18 



THE FUCKER. 



few day.s it became common. It return.s each succeeding 3^ear 

 to the same locaUty (Jacobs). It often makes its fir.st appear- 

 ance at Iowa City, Iowa, in small flocks ; at Delavan, Wis., in 

 pairs or .small bunches, and at Meridian, Wis., often in quite 

 large flocks, at other times in pairs or families. 



The bulk ordinarily arrives between two and three weeks 

 later, in Pennsylvania and Illinois, but the number of days in- 

 tervening gradually diminishes as it moves northward, and the 

 van leads by .scarcely a week in the northern tier of states. As 

 far as I have observed, the males appear before the females, 

 and the migrations are conducted in small companies, these 

 forming the bulk of transients ; while like most all .species 

 migrating, there are forerunners and .stragglers (Miller). At 

 Berwyn, Pa., it becomes common .soon after the hard}- willow 

 has unfolded its leaves, and about the time the fragrant spice- 

 wood blo.s.soms, when the ants, .spiders and beetles become 

 active once more, and ju.st in the height of the arbutus seiason. 

 It appears to average earlier in the We.st than in the .same lat- 

 itude in the Ea.st. 



Boothby Harbor, Me., April 10 ('9S); Vincennes, Ind., 

 about the middle of March ; Red Wing, Minn., la.st of March 

 or fir.st of April ; Ramsey, Hennepin, Dakota and Washington 

 counties, Minn., last of March to April 10. It is found .spar- 

 ingly during the Winter at HilLsboro, la. Feb. 24, 'i)l), it 

 began to increase, March 15th the great wave appeared, April 

 2, all gone except the goodly number that remain to breed. 

 April 17, '98, when some twelve or fifteen miles off'Cape Ann, 

 at sea, a Flicker came aboard, perching for a few minutes on 



