ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



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FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher. 

 Established, March, 1ST5. 



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VOL. IX. 



PAWTUCKET, R. I., APRIL, iJ 



No. 4. 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



When last month it was announced that 

 the names of observers would be published 

 this month, with a map showing the sta- 

 tions, it was expected that the names of 

 all desiring to aid in the work would, ere 

 this, have been received. Somewhat to 

 our surprise, and greatly to our satisfac- 

 tion, the names continue to pour in. In 

 order, therefore, that as few names as pos- 

 sible be omitted, it is thought best to defer 

 the list and map until next month; but 

 we will give some of the notes that have 

 been contributed. The stations will be re- 

 ferred to by name and the latitude also 

 given in degrees and minutes. We have 

 selected March 1 as the central date, and 

 purpose to give a sketch of the bird life of 

 the Mississippi Valley as it would have ap- 

 peared to one who should have traversed 

 the length and breadth of it during that 

 week. 



Beginning in the extreme south, let us 

 glance over the country. We will find 

 everything in the vicinity of Eagle Pass, 

 Texas, 28 43 , dry and parched. No rain has 

 fallen here since last September. Yet 

 among the trees, already in bud, the Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, (Z. htdoviciana,) ap- 

 pears, well content to make this his Winter 

 home ; whtle in the mesquite bushes below, 

 can be found the nearly completed nests 

 of the Cactus Wren, (C. brunneicapillus.) 

 On Feb. 29, we might have noted the first 

 Scarlet Tanager, {P. rubra.) 



Passing east along the Gulf coast, to 

 Abbeville, La., 29 5T , and Mermenton, La., 



30 0S , we will find the birds moving rapidly. 

 Ducks and Geese nearly all gone ; Wood- 

 cock disappeared, and Wilson's Snipe fast 

 leaving. Many Purple Martins {P. subis,) 

 — the first having come Feb. 23 — are cir- 

 cling overhead. Indeed, had you visited 

 some of the more favored spots, you could 

 have found a few of them all Winter, and 

 many Barn Swallows, (H. erythrogastra,) 

 in company with them. The Cactus Wren 

 of Texas is replaced by the familiar House 

 Wren, ( T. cedon,) which we see is an abun- 

 dant Winter resident. If you have pa- 

 tience, perhaps it will be rewarded by the 

 sight of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 

 {T. colubris,) or glancing upward you may 

 occasionally behold the stately circling of 

 a Swallow-tailed Kite, (E. forficatus.) 

 Swelling buds and opening leaves are on 

 every side; flies and mosquitoes swarm 

 around, and one has difficulty in believing 

 that at the same time his fellow creatures 

 in Minnesota and Wisconsin are fighting 

 against a temperature of twenty degrees 

 below zero. 



Retracing our steps westward, but veer- 

 ing to the north, we find at San Angela, 

 Texas, 31 22 , a single Purple Grackle, (Q. 

 purpureus.) He is the first of his species, 

 and arrived March 3 from his more south- 

 ern Winter home. None spend the Winter 

 here, while nearer the Mississippi river the 

 Mississippi Valley variety, the Bronzed 

 Grackle, (Q. p. ceneus,) braves the cold 

 regularly five hundred miles farther north, 

 in Southern Illinois, and occasionally even 

 nine hundred miles farther in Minnesota. 

 Here, too, we will find plenty of Martins, 



Copyright, 1SS4, hy Frank B. Webster and Eaton Cliff. 



