1885.] Bird Migration. 11^ 



SUPPLEMENT. 



COMMITTEE ON THE MIGRATION AND GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 

 OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



( 'ircular for 1885. 



The Committee on Bird Migration, during the first year of its 

 existence (1884), distributed six thousand circulars, and in reply 

 has received returns from more than a thousand observers. The 

 area over which these observers are scattered is co-extensive with 

 the boundaries of the inhabited portions of the North American 

 Continent, and includes parts of the West Indies, Central, and 

 South America. Stations now exist in every state in the Union, 

 and in every Territory excepting Nevada. Exclusive of Spanish 

 America, the extreme points from which reports have actually 

 been received will appear from the following statement : In the 

 East, the southernmost station is Sombrero Key, off Southern 

 Florida (latitude 24° 37') ; and the northernmost, Belle Isle, off 

 Labrador (latitude 51° 53'). In the West, reports have come to 

 hand from Arizona and Southern California, and from Point Bar- 

 row, the most northerly point of Arctic Alaska (lat. 71° 18'), 

 The easternmost station from which data have been received is 

 St. John's, Newfoundland (west longitude 52° 45'), projecting 

 well into the Atlantic ; while on the Pacific the Committee has 

 observers at various points in California, Oregon. Washington, 

 and British Columbia. 



Hence it appears that the migration stations of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, exclusive of those in Spanish America, are 

 sprinkled over 46° 41' of latitude (approximately three thousand 

 two hundred miles in a north and south direction), and 72° 15' of 

 longitude (approximately three thousand five hundred miles in an 

 east and west direction). The distance in a straight line between 

 the two most remote points (Sombrero Key and Point Barrow) is 

 about four thousand three hundred miles. 



For convenience in collecting the enormous mass of material ac- 

 cumulated by the Committee, the territory under investigation has 

 been divided into sixteen districts, each of which has been placed 

 under the immediate direction of a competent Superintendent. 

 The Districts, with their respective Superintendents, -ire: — 



Alaska, Supt., John Murdoch. Smithsonian Inst., Washington, D. C. 



North-west Territories, Supt., Ernest E. T. Seton. Assinaboia, via 

 Carberry, Manitoba. 



Newfoundland, Supt., James P. Howlev, St. John's, Newfoundland. 



British Columbia, Supt., John Fannin. Burrard Inlet. British Colum- 

 bia. 



Manitoba. Supt., Prof. YV. W. Cooke, Moorhead, Minnesota. 



Quebec and the Maritime Provinces, Supt., Montague Chamber- 

 lain, St. John, New Brunswick. 



Ontario, Supt., Thomas Mcllwraith, Hamilton. Ontario. 



New England, Supt., John II. Sage, Portland, Conn. 



