Jones — On IJirds of Cedar F^oint. 181 



'J52. Hyldcichhi (jiittatd ixiIUixii. — Hermit Thrush. 



Always present, but not always common, during the spring mi- 

 gration, and practically ah^uiys present during the fall migra- 

 tion, always in the woods or door-yards which have trees or 

 1:ushes. It has lit'cn common <»n the sand spit in each migration 

 tiiat I have studied the hirds there, and usually so numerous that 

 tlie birds spread well over the whole of the sand spit. The median 

 date of spring arrival is April 2, the earliest ]Mavch 21. 11)03; the 

 median date of spring departure is May 5. the latest May 20, 1907. 

 The birds usually return late in September and remain about a 

 month. One was louud in the thicket covering an old quarry dump 

 on December 4. 190:i, in the Oberlin quadrangle. This thrush seldom 

 sings during its passage, and then apparently only the ghost of the 

 song which is characteristic of its summer home. 



253. Plaucsticiis iiii(jiu1oriiis\- — Robin. 



Always abundant during the migrations, and common in the vi- 

 cinity of human habitations during the summer. It might rightly 

 be termed abundant in towns. It has not been really common on 

 the sand spit in tlie summer, and is usually not as numerous there 

 in the migrations as it is on the mainland on the same dates. In 

 the spring migrations it sometimes forms into great tlocks. The 

 median date of spring arrival is February 28, the earliest for act- 

 ually migrating birds being February 14, 1897. The great south- 

 ward migration occurs late in October, with the ttrst touch of win- 

 ter. Since the winter of 1894-5, when the great storm in Kentucky 

 and Tenessee killed countless nund)ers of this and the next si)ecies, 

 Robins have been found in this region all winter in small numbers. 

 Several regularly pass the winter in Oberlin. Nest building is in 

 [irogrei-s late in Marcli. and two or three broods are raised. 



254. Sialia sUilis. — Bluebird. 



It is a common sunnner resident over most of the region, and has 

 been so except during the years inunediately following the disas- 

 trous winter of 1S94-5, when most of those which i)assed the win- 

 ter in Kentucky and Tennessee were exterminated. During the 

 last ten years a few individuals have been regularly found all 

 winter in the region. They nest in the more open country in fence 

 j)Osts. in orchards, less cominoidv in the woods, and less commonly 

 about human habitations than before the thinning. On but two 

 occasions have I seen anything like a great migration wave, and 

 then in the middle of Marcli after two weeks of unfavorable 

 ^^eat.her. Then th.e woods near the lake shore were filled with 

 Bluebirds, which seemed to be moving eastward along the lake 



