J(W 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.50 per 

 Aiuiuni. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Pubusher. 



EstabliBhed, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 15 Cents. 



VOL. X. 



PAWTUCKET, R. I., APRIL, 1885. 



No, 4. 



Mississippi Valley Migration. 



I'.rnn waves no. ii. 



BY PROP. W. W. COOKE, MOOUHEAD, MINN. 



Ill tlio .Taiiuaiy numlK-rof this volume, we gave 

 1 wo moaiiing.'i to the e.\pi'cs.sion "bird waves," and 

 used the .seeond; in the present article we will 

 use the first meaning, i. e., "a lurd wave is an 

 uuusiially large number of birds which, during 

 (iiic or more days, spread over a portion of our 

 (lisirifl. Viewed in this lighl, the work before 

 us is to ascertain the several species of birds 

 cnnsliluting the wave, and the boundaries of the 

 Icrrilory over which it passed." 



.\s this number will reach our readers early in 

 .VjHil, when they have the movements of March 

 well in mind, they can, by comparison, see how 

 very different the movements this year have been 

 in regard to date, but how similar in regard to 

 llie birds which form the van. 



As but few stations sent notes on bird waves, 

 and only a small part of these are for the country 

 south of St. Louis, and as the record of the waves 

 al St. Louis is so full, we will take that for our 

 starling point, giving first the record for St. 

 liOuTs, and then see how it compares with that of 

 the other stations. The first Spring wave oc- 

 ciirred at St. Louis, SS^", in the latter part of 

 .laiiuary. Its record is as follows: On January 

 2.")th, a warm wave set in which continued until 

 February Trtli; the warmest day, ma.\imum 67', 

 was .January 30th. During this time creeks were 

 free from ice after the 39th, and the ice broke up 

 in the Mississippi. This first wave brought the 

 advance guard of Robins, Ued-winged Black- 

 birds, Purple Grackles, >Iallards, S|>rigtails and 

 Canada (ieese. The Bluebirds, Shrikes, (/.. li(di>- 

 ricinnns,) Red-tailed Hawks, Red-shouldered 

 Hawks, and Herring Gulls, which had left dur- 

 ing the coldest term, returned. Many Gulls 

 passed by going north and the vast number of 

 t'rows, W'hich had swelled during the first lialf of 

 January to something near fifty thousand, de- 

 creased rapidly after the 26th. 



This being the state of affairs at St. Jjouis, our 

 woi'k now is to determine the boundaries of this 

 wave. As would naturally be expected, it affected 

 a large stretch of country south of St. Ijouis. If 

 we go to the extreme .south in Mississippi we find 

 the same wave of warm wealher, liut, since the 

 water fowl and other birds liavi- l)een passing 

 and repassing all themonlh, we fail lo di.stingui.sli 

 any special effect of this particular wave; but 

 when we reach southern Illinois, we find a slate 

 of things exactly similar to Ihat at St. Louis. 

 Thus at Anna, 373", the "Ducks which liad lefl 

 January 3d, began to return and remained off 

 and on during February, which lias been variable, 

 raining and freezing alternately." West of there 

 at Pierce City, Mo., Sess, on .January 30lh and 

 31.st, the Robins and Bluebirds returned which 

 had been sent south by the cold of January 3d; 

 also large flocks of Blackbirds passed north, fol 

 lowed a day or two later by large flocks of ('ana 

 da Geese, Brant, Snow Geese, Mallards, Pintails 

 and Teal. Kven as far southwest as Caddo, Ind. 

 Ter. , 3411, the same wave was felt. It began 

 there January 34th, but was not decidedly felt 

 until the 38th. It entirely obliterated all signs of 

 Winter and started the first Spring migration. 

 Ducks and Geese moved a little, and most of the 

 birds deserted their thick Winter coverts, appear- 

 ing in town and on the prairie, while all the song- 

 sters burst forth in full Spring melody. Re<l- 

 winged Blackbirds and CowJiirds increased de 

 cidedly; grass started everywhere and one wild 

 Hower was found. 



Directly east of St. Louis we can trace the 

 wave to Osceola, 111., 383", where it was warm 

 from January 27th to February 4th; snow all 

 gone and Geese appearing on January 31st, fol- 

 lowed by Ducks on February 2d. West of St. 

 Louis, we find migration of Bluebirds at Mt. Car- 

 mel. Mo., 38-15, and of Robins and Geese at Glas- 

 gow, Mo., 39'*. Here we have the limits of this 

 wave, for although great in extent south, east 

 and west of St. Louis, it proceeded no farther 

 north. A study of the Signal Service reports 



Copyright, 1S85, by Frank B. Webster and Eaton Clipf. 



