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MIDLAND NATURALIST. E : 47 
ever, be accomplished in a much shorter time by boiling with an 
excess of carbide on a water bath, and using a reflux condenser. 
Absolute alcohol was made by this latter process in 10 hours. 
It was found that the final distillate measured 1600 cc or the 
yield was equivalent to 89 per cent. of the theory. A larger yield 
could have been obtained if greater care had been used in obtaining 
the last traces of alcohol from the slag in the distilling vessel. This 
yield is much greater than that obtained by any other method now 
in general use that we have tried, and the ease in which the dehy- 
, dration is accomplished as well asits completeness, make the carbide 
method the best one that we have been able to find. 
Migration of Birds in St. Joseph County, Ind., from 
March 1 to May 30, 1909. 
B. ALPHONSUS. 
. The accompanying observations on the migration of birds was 
made at Notre Dame, Ind., and immediate vicinity, and unless 
otherwise stated the dates refer to their arrival. 
The condition of the weather always affects the migration of 
birds northward. In a mild winter, the first arrivals appear here 
about the middle of February. In 1906, an exceedingly mild 
winter, I saw a flock of about a dozen robins on the 15th of 
February ; on the 12th of the same month I saw a song sparrow. 
The full tide of migration, however, seldom sets in for any species 
before the 1st of March. ` 
During this month a cold wave will check the coming of the 
birds, making their arrival a week or two later than usual. The 
same holds good in April. Birds that generally arrive in the last 
week of April, such as the catbird, purple martin and Baltimore 
oriole, may not appear until after the 5th of May. 
The present spring was notable for cold weather. The first 
week in March and April the weather was comparatively warm. 
The remainder of these months it was cool and some days cold. In 
May up to the 21st the temperature was over 70° only three days. 
On eight days it was below 60°. "The lowest temperature in May 
was 32° on the rst of the month. In the evening snow covered the 
ground. 
