130 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 11 



yond the United States, it passed over our 

 border about the last of March, the male 

 arriving at San Angela, Texas, 31 22 , on 

 April 13th, and the female three days later. 

 At Gainesville, Texas, 33 36 , the first eame 

 April 14th, and the second day after, they 

 appeared at Abbeville, La., 29 57 . East of 

 the Mississippi they came earlier, being 

 seen at Rodney, Miss., 31 52 , on March 

 31st, and the first female April 9th. 



The 27th of April saw them at Griggs- 

 ville and Danville, 111., and the next day 

 three old males were seen at St. Louis. 

 On the 29th, they were seen at Fayette, 

 Mo., 39 09 , the 30th saw them at Manhat- 

 tan, Kansas, 39 12 , and by May 10th they 

 had advanced to 41 5S in Illinois, 41 40 in 

 Iowa and 40 53 in Nebraska, though the 

 probability seems to be that the advance 

 was made simultaneously to all places on 

 the 7th. May 12th, they came to Porte 

 City and Waukon, la., 43 15 , with one a lit- 

 tle behindhand at Milwaukee, Wis., 43°, on 

 the 17th. At Lanesboro, Minn., 43 13 , they 

 were seen May 23d, three days after they 

 had been seen at Elk River, Minn., 45 25 . 

 Elk River is near the northern limit of the 

 species. A few have been seen in Central 

 Dakota, and it has been seen in Minne- 

 sota at White Earth, 47°; north of this 

 there appears to be no record. The bulk 

 moves closely behind the first, within two 

 or three days of it. 



Baltimore Oriole {Icterus galbula). 

 The first record' we have of this species is 

 April 7th, when it appeared at Rodney, 

 Miss., 31 52 , and the last, May 25th, at Oak 

 Point, Manitoba, 50 s0 . This would make 

 an average sj^eed of twenty-seven miles a 

 day. As we found last year that this was 

 a bird of quite uniform speed, let us trace 

 the record this year and see how it agrees. 

 St. Louis, Mo., is reached April 26th, 

 which would be at the rate of twenty-five 

 miles a day; but if we go directly north 

 from Rodney, we find a record on the 25th 

 at Hillsborough, 111., 39 12 , which would 

 make a speed of just twenty-seven miles a 



day. About April 29th and 30th there 

 seems to have been much movement of 

 this species, not so much advance of the 

 van, as the filling up of the country al- 

 ready traversed, bringing the bulk to the 

 country from 39 30 southward and the van 

 to 41° and in the west to Manhattan, 

 Kansas, 39 12 . At twenty-seven miles a 

 day, they should have advanced by May 

 6th to about 43 30 , nor do we have to hunt 

 far for records of this advance. May 5th 

 and 6th are days of especial movement in 

 Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin. 

 During these days there are records all 

 over Northern Illinois and Southern Wis- 

 consin to 43 06 , with a stray one at 44 22 , and 

 Minnesota shows good records to 43 43 , 

 with an extra advance along the Missis- 

 sippi River to 44 32 . May 12th should 

 have found them at 46°, and we are fur- 

 nished the record of its appearance that 

 day at 45 25 and 46 33 in Minnesota ; so that 

 although as would be expected, there are 

 slight variations in speed, the species 

 shows a quite remarkable uniformity in 

 its rate of migration through this long 

 distance. There is, however, no trace of 

 the increase of speed from the south north- 

 ward, which was noticed last year, the 

 highest rate being iu the middle districts 

 the first week in May. In the prairie re- 

 gion the records are somewhat later, the 

 birds reaching 39 12 , Kansas, April 30th; 

 40 53 , Nebraska, May 9th, and 44 21 , Dakota, 

 on May 22d. Farther west and almost at 

 the extreme limit of its western disper- 

 sion, it was observed at Gainesville, Texas, 

 and Ellis, Kansas. 



The full record at St. Louis is : April 

 26th, first, three males at stands calling ; 

 April 28th, bulk of males arrive — the bulk 

 of the species averages in all the notes 

 about four days behind the first ; May 3d, 

 first females — the average for females is 

 about seven days behind the first, and as 

 the arrivals of bulk may be separated into 

 two series, one of about two or three days 

 in the rear, and the other of seven or eight, 



