^58 Helmuth, Notes while in Naval Service. [April 



would resume its weary flapping again, always keeping low near the sur- 

 face. For the frequency with which this species is met with at sea, nearly 

 always in an exhausted condition, I am inclined to blame their habit, in the 

 south, of feeding on the actual ocean beach, and of their custom of mak- 

 ing an extended oversea flight when startled at their fishing. Under such 

 circumstances it would be all too easy for so large a bird — and no very 

 powerful flyer at that — to be blown out in a strong offshore gale. 



Land Birds seen at sea. February 25, approaching Savannah, Ga., 

 a Savannah Sparrow appropriately enough, spent a few hours on the 

 boat deck. On February 27, when about six miles offshore near Palm 

 Beach. Fla., a Ruby-throated Hummingbird flew over us and a Yellow- 

 throat was with us all day; it was joined later by a Yellow-Palm Warbler, 

 and these two caused much excitement among the crew, such "tropical 

 looking birds" impressing them with how far south we had come! The 

 presence of the Hummingbird seemed to me unusual at the time, and it 

 seems as though the bird really had no business to be so far north at that 

 time of year, though, as Mr. Nichols pointed out, this species is not un- 

 commonly met with even at long distances from land. 



IV 



Some Florida Notes, March, 1918. 



Gavia immer. Loon. March 18, a bed of over 200 seen in the harbor 

 of Pensacola, all swimming in a compact body in one direction, — a novel 

 sight. 



Lobipes lobatus. Northern Phalarope. March 14, about 175-180 

 miles off the Gulf coast of Florida, approximately opposite Tampa. Pass- 

 ed eight Northern Phalaropes at noon, and three more about two hours 

 later. 



Dendroica discolor. Prairie Wabler. One of the commonest birds 

 in the mangroves on the west end of Key West, Fla. Nichols speaks of 

 this being a common mangrove bird on the west coast of Florida in April. 1 



Early migration of land birds. At Warrington, Fla., near Pensacola, 

 March 18, the thick, low growth along the swampy shore of a small lake 

 was alive with warblers and other small birds, some of which were surely 

 migrants. Nichols noticed no such migration further south in the Keys 

 in 1917, until a much later date. Among others, the following species 

 were seen: Red-eyed Vireo, one; Black and White Warbler, one; Parula 

 Warbler, several; Cape May Warbler, two; Myrtle, Yellow-throated, and 

 Pine Warblers, eight or ten of each. One Wood Thrush and three Blue- 

 gray Gnatcatchers also seen, and a small flock of Carolina Chickadees. 



At Hobe Sound, on the southeast coast of Florida, this spring (1919), 

 I observed no movement of migrating warblers, (discounting the depart- 

 ure of winter residents there), at all comparable to this, until the first 



iNichails, J. T., 1918. Bird-notes from Florida; Abstr. Linn Soc, N. Y., No. 30. 



