ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND 



OOLOGIST. 



f 1.00 per 

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Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. 



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VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, JULY, 1883. 



No. 7. 



Mississippi Valley Migration. 



NEW OBSERVERS AND STATIONS. 



No. 2. Florida., Royallieuw, T. S. Risley. 

 " 34. Indiana, Delphi, B. W. Everman. 

 " 42. Illinois, Griggsville, T. W. Parker. 

 " 48. Iowa, Des Moines, U. S. Grant. 

 " 56. Minnesota, Pine Bend, Robert Linton. 



[Continued from last month.] 



As near as I can tell from the notes 

 of various writers and my own ob- 

 servations, nearly all tbeir movements 

 would fall under these three rules : If, 

 when fljang- north they meet a cold, freez- 

 ing storm, they are most apt to return 

 without attempting to alight ; if they go 

 beyond the boundary of open water they 

 will return ; but if they find open water 

 and once settle on it they will stay there 

 no matter how cold and freezing the 

 weather afterwards becomes ; even if it is 

 so cold that the water freezes over again 

 the chances are that they will disperse over 

 the fields and wait there for another thaw. 



The farthest north I find Geese to have 

 wintered is at (42), where a few stayed all 

 winter in the airholes in the Illinois River 

 near Valley City. The Mallards wintered 

 in large numbers at (21), and at (35) a 

 dozen different kinds and geese also found 

 a congenial winter home. (35) sends an 

 interesting note concerning the winter 

 food of the Mallard. He says : "They are 

 the most common Duck we have, arriving 

 here as a winter visitor shortly after the 

 first frost and remaining until about the 

 first of April, but this year until about the 

 middle of the month. Feeds on wild rice, 

 when obtainable, and their next choice 

 seems to be acorns with which they will 

 sometimes fill their crops so full as to cause 



them to extend half way to their heads." 

 The following selected notes will give a 

 pretty accurate idea of the time of the 

 general northward movement of the Ducks, 

 although of course there were many minor 

 and local irregularities. At (16) they be- 

 gan to fly 2-1. (22) 2-9 began flying to- 

 day, after the warm rain. (30) 2-14 the 

 first were seen in the afternoon. 2-15 at 

 11 A. M. commenced again, and from 4 to 

 5 p. M. twenty-eight large flocks passed 

 north. 2-16 from 7 to 8 a. m. fifty flocks 

 with over 2,000 individuals passed over. 

 2-17 — 24 quite plentiful all the week, but 

 no great move until 2-24, when in the fore- 

 noon, with a light rain and warm strong 

 south wind, large flocks went north, 

 abruptly stopped at noon by a norther. 

 3-14 quite plentiful, and 3-18 large flocks 

 going north. (42) 3-13 not first, but are 

 in innumerable quantities on the Illinois 

 Eiver bottoms. 3-14 clouds of Ducks, 

 some Mallard, Wood Duck and Teal, but 

 principally Sprigtail. (37) 3-16 very plen- 

 ty. (38) 2-16 first seen. (40) 3-1 first. 

 3-19 flying south but returned 3-21. (44) 

 3-14 very numerous. 3-18 in the morning 

 flying north and at noon hastening back. 

 (47) 3 12 first seen and were Teal. 3-25 

 plenty. 4-5 and 4-6 the Ducks seemed to 

 fairly swarm on the prairies and in the 

 cornfields, but by 4-8 they were mostly 

 gone. (52) on 3-1, a lone duck appeared and 

 skated awhile on the ice of a neighboring 

 lake, but his report was so unsatisfactory 

 that the rest were slow in coming. Even 

 when the ice went out of the river 4-2 

 there were still very few, and it was not 

 until 4-5 that the gunners began to make 



