166 



THE OOLOGIST 



As I have seen birds come down to 

 rest as early as 5 A. M., and on the 

 other hand, leave for the night's jour- 

 ney at 6 P. M., it is not unlikely that 

 this species travels the air for eleven 

 hours at a time. If they cover two 

 hundred miles in a night, which is 

 not a maximum figure by any means, 

 their rate of speed while in the air 

 would be slightly over eighteen miles 

 per hour, which, as near as I could 

 judge, was about the speed that the 

 individuals traveling in the early 

 morning were making. 



Six birds were seen about 10 A. M., 

 October 14th, and a single restless in- 

 dividual on the 17th, marked the last 

 of the migrating thrushes seen at 

 Stamford. 



According to the latest ornithologi- 

 cal literature, the breeding range of 

 the Olive-backed Thrush is: The 

 lower Hudsonian and Canadian zones 

 from N. W. Alaska to S. Ungava, and 

 New Foundland, south to Kenai Pen- 

 insula, Alaska, E. Oregon, Nevada, 

 Utah, Colorado, N. Michigan, New 

 York and in mountains from Massa- 

 chusetts to Pennsylvania, and W. 

 Virginia. 



Just how the birds migrate is im- 

 possible to say, but it will be remem- 

 bered that all of the birds seen flying 

 over my bird square, were traveling 

 almost directly southwest. Now if 

 it should happen that the birds fly all 

 the way to their winter home in south- 

 ern Mexico and Central America, in 

 a perfectly straight line, it would be 

 very likely and evident that those 

 noted in the locality from which T am 

 writing came directly from New 

 Foundland and Nova Scotia. If one 

 were to draw a straight line as an 

 imaginary migration route from east- 

 ern New Foundland to say Pueblo in 

 Mexico, the route would pass through 

 Stamford, where all of the birds were 

 noted by the writer. Another route 



might be from eastern N. F. to New 

 Orleans, where the birds might join 

 forces with other northern migrants 

 coming down by way of the Mississ- 

 ippi valley and thence to their winter 

 home by land, or over the gulf, as 

 shown in the map (Fig. 4. This map 

 was drawn from one in the Century 

 Atlas and although too small to be 

 very accurate, it gives a fair idea of 

 the possible migration routes men- 

 tioned above. 



This is indeed an interesting prob- 

 lem and some time in the future I 

 hope to be able to definitely estab- 

 lish the exact route taken by these 

 birds. Fall migration notes are all 

 that is needed and it would be of 

 great assistance if all those possess- 

 ing such data would report them to 

 the Oologist. 



The following table gives an idea of 

 the entire migration as observed by 

 the writer at Stamford, Connecticut. 

 It will be seen that eleven observa- 

 tions were made each on a different 

 day, the first bird being seen on Sep- 

 tember 5th, and the last on October 

 17th, which credits a migration per- 

 iod of just about six weeks. Average 

 temperature of the eleven observation 

 days 62 degrees Fahr. In all 221 

 Olive-backed Thrushes were recorded. 

 Owing to the conditions of the 

 Scientific permit in Connecticut, the 

 holder thereof is limited to five birds 

 of a species per year, and owing to 

 this fact, T was unable to make more 

 stomach examinations than those 

 ' ' '- 3d in the article and table. 

 ::^AUL GRTSWOLD HOWES, 

 Stamford, Conn. 

 Migration of the Olive-backed Thrush 

 at Stamford, Connecticut, 1912. 



-» -♦-« 



Makinq good As a Bird Man. 

 When you have succeeded in de- 

 veloping a reputation in any line of 

 endeavor in your respective commun- 



