Vol. XXII"| Kopman, Warbler Migration in La. and Miss. 280 



WARBLER MIGRATION IN SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA 

 AND SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI. 



BY H. H. KOPMAN. 



As applied to the conditions of bird migration in this vicinity, 

 some of the deductions and generalizations made by Professor 

 Cooke in his extremely interesting and instructive report on the 

 'Distribution and Migration of North American Warblers,' 1 give 

 a slightly incorrect and incomplete view of the actual conditions of 

 warbler migration in southeastern Louisiana and the middle Gulf 

 coast of Mississippi. It should be said at the outset, however, 

 that the records from which Professor Cooke drew, contributed 

 by Andrew Allison and the writer, were circumscribed in many 

 instances, owing to our imperfect opportunities for observation. 

 It is not surprising, therefore, that in some cases our reports to 

 the Biological Survey have failed to convey to Professor Cooke 

 the real significance of the state of affairs to be exploited. The 

 reports were in the nature, chiefly, of a series of categorical an- 

 swers to categorical questions. It was unavoidable, therefore, 

 that in many instances, the part of Professor Cooke's book relat- 

 ing to this locality and section should fail as to a precise definition 

 of conditions. 



Before taking up ad seriatim the species of warblers whose 

 status in the above mentioned districts Professor Cooke has not 

 made perfectly clear, I will touch upon two points of general appli- 

 cation. The first concerns a mistake that would be made by any- 

 one who had never visited this section of the country. 



In the districts under consideration, there are two principal 

 points from which we sent the reports that Professor Cooke used. 

 One is Bay St. Louis, Miss., and the other is New Orleans. In 

 many cases what might be said of a species at New Orleans would 

 be true for that species at Bay St. Louis, for the latter point is 

 only fifty miles east of New Orleans, and less than half a degree 

 north. But on the other hand, assertions that fit some species at 



1 Bulletin No. 18, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Biological 

 Survey, 1904. 



