70 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 5 



birds liave only appeared in the County two 

 years in my experience. Perhaps they often ap- 

 pear as transients in severe seasons, when they 

 liasten by us and are not seen. I can hardly al- 

 low, however, that either this species or the Pine 

 is driven to the south by the severity of the 

 weather. For if this is a fact, it would be reason- 

 able to expect other northern birds in numbers 

 during the same cold weather, a conclusion 

 which is quite at variance with my observations 

 on our Winter visitors. During, the years that 

 the Evening Grosbeak appeared, there was 

 nothing to indicate that the Pine Grosbeaks were 

 driven south by the cold weather. In fact, no 

 specimens of enucleator had been seen lor the past 

 four seasons, nor since tlien, now ten years. 

 Neither has it been proven that Snowy Owls, 

 Bohemian Wax-wings or other rare stragglers 

 are more abundant during the season when some 

 other Winter visitors appear as common. 



It may be maintained that the scarcity of food 

 is the prime cause of the movements of these 

 northern forms. Such a conclusion is even less 

 tenable than the view of tho.se advancing severity 

 of the weather as the chief reason. If scarcity 

 (if food caused the birds to seek more southern 

 sections, wo might reasonably infer that the Pine 

 and Evening Grosbeaks would appear simulta- 

 neously, as the habits of the two are similar, both 

 feeding on the same varieties of berries and buds 

 while here. This is shown not to be the case. 

 Again, what reason is there to prove that the 

 Hawk Owl, Snowy Owl and Gyrfalcon, which 

 ai'e seen in our southern counties during ditferent 

 Winters, are driven here by scarcity of food? 

 We must feel satisfied that the same amount of 

 animal food is found in the north as in other 

 Winters, if it were not so, a replenishing of the 

 country occupied by the carnivorous birds could 

 not possibly take place within one year, and 

 from necessity they would appear the following 

 season, a point which is not substantiated. 



It is also reasonable to conclude that in case of 

 scarcity of food the birds would visit other sec- 

 tions where the trees from which tliey feed, or 

 the small mammals and birds on which they feed, 

 were found, and not to more soutliern haunts 

 where a cliange oi fauna' and flora' would occur. 

 In this light we might with equal propriety con- 

 clude that the Owls would seek more nortliern 

 quarters, or at least localities situated within 

 isothermal boundaries. As a very conclusive 

 proof that the scarcity of food theory is not firmly 

 founded, I might call to the minds of 'he readers 

 of the " O. and O." a certain work on arctic ex- 

 plorations — reference not now at hand — in which 

 Snowy Owls are recorded repeatedly during the so- 

 journ of a party in the extreme north, and at a time 



when the most rigorous weather prevailed, while at 

 the same time the reported presence of Snowy Owls 

 within not only the U. S., but in Michigan was 

 heralded in daily papers as a conclusive proof of 

 the severe weather throughout the country. 



I have diverged from ni}' regular routine in 

 order to discuss this mucli talked of and less un- 

 derstood subject, and trust that in so doing some 

 readers may be interested to the extent of care- 

 fully noting the appearances of our northern vis- 

 itors with careful remarks on correlative condi- 

 tion of weather, food, &c. The subject of migra- 

 tion is so little understood, that, notwithstanding 

 the great strides towards the elucidation of the 

 main points in the last few years, there still is a 

 wide field open to the close observer. At present 

 we are fairly acquainted with the migrations of 

 those species which come to us in the Spring and 

 return to the south in tlie Fall, but in the rarer 

 species constant variations arc recorded by vari- 

 ous observers in ditferent parts of the country. 

 These apparent variations are to my mind entirely 

 due to the fact that the birds are little known, 

 and therefore not accurately recorded, and it is 

 my opinion founded entirely on theory and my 

 own observations, that the irregular migrations 

 of many northern birds are generally seaponal. 

 and not in any wise due to either severity of the 

 weather or scarcity of food. 



The fact that many species leave us for the 

 south every Autumn is not by any means a nec- 

 essary result of our rigorous Winters. On the 

 contrary, comparatively few of our Summer 

 birds would have to go south from inaliility to 

 withstand our severe weather. A good illustra- 

 tion of the ability of a more southern bird to 

 live in our climate during the Winter months, 

 was furnished a few seasons ago when an escajied 

 Redbird, (C. rirr/inidnm), was found to live with 

 apparent comfort tlirougliout a severe Winter. It 

 sang cheerily and fed on the buds and seeds as if 

 born in the grove of evergreens which it selected 

 for its northern home. No instance of a capture 

 of a wild Cardinal Grosbeak in our county has 

 ever taken place. 



We think that migrations occur each year 

 among the northern birds, and that various lo- 

 calities are visited different seasons. It is proba- 

 bly as fair to credit the Northern Grosbeaks, 

 Redpolls, Snow Buntings and Owls with seasonal 

 migrations as it is to admit of the uncertain 

 changes of the erratic Red-bellied Nuthatch, 

 Robin and many others. It is reasonable to sup- 

 pose that the Evening Grosbeak is a common 

 bird at least, half the Winters, on the northern 

 borders of Lake Superior, while it is a rare visitor 

 to our southern counties, simply because it is a 

 species of the extreme north, and not in the habit 

 of migrating south of 45° north lat. 



