

 and usually very few are seen, so this feature 

 of the fall migration is particularly noticeable. 



F. S. Daggett. 



A Day After Pine Grosbeaks. 



As I was driving through the mountains the 

 latter part of February,! came across a flock of 

 Pine Grosbeaks in some heavy spruce woods, the 

 first I have seen here in two years. Not having 

 any gun with me at the time, I decided on the 

 first pleasant day to return on a collecting trip. 



So on March 4th I drove over. The day 

 was warm and bright, and birds were more ac- 

 tive and plentiful than on any jirevious day 

 this winter. Black-cajiped Chickadees were 

 very common, and the crows that stay here 

 the year round had received some noisy rein- 

 forcements from the South. I started up a few 

 Ruffed Grouse, and occasionally saw, on a 

 stump or dead tree, a Hairy or Downy Wood- 

 pecker, or a White-bellied Nuthatch, while from 

 the top of a dead pine I secured a handsome 

 specimen of the Great Northern Shrike, but the 

 birds I came after were minus. The walking 

 was very fatiguing, there being two feet of 

 snow on the grouiid, and althougli I searched 

 the woods over carefully, I did not see a single 

 Pine Grosbeak. As I was returning home dis- 

 couraged and thinking what a wild goose chase 



