ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher. 

 Established, March, 1ST5. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. IX. 



PAWTUCKET, R. I., MAY, it 



No. 5. 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



In this number will be found a list of 

 the observers, giving the name, address 

 and latitude in degrees and minutes, and 

 'in the left hand column, the number which 

 - has been assigned to each. A map of the 

 Mississippi Valley is also given on which 

 the stations are indicated by their num- 

 bers. The numbers 29a, 53b and 53c are 

 not given on the map, having been received 

 after it was engraved. 



As will be seen by the list, my residence 

 has been changed, and all reports will 

 hereafter be sent to me at Eed Eock, Ind. 

 Territory. The extra work necessarily in- 

 cident to the change has encroached large- 

 ly on the time set apart for the preparation 

 of the noies for this month's issue. 



A glance at the map will show that of 

 our hundred and forty observers, the ma- 

 jority are massed in the four states Illinois, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. One 

 would be correct in judging from this that 

 these foiu- states contain more amateur 

 ornithologists than all the rest of the Mis- 

 sissippi Valley. Indeed the balance in favor 

 of these states is greater than the list of 

 observers would indicate, since the observ- 

 ers in the crowded states were obtained 

 almost without effort, while those in the 

 other states are the result of an immense 

 amount of persistent entreaty. Appeals 

 for observers were sent to eighty daily and 

 weekly papers in the states of Mississippi, 

 Louisiana and Texas. The return for this 

 expenditure of time and money was one 

 new observer. 



It will be observed that the numbers 

 progress northward in three lines ; from 

 Mississippi to "Wisconsin ; from Louisiana 

 to Minnesota, and from Texas to Mani- 

 toba. These three lines of stations cor- 

 respond approximately with three great 

 routes of bird migration. In the eastern 

 part of our territory will be found a path 

 of migration extending, in general terms, 

 from about seventy miles east of the Mis- 

 sissippi, to and a little beyond our eastern 

 border. Migration by this route is some- 

 what irregular, being influenced by the 

 vicinity of mountains as we pass farther 

 north, being much changed as we approach 

 the great lakes. Nearly the whole of Wis- 

 consin seems to belong to this region. 

 The second line of migration may be called 

 that of the Mississippi Bottom Land. But 

 it includes more than the mere bottom 

 land. It extends east of the Mississippi 

 from fifty to seventy miles, and west to the 

 edge of the timber. In Louisiana, Arkan- 

 sas and Missouri, the belt is rather wide, 

 but in Iowa it rapidly diminishes, and in 

 Northern Iowa is quite narrow, the avi- 

 fauna of the middle plains passing east- 

 ward almost to the Mississippi river. In 

 Minnesota the route for many birds, es- 

 pecially the water birds, bends to the 

 west and passes to the valley of the Bed 

 Biver of the north ; while that of the 

 smaller insectivores is directly north, or 

 even northeast to the heavy timber. The 

 study of the movements of birds around 

 the source of the Mississippi, or rather 

 from Minneapolis, Minn., to Fargo and 



[Continued on Page 52.] 



Copyright, 1884, by Fkank B. Weestek and Eaton Cliff. 



