130 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 88 



over 50 miles from the Gnlf of Mexico, Houston's altitude is 

 but 53 feet, and that the country is flat and the drainage 

 bad, one can understand how unfavorable to the student of 

 birds were the general weather conditions. For weeks after 

 even the slightest shower water stands in the woodlands and 

 on the prairies, making it almost impossible during the rainy 

 season to leave the graded roads. 



The Migration. — Houston lies in the "fly-line" of birds 

 which skirt tiie western coast of the Gulf o£ Mexico, follow- 

 ing the tropical and semitropical coast regions northward, 

 and proceed up the Mississippi Valley and across the great 

 plains. Furthermore, it catches many of the migrants 

 which reach the ITnited States by flying across the Gulf of 

 ]\Iexico.- 



Generally during the last week of Febrviary migrating 

 Blackbirds, ]\ieadowlarks and Graekles are observed, but this 

 year on account of the unsettled condition of the weather none 

 were noted until the first of March. In fact, only one migrant 

 was noted before March 1, the Purple Martin. It Avas first 

 observed February 22, but retreated immediately and was not 

 seen again until the return of real spring Aveather, about 

 March 15. 



Though the season was late in commencing, and the weather 

 colder than usual, when it did start it came with a rush, for 

 the greater part of the migrants arrived slightly earlier. The 

 colder weather and excessive rains, especially in the early 

 part of JMay, seemed to have the efl^ect of detaining for a 

 longer period the birds which summer north of the region 

 under consideration. 



Few water birds were noted, for I had not the time to 

 make extensive trips into the wilder sections of the county. 



The following list graphically illustrates the migration of 

 1914 at Houston, the species being arranged according to the 

 order of their arrival from the south :^ 



-' The onlv papers on the birds of the region are: 



Nehrling, H. List of Birds Observed at Houston, Harris County, Texas, 

 and Vicinity, and in the Counties Montgomery, Galveston and Fort Bend. Bull. 

 Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. VII, 1882, 3 parts. 



Singlev, .J. A. Notes on the Birds of Galveston Island. Texas Birds, 

 Report of Texas Geol. Survey, Austin, 1893, pp. 3.55-363. 



"■ S. R. denotes summer resident. 



