^^feOvA* 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND- 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



FRANK B. WEBSTEE, Publisher. 

 Established, March, 18T5. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. IX. 



PAWTUCKET, R. I., JUNE, if 



No. 6. 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



Since the list and map were published 

 last month many recruits have joined our 

 ranks, raising the total number of observers 

 to one hundred and forty-eight. A supple- 

 mentary list of observers and stations will 

 be published next month. 



We have chosen for the central date of 

 the notes this month the fifth of April, but 

 like many ministers, we shall be careful not 

 to stick to our text. 



We will, as before, begin at the south 

 and work northward. At Mason, Texas, 

 30 43 , we find the whole face of the country 

 a mass of bloom. Peaches have set and 

 are beginning to grow. Among the blos- 

 soms are numbers of Hummingbirds which 

 arrived March 28, but no Robins are seen, 

 as the last one left March 27. A little 

 farther north at San Angela, Texas, we 

 ran across one of the unexpected habits of 

 birds. The Carrion Crow, (C. atrata), is 

 given as never wintering there, and the 

 first arrival on March 19, while at Caddo, 

 I. T., 34 n , two hundred miles farther north, 

 they were numerous all winter. The Blue- 

 gray Gnatcatcher is also marked as 'April 

 6, first arrival," after having been common 

 at Caddo for over two weeks. We cannot 

 explain such irregularities by supposing a 

 mistake in the notes, for Mr. Lloyd is a 

 keen-eyed and reliable observer. It is more 

 reasonable to suppose that the high arid 

 plains of Western Texas, do not furnish 

 food in the winter time for many species 

 which find a congenial winter home in the 

 same latitude further east, and that having 



retired farther south for the cold season, 

 they are naturally later in their spring 

 journey. 



In Mississipjji we find ourselves in the 

 land of flowers. At Yazoo City 32 50 , roses 

 and honey-suckles were in full bloom April 

 6, and apple trees hung full of fragrance 

 two weeks earlier. Hummingbirds are 

 here -also, arriving April 4, preceded on 

 March 31 by the Whippoorwill. Judge 

 Mayes tells us that for many years he and 

 his family have listened closely for the first 

 cry of the Whippoorwill and only once has 

 it varied more than twentj T -four hours from 

 April 1. 



From the many stations through which 

 the Clay-colored Sparrow (S. pallida) has 

 passed and will pass, but few notes of his 

 appearance will be sent. At Gainsville, 

 Texas, 33 36 , he was seen March 29 in com- 

 pany with the first Bullock's Orioles. We 

 may also with a tolerable degree of cer- 

 tainty expect notes on it from two more 

 stations, but its written record is sure to 

 be short. 



As we pass northward we find a few ar- 

 rivals at Beeds, Mo., 37 0S , where the King- 

 bird (T. carolinensis) arrived April 8, and 

 the Barn Swallow, {H. horreorum), on 

 the 4th. These Barn Swallows had ap- 

 peared in large flocks at Abbeville, La., 

 29 5T , on March 27, so that to fill the ap- 

 pointment at Reeds they must have traveled 

 sixty miles a day, — a short hour's work for 

 them, however, so they do not need our 

 pity. 



During the last days of March and the 

 first days of April, the Purple Martin 



Copyright, 1884, by Frank B. Webster and Eaton Cliff. 



