THE SPRING MIGRATION 77 



site can be given the dates when first seen, when at 

 greatest abundance, and, in the case of those proceed- 

 ing further, when last noted. This will not only 

 furnish neat and convenient stationery for one's own 

 records, but the copy returned to the Department at 

 the end of the season will be a real contribution to 

 science. 



Quite a number of our hardier familiar land-birds 

 winter in the Southern States and return to their fa- 

 miliar nesting-haunts comparatively early in the 

 spring. Of some of these a few individuals are occa- 

 sionally seen in Northern States in winter. Such 

 species are the robin, bluebird, song sparrow, red- 

 winged and crow blackbirds, meadowlark, kingfisher, 

 cedar-bird, purple finch, woodcock, and various oth- 

 ers. But the great majority pass on to Central or 

 South America. On the return migration in spring, 

 some come by the all-land route, through Mexico and 

 Texas, but more of those that reach the eastern dis- 

 tricts prefer to fly across the Gulf of Mexico. Of 

 these, some take the easier route through Cuba or 

 other islands of the West Indies to southern Florida. 

 This route affords convenient resting-places to break 

 the long journey. 



The flight from Cuba to the Florida keys is only 

 about one hundred miles, yet, when I cruised off the 

 keys one April, I saw many flocks of small migrants 

 flying low over the water headed for the land, some 

 of which were almost exhausted. Yet it is surprising 

 that the great majority of these migrants prefer to 



