ORNITHOLOGIST 
[Vol. 11-No. 7 

Spring Migration at Raleigh, N. C., 
in 1886. 
PART I1.—APRIL MIGRANYTS—LAND BIRDS. 

BY C. 8. BRIMLEY, 
The warm wave of March 24th and 25th 
brought us the first of our regular summer visit- 
ors, viz: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, one of which 
was seen March 25th, and five next day; while 
on the 27th B. and W. Creeper, Yellow-throated 
Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, and 
Large-billed Water Thrush were observed. 
Maryland Yellow-throat came on the 29th, Blue- 
headed Vireo on the 30th. 
The next week was marked by little in the way 
of fresh birds, the only arrivals being White- 
bellied Swallow and White-eyed Vireo on April 
2d, but a good many of our winter birds left us, 
namely, Phoebe bird (8d), Song Sparrow (5th), 
Snowbird, Grass Finch, Golden Crown Kinglet and 
Brown Creeper on May 8th, while on April 1st a 
Whitc-rumped Shrike was seen, this being the 
latest date at which I have seen one in the spring. 
The second week in April was only marked by 
the arrivals of the first specimens of the following 
birds, the bulk of which, however, did not arrive 
till much later: Rough-winged Swallow (6th), 
Barn Swallow (7th), Blue Yellow-back (8th), 
Towhee and Redstart (10th), and Whip-poor-will 
(12th). On the latter date the last Fiela Larks, 
Winter Wrens and Cowbirds were seen—the lat- 
ter bird though having apparently left us on 
March 19th, having been commoner than ever 
from March 27th to April 1st; indeed a flock seen 
on March 26th contained more Cowbirds than I 
had ever seen before in one flock, and must have 
numbered one or two thousand. 
During all this time there was no one night of 
decided movement, but the birds seemed to ar- 
rive in twos and threes nearly every day, appar- 
ently regardless of both the weather and change 
of temperature, neither did any species become at 
all common until April 12th, when Maryland Yel- 
low-throat and White-eyed Vireo were present in 
some numbers. 
For nearly a whole week, from April 12th to 
18th, there was no movement at all observed 
among the birds, but on April 18th a single Yel- 
low-throated Vireo, the only one of the season, 
was taken, and a single Wood Thrush was seen 
next day. The night of April 19th, however, 
was marked by the most decided movement of 
the year. Wood Thrushes, Red-eyed Vireos, 
Summer Redbird, Hummer, and Hooded Warb- 
ler came and Maryland Yellow-throats, Yellow- 
rumps and White-eyed Vireos increased to their 
full spring numbers. Swifts came April 21st, 
Great-crested Flycatcher and Prairie Warbler 
next day, and Bee Martin and Orchard Oriole on 
April 23d, while Hermit Thrushes left April 20th, 
and the last Ruby-crown was seen April 22d. On 
the 24th, Redstart, Red-eyed Vireo, Towhee and 
Blue Yellow-back were present in full numbers; 
Wood Pewee and Catbird arrived and a single 
Worm-eating Warbler, the first I have seen in 
this locality, was taken; the same day a Summer 
Yellowbird was seen. April 29th Chats arrived 
and were tolerably common next day; Catbirds 
and Brown Thrashers also became common at 
the same time, the latter bird having been merely 
occasional till then, though I have known it com- 
mon by April 2d in former years. 
Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Blue Warb- 
lers, Golden-crowned Thrush and a single Red- 
headed Woodpecker were also seen on the 27th, 
and Chuck-wills-widow was heard the day be- 
fore. On the 28th the first Blue Grosbeak of the 
season, an imperfectly plumaged ¢ was obtained 
and several Indigo birds wereseen. On April 30th 
a Long-billed Marsh Wren and three Scarlet Tan- 
agers, both rare birds here, were taken, and on 
May ist the first Olive-backed Thrush was ob- 
served. 
On May 3d, Purple Martin and Acadian Fly- 
catcher arrived, Golden-crown Thrush became 
common and a Scarlet Tanager with small scarlet 
wingbars was taken; next day Bobolinks came 
and Black-throated Blue Warbler became com- 
mon. Water Thrushes came the next day and 
were common by the 7th. Black-polls came May 
5th and were common on the 12th, while the last 
Yellow-rumps were seen May 8th, up to which 
date they had been quite common, evidently 
leaving us in a body at that time. “Bullbats” have 
been scarce this spring, the first being seen May 
5th, and only one or two since, while our latest 
migrant, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, arrived May 
10th. 
Only one more feature of the migration §re- 
mains to be noticed, and that is the appearance 
of Cedar Birds in great numbers, from May 11th 
to May 29th. This makes the fifth year they 
have occurred in some numbers about the end of 
May or early part of June, though they have 
never been quite as numerous before. This about 
closes the record of migration this year, all the 
migrants having now (May 31), left us, and other 
birds settled down to summer numbers. 
Shore and Water Birds: Snipe left us about 
April 9th (a single specimen was however seen 
April 29tb), the bulk of the Killdeer having de- 
