SPRING BIRD MIGRATION, ANTIGONISH, 1914 LEWIS. 119 



Notes ON the Spring Bird Migration of 1914 at Antigonish, 

 Nova Scotia. — By Harrison F. Lew s, Quebec, P. Q. 



(Read 10 May. 1920) 



The County of Antigonish lies in the eastern part of the Nova 

 Scotian peninsula on the south shore of St. George's Bay, an 

 arm of the Gulf of St. Lawrende With the exception of two 

 weeks in late December and early January, the period from 

 August 25, 1913, to June 27, 1914, was spent by me in the 

 county, my residence being in the small town of Antigonish, 

 the county town. 



In the spring of 1914, a record of the migration was made for 

 the Biological Survey of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture. The time spent in making observations for this 

 record consisted chiefly of the early morning hours every day 

 with additional time later in the day on Saturdays and Sundays. 

 There was then no thought of publishing the results of these 

 observations, but, in view of the scarcity of published records 

 of the birds of Antigonish County, to which my attention has 

 since been called, and of the improbability of additional similar 

 work on my part in the county, it may be advisable to make 

 readily accessible such data as were obtained. As far as I 

 know, or have been able to find out, the only previous pub- 

 lications relating directly to the birds of this county are the 

 four brief ones hereinafter quoted in their respective approp- 

 riate connections. 



The coming of spring is normally later in Antigonish County 

 than it is in western and central Nova Scotia. This is due to 

 the large fields of heavy ice which form in winter in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence, and which, in melting, cool the winds which 

 blow from them across the land to the southward. The spring 

 of 1914 was said by the inhabitants of the county to be some- 

 what later than the average. Snow in the woods was knee-deep 

 on April 25. About two inches of snow fell on the night of 

 May 1-2. On May 15 the shore of St. George's Bay was found' 

 to be strewn with great blocks of ice, some of them three or four 

 feet thick, while large fields of ice could be seen floating in the 

 bay. Heavy frosts, accompanied by the formation of thin ice 

 on dishes of water left out-of-doors, occurred once or twice in 

 early June. These conditions are the cause of the lateness of 

 the arrival of many species of birds. Where I have any especial 



