ORNITHOLOGIST 



AND — 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



OOLOGIST. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher. 

 Established, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. IX. 



PAWTUCKET, R. I., OCTOBER, 1884. 



No. 10. 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley. 



Cape May Warbler, (Perissoglossa ti- 

 ffrina). — East of the Mississippi is the 

 home of the Cape May, and any record 

 west of there used to be considered as cer- 

 tainly accidental. As more than two- 

 thirds of the notes of last spring on this 

 species came from the western side, the 

 query arises, is the species moving west 

 ward. Throughout most of the East it is 

 rather rare, but in central Wisconsin it has 

 been found in great numbers, hundreds 

 seen in a day; and in Minnesota it is given 

 as very common in migration. It both 

 breeds and winters beyond our borders. 

 The most southwestern of the records is 

 that at Pierce City, Mo., 36 56 , where it was 

 found April 27. It reached 42° on May 

 5. On May 11 it was taken at West De- 

 pere, Wis., 44 26 , and by the 23rd it had ar- 

 rived at Elk Elver, Minn, 45 25 ; a female 

 was taken at Lanesboro, Minn., 43 43 , on 

 May 21. It was also taken in Iowa, but 

 the most interesting record is its occur- 

 rence in Nebraska. Mr. Powell writes that 

 at Alda, 40 58 , on May 12, 1883, he took an 

 old male in good plumage, and a few days 

 later three more were probably seen. 



Snow Bunting, {JPlectrophanes nivalis). 

 Erom their breeding places within the 

 Arctic circle, these warm-blooded Snow- 

 flakes come in countless thousands and 

 many a dreary landscape do they beautify 

 and enliven with the quick flashing of their 

 wings and their cheery chatter. They in- 

 vade all of our district north of 39° and 

 less often to 35°, being replaced there by 



the Lapland Longspur. At St. Louis they 

 have never been seen. At Whitehall, 111., 

 they sta}'ed until March 24th. A little 

 farther north, around 42° and 43°, they 

 were seen as late as April 17th, though the 

 bulk left the first week in April. At 45° 

 the bulk left about the same time, but it 

 was nearly May 1st before the last one de- 

 parted ; while at Portage La Prairie, Mani- 

 toba, 50°, they did not depart until May 

 25th, and on previous years have been seen 

 as late as June 22d when the weather was 

 very hot. 



Lapland Longspur, (Centrophanes lap- 

 ponicus). As has already been stated, the 

 Mississippi Valley below the range of the 

 Snow Bunting is occupied by the Long- 

 spur. The limit of the known southern 

 range of this sjjecies has been carried far- 

 ther south until w r e now know that it pene- 

 trates to Texas, where it has been found at 

 Gainesville, leaving there last Spring about 

 March 1st. Their mode of occurrence last 

 winter at Caddo, Indian Territory, may be 

 taken as a fair sample of the way these 

 rovers come and go at their own pleasure. 

 None were seen there until a sudden cold 

 snap in February covered everything with 

 frozen rain. Horned Larks, Smith's Long- 

 spurs, Chestnut-collared Buntings became 

 abundant, and on February 13th three 

 Lapland Longspurs were seen. Starting 

 out the next day to secure some of their 

 skins, I suddenly found myself siu-rounded 

 by hundreds and hundreds of them. They 

 swarmed around us for a week until on the 

 night of the 19th, taking advantage of a 

 clear sky. and a south wind, they, hi com- 



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



