A Cooperative Study of Bird Migration 



IN RESPONSE to the request published in the January-February Bird- 

 Lore, fifty-seven reports of the arrival, etc., of the Red-winged Black- 

 bird, Robin and Phoebe have been received. We wish to thank our 

 readers for these reports, and especially — in almost every case — for copying 

 so carefully the form we printed. 



The arrival of these early migrants is much more irregular than that of 

 those species due in May. It is more dependent on the weather conditions, 

 and this year all sections of the country report an exceptionally late mi- 

 gration, owing to the frequent and heavy snow-storms and unusually cold 

 weather in the early spring. The dates given in the following columns, there- 

 fore, are far from normal. The January and February dates must refer, in 

 most cases, to wintering birds, not to newcomers. 



The Robin was at most stations the earliest species to appear and to become 

 common. After passing New York City, those that continued along the coast 

 went much faster than those that followed up the big river valleys. Robins 

 reached northern New Hampshire and northern Nova Scotia at about the 

 same time, though the former is three hundred, and the latter seven hundred 

 miles from New York. That makes the advance of the species along the coast 

 about forty-seven, and up the Connecticut Valley only twenty miles a day. 

 The evidence indicates that they entered Nova Scotia from the mainland, 

 appearing first in the central portion adjoining New Brunswick, and spreading 

 thence southward and northward. Several widely scattered stations report 

 Robins as more than usually abundant after they did come, one Chicago 

 observer going so far as to say, "Never saw so many Robins in the spring as 

 this year — at least ten to every one seen in previous springs." The Mississippi 

 Valley dates average several days ahead of those of the same latitude along 

 the Atlantic coast. 



The Red-winged Blackbird dates seem more irregular as a series than 

 the Robin dates. This is perhaps due to the Blackbird's being more gregarious 

 and less scattered than the Robin; if the observer misses the two or three 

 flocks of Red-wings in his locality, he misses the species. Many more are 

 usually seen on the first day than is the case with the Robin. 



The Phoebe, needing as it does plenty of gnats or other flying insects, is 

 naturally the last of these three species to be noted. In many places where 

 it is a regular summer resident it is never really common, just a pair or two 

 nesting here and there. — Charles H. Rogers. 



Postscript. — Nine reports were received too late for tabulation. The last 

 reached us on May 4, long after the copy had gone to press. The Red-winged 

 Blackbird was recorded as not yet common at Reaboro, Ont., Apr, 18 (E. W. 

 Calvert), nor at Detroit, Mich., Apr. 26 (Mrs. F. W. Robinson).— C. H. R. 



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