A Remarkable Night Migration at Mt. Pocono, Pa. 



BY WILLIAM L. BAILY 



A RARE opportunity to observe a migration on the summit of 

 our mountains was afforded me on the night of the twenty-third 

 of August, 1903, at Mt. Pocono, Monroe county, Pa. 



The general course of the Alleghany mountain system across 

 the State is northeast and southwest, and on top of one of the 

 spurs jutting out from the Pocono plateau is located the Pocono 

 Manor hotel, overlooking a beautiful rolling valley which de- 

 scends gradually to the Delaware river twelve miles away. In 

 the opposite direction, to the northwest, lies a great flat or un- 

 dulating plateau, varying from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above sea 

 level, sloping away toward the Susquehanna Valley at Wilkes- 

 barre; while beyond, in Sullivan and Wyoming counties, rises 

 abruptly the North Mountain plateau, which attains an eleva- 

 tion of some 2,500 feet, and is, approximately, fifty-five miles 

 from Mt. Pocono. It was from the intervening region that the 

 birds seemed to be migrating on the night mentioned. 



On account of the intense humidity, the weather during the 

 few days immediately preceding had, at lower altitudes, been 

 almost unbearable, and the thermometer registered 89° at Phila- 

 delphia and 79° at Mt. Pocono on the twenty-third. That 

 evening brought a breeze from the northwest, just cool enough 

 apparently to start the first extended migration of the fall. 

 According to the calendar, the sun set at 6:47 p. m. and the 

 new moon had also fallen below the horizon; the sky was clear 

 and somewhere between sunset and 8:30 o'clock the migration 

 of warblers was well under way at Pocono. 



Having spent the early evening in the house, I stepped out 

 on the porch to observe the weather and at once noticed the 

 chirping of the feathered host above. In a few minutes I had 

 a number of people on the porches listening to the strange 



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