

ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, PuELisnER. 

 Established, March, 18T5. 



Single Copy 

 • 10 Cents. 



VOL. IX. 



PAWTUCKET, R. I., JULY, ic 



No. 7. 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



49a 



43.45 



Wis. 



La Crosse. 



Charles H. Stoddard 



6>a 



38.45 



Mo. 



Mt. Carmel. 



Mrs. M. Musick. 



60a 



40.20 



la. 



Keokuk. 



Wm. E. Praeger. 



67a 



40.50 



" 



Burlington. 



Prof. C. J. Reed. 



76a 



41.38 



" 



Iowa City. 



J. W. Preston. 



T9a 



12.01 



" 



Grand Junction. 



Tenny Smith. 



84a 



42.55 



" 



Williamstown. 



F. George. 



STa 



43.38 



Minn. 



Fairmont. 



B. E. St. John, 



106a 



33.11 



Tex. 



Decatur. 



Mrs. F. M. Honts. 



113a 



38.45 



Kan. 



Ellsworth. 



James McMaster. 



USa 



40.21 



Neb. 



Davenport. 



J. Nelson, Jr. 



134 



50.30 



Man. 



Oak Point. 



A. T. Small. 



Above will be found the names of ob- 

 servers that have been received since the 

 publication of the map and list. The total 

 number of observers to date is 151, repre- 

 senting thirteen States, two Territories 

 and Manitoba. Unavoidable circumstances 

 have absolutely forbidden the preparation 

 of any article for this number, but we 

 think we are safe in promising full notes 

 for the rest of the year. There certainly 

 is plenty of material to draw from. Let 

 us take a short account of stock on hand. 

 There have been received to date about 

 550 letters and there are about 100 yet to 

 come. They will average not less than 

 twenty notes to the letter, dozens of 

 tliem running over fifty notes apiece, and 

 one, from a lady, occupies sixteen foolscap 

 pages and contains 174 observations. At 

 twenty notes each we have a grand total 

 of 13,000 items of interest in the life his- 

 tory of our birds which the observers of 

 the Mississippi valley have recorded the 

 past spring and summer. Were we to oc- 

 cupy every page of the O. and O. for the 

 rest of the year, but a small part of the 

 notes could be used, and much more than 



half of the 425 species would have to be 

 slighted, while our stock of letters, which 

 now stands oyer three feet high, would not 

 be greatly diminished. Nor has the work 

 been all on the part of the observers. My 

 letter-book contains the record, since the 

 1st of January, of 525 letters and postals, 

 and of the distribution of 470 circulars. 



The work so far has been the study of 

 spring migration, but however extended 

 and thorough this niay be, our task is not 

 completed until we have learned just as 

 much of that more difficult subject, fall 

 migration. Probably few of the observers, 

 who for years have been noting spring ar- 

 rivals, have ever made a fall note, and for 

 this reason I make the following request : 



I would like to have all of the observers 

 pay some attention to the return and de- 

 parture of the birds next fall ; not for the 

 sake of the notes that will be collected, 

 but for the sake of the discipline. The 

 conditions of the return movement are so 

 different from those of the advance that 

 few will be able to make a successful 

 study of it upon first trial ; but after one 

 fall of apprenticeship the observers will 

 be ready to do good work next year. 



I should be glad to receive a copy of 

 whatever notes are made, especially of the 

 movements of those birds which spend 

 the winter in the vicinity of the station ; 

 that is, I would like to have the birds 

 traced to their winter homes and their 

 habits studied all through the cold season. 

 Before fall migration begins more ex- 

 plicit directions will be issued. — W- W. 

 CooJce, Red Rock, Indian Territory. 



Copyright, 18S4, by Frank B. Webster and Eaton Cliff. 



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