tS8jj.] Merriam, Prelnninitrv Report on Bird Migration. C^ 



tower men utilized them for food." Francisco Bautista states 

 that at San Antonia from five to six hundred birds have been 

 picked up in a single morning. 



From seven lighthouses upon the northern coast of Cuba Mr. 

 Foster has received much confirmatory evidence of the fact, 

 clearlv pointed out by Professor Baird nearly twenty years ago, that 

 in autumn an immense bird-wave reaches the Cuban shores from 

 Florida — a movement which renders insignificant the migration 

 from Florida westward along the northern coast of the Gulf of 

 Mexico.* 



Migration of the Martin (Prog-tze subis) in the 

 Spring of 1SS4. 



The common Purple Martin is an excellent species by which 

 to trace migration, for it is well-known and widely distributed, 

 and its habit of occupying boxes erected for its use in towns and 

 villages renders its movements far easier of observation than in 

 the case of forest-dwelling birds. In winter the Martin visits 

 South America, but the last of the fall migrants rarely leave our 

 southern border before December. Returning, the advance 

 guard usually enters the Gulf States toward the latter part of 

 February. During March the great army arrives and spreads 

 over the whole of the Southern States, the van appearing in 

 many parts of Virginia, Kentucky, Southern Illinois, Missouri, 

 and Kansas, some enterprising individuals reaching even as far 

 north as latitude 40 . If not retarded by cold, the first week of 

 April finds them pushing swiftly northward, and by the end of 

 the month they have distributed themselves over nearly the whole 

 of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, and are 

 already common in some parts of Canada. The exact time of 

 their appearance at any given locality in the Northern States 

 varies as much as two weeks from year to year. During the 

 spring of 1884 they were recorded from Water Valley, Miss., 

 March 1 ; Gainesville, Texas, March 5 ; Caddo, Indian Terri- 

 torv. and Newport, Arkansas. March 9; St. Lonis, Mo., March 

 24; Manhattan, Kansas. March 25; Southern Iowa. March 30. 

 During April they move through Northern Illinois and parts of 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, arriving at latitude 45 about the end 



* The full results of Mr. Foster's investigations, including notes on one hundred and 

 fifty species, were presented before the Linnasan Society of New York, September 21, 



