Vol-^^XVII-j ^Yright and Allen, Austral Birds at Ithaca. 63 



The Cowbird breeding in Saskatchewan is considerably larger 

 than that frequenting our Eastern States, as is shown by the sub- 

 joined measurements of breeding birds. The bird breeding in 

 eastern North Dakota is intermediate, but somewhat nearer that 

 in Saskatchewan. The bird inhabiting Alberta, Manitoba, and 

 northern Montana is doubtless the northern race, but I have not 

 seen specimens from those localities. 



As Fringilla pecoris Swainson was based on "The Cowpen Bird" 

 of Catesby, and Oriolus fuscus Gmelin and Oriolus ater Boddaert 

 on birds taken in New York, neither name can be applied to the 

 unrecognized race. Therefore I have taken the liberty of calling 

 it after my friend, Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., though giving a 

 proposed subspecies his name is but a poor tribute to his ornitho- 

 logical abilitv, knowledge and zeal. 



THE INCREASE OF AUSTRAL BIRDS AT ITHACA. 



BY ALBERT H. WRIGHT AND ARTHUR A. ALLEN. 



Situated at the head of Cayuga I>ake, Ithaca lies about midway 

 between the Susquehanna basin and the Austral territory along the 

 south shore of Lake Ontario. To the south, the Inlet and Six 

 Mile Creek Valleys lead to the divide and have their origins in the 

 same marshes with the headwaters of the Susquehanna. To 

 the north, Cayuga Lake and the Seneca River form a natural high- 

 way to this Lake Ontario strip. This area, due to the isolating 

 Transition and Canadian territory to the south, undoubtedly 

 receives its Austral birds from those migrating up the Mississippi 

 Valley. Thus it is possible for Austral forms appearing at Ithaca 

 to be either coastal species working their way up the Suscjuchanna 

 or Mississippi birds coming down Lake Cayuga from the north. 

 With certain birds the direction of invasion seems quite apparent, 

 with others, it is difficult or impossible to state with certainty. 



The purpose of this paper, however, is not so much to determine 

 the probable route of migration as to show the encroachment of 

 Austral forms within recent years and their remarkable appearance 



