Vol. XXII 



1905 



Bishop, Bird Migration at Nevs Haven, Conn. 377 



few migrants in flight, and this is especially true of the mornings 

 spent on a sandspit that bounds the western entrance to New 

 Haven harbor, and where birds flying across the harbor would 

 first reach land. At Guilford — about sixteen miles east of New 

 Haven — large numbers of migrants, closely following the coast- 

 line, flew over me on Oct. 18, 1884, Oct. 24, 1892, and Aug. 2, 

 1894. 



The temperature conditions governing migration were what was 

 to be expected — that the greatest movement was on a cool morn- 

 ing following a sudden drop of temperature on the previous day ; 

 that there was no movement when the temperature was rising, and 

 but little when it remained stationary ; and that a fresh north 

 wind did not seem to check the birds in their flight. Rather 

 strangely it is under the same conditions alone that I have noticed 

 here a bird-wave of any magnitude of transient visitors in the 

 spring ; for, although our summer residents appear after warm and 

 southerly winds, those bound to more northern homes seem to 

 stop only when a cold north wind bars the way. 



To me among the interesting things shown by these mornings 

 on the hill were, first, that these birds did not migrate past this 

 point all night, the chief flight occurring between a quarter of an 

 hour before sunrise and a half hour after ; for although I might 

 have heard a number passing the evening before, all was almost 

 invariably silent as I bicycled the three and a half miles in the 

 early dawn, and silent except for chirps from the trees and bushes 

 as I climbed the hill. Usually I had to wait some time before the 

 first migrants appeared, Crows being the first birds to begin their 

 day's wanderings, and Hawks the first to pass in migration. 



Another point was the manner of flight, Cedar Waxwings, Bobo- 

 links, and Blackbirds being practically the only species to travel 

 in compact flocks ; the others moving in straggling companies, as 

 Robins, Bluebirds, Jays, Warblers, Sparrows, Kinglets, and occa- 

 sionally Flickers, or singly, as Hawks, Flycatchers, and usually 

 Flickers. 



As regards the height from the ground : Hawks, Jays, Bobolinks, 

 Blackbirds, Swallows and Bluebirds usually flew several hundred 

 yards in the air, and the others, seldom more than a gunshot from 

 the ground. This last fact probably explains the directions of 



