THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 

 ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. XXV, January, 1908. No. 1. 



A LONG-DRAWN-OUT MIGRATION: ITS CAUSES 

 AND CONSEQUENCES. 



BY REV. G. EIFRIG. 



The migration of birds in the spring of 1907 at Ottawa, Ontario, 

 and vicinity, was a remarkable one from several points of view. 

 And in the hope of being able to help to shed a little light on this 

 fascinating and at the same time mysterious natural phenomenon 

 of bird migration, and to stimulate others to better efforts in this 

 direction, this present article is written. 



It was a long-drawn-out migration. The first migrant here, 

 Otocoris alpestris praticola, came February 10, in small numbers 

 to the Dominion rifle range near here, where 1800 sheep had been 

 pastured in the open all winter. The last transient migrant 

 observed by the writer was a Black-poll Warbler, June 12. Usually 

 the former comes here, or rather is seen, about February 20, and 

 the latter leaves the first two or three days in June. Anyone will 

 admit that from February 10 to June 12 is quite a long migration 

 period for almost anywhere in the northern hemisphere. But it is 

 not so much the greater length of time, but rather the anomalies 

 occurring within the time specified above, that made the last migra- 

 tion here seem a long-drawn-out one. After the arrival of the first 

 two comers from the south, the Prairie Horned Lark and the Crow, 

 the latter arriving about the last week of February or the first of 

 March, there is usually a lull in the migration until March 20-24, 

 when the second batch of migrants puts in an appearance in the 

 shape of the Song Sparrows, Robins, Bluebirds, Red-winged 

 Blackbirds, Bronzed Grackles, Juncos, Purple Finches and Cedar- 

 birds. There seems to be a keen rivalry between some of these 



