ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



f 1.00 per 

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Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. 

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VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, OCTOBER, 1883. 



No. 10. 



Mississippi Valley Migration. 



Note. — The stations and observers, to which the num- 

 bers refer, are given in the O. and O. for April. 



Our attention will next be occupied with 

 the Warblers, a large group of birds, 

 which to most of the observers was new 

 ground and consequently was not very 

 well cultivated. There are in the Missis- 

 sippi Valley thirty-six different species of 

 Warblers known to be present regularly 

 during the spring migration, and besides 

 these a few others whose occurrence is so 

 irregular that we need not take them into 

 account in our work. Of these thirty-six 

 regular visitors all have been noticed by 

 one or more of the observers, though most 

 stations send but few notes ; in fact one 

 must be very familiar with this difficult 

 group or else use a shot-gun or field glass. 



The most easily studied is the Yellow- 

 RuMPED Warbler, (Z>. coronata,) which, 

 very- unlike most of the others, remains 

 quite far north during the winter. No. 

 (35) foimd them scattered over the bottom 

 lands in large numbers throughout the 

 winter. Their plumage was then much 

 plainer than in the spring. They were 

 usually hunting around the bark of large 

 trees looking for insect's eggs. At (21) 

 they were abundant until the very cold 

 weather in January, when they disap- 

 peared. Two flocks were found by (30) 

 on New Year's day and he says, " Most of 

 them did not stay through the winter, but 

 a few did. On 2-19 in an old graveyard 

 that has a fine growth of several kinds of 

 evergreens, I found a flock of fifteen, which 

 had probably spent the winter there. 



Their characteristic loud ' cheek ' was con- 

 tinually heard in the wood, that was 

 populated by a flock. On Dec. 28, '82 only 

 one bird was found Feb. 22, '83, but their 

 chief attraction, the berries of the poison 

 ivy, which were then in great abundance, 

 were all gone." 



The northward movement as warm 

 weather approaches is not very regular. 

 A few scouts reached (30) on 3-22, (51) 4-9; 

 (52) 4-11 — only one and that a female !— 

 (57) 4-13 and (60) 4.19. Then nearly three 

 weeks later the main body followed. It 

 reached (30) 4-9 and fresh arrivals irregu- 

 larly swelled the ranks, until about 4-13 

 they were most abundant ; then they de- 

 creased for a few days, but were followed 

 by a second detachment which was very 

 numerous at (35) 4-20, and the next day 

 appeared in full numbers at both (30) and 

 (20) — with the exception of one bird on 

 2-13. These were the first that had been 

 seen at (21) since the cold drove 

 them away January 5. On 4-25 the 

 bulk appeared at (45), who counted 

 a hundred at one time. The small trees 

 were fairly alive with them, especially the 

 willows along the creeks. The same day 

 a few appeared for the second time at (52). 

 They remained in great numbers at (30) 

 and (21) for about a week from 4-22 to 

 4-29, and the same night, that of May 1, 

 that the bulk left (30), they arrived at (52), 

 though I am hardly prepared to say that 

 they were the same individuals and hardly 

 think they were. The arrival of the War- 

 blers this spring at (52) was very late. Up 

 to 5-2 Yellow-rumps and Pine- creeping 

 Warblers were the onlv kinds seen and 



