146 
Saint Louis, where there were only about twenty-seven nightsfrom March 
31 to June 3 on which migratory movements took place; and it is safe 
to assume that the favorable nights as far north as Minnesota would 
have been fewer than at Saint Louis. Hence it is probable that on no 
night during which Kingbirds moved did they go less than forty miles, 
while on the night of April 29 they traversed over two hundred miles, 
and on the nights of May 9 and 10 more than ahundred miles each 
night. 
If each station had furnished a record (similar to that kept by Mr. 
Widmann at Saint Louis) of all the nights when decided bird move- 
ments took place, when slight movements took place, and when no 
movement occurred, the advance of the various species could be cal. 
culated with great accuracy, and a long step forward would have been 
made in our knowledge of the phenomena of migration. 
In the fall of 1884 the bulk left Williamstown, Iowa, August 20, and 
the last was seen there August 28. At Des Moines, Iowa, the last was 
seen August 26. 
In the spring of 1885 the earliest record of the presence of the King- 
bird in the Mississippi Valley came from Houma, La., where it was 
seen March 19. At Gainesville, Tex., 4 degrees farther north, the first 
was seen April 10; at Reeds, Mo., April 13; Shawneetown, IIl., April 
16, and Odin, Tll., April 19. April 19 was the date of the beginning of 
the most pronounced warm wave which occurred in the Mississippi 
Valley during the whole season of migration. The rising temperature 
was first felt at Saint Vincent, Minn., the evening of April 18, and 
reached the maximum at New Orleans, La., the night of April 22. Its 
intensity may be judged from the fact that at La Crosse, Wis., the 
temperature at 11 p. m., April 17, was 38°, while the next night it was 
58°; at Keokuk the temperature rose from 42° on the 17th to 68° dur- 
ing the night of the 21st. Of course, this great rising temperature sent 
a large bird-wave northward. The Kingbird was prominent in this 
‘wave, traveling in company with the Whippoorwill, Brown Thrasher, 
and many others. Now it is a queer fact that, although this bird-wave 
was plainly noticed at every station in southern Iowa and central 
Illinois, yet each station reported a different set of birds out of the ten 
or a dozen well-known species which there is*good reason to believe 
were then migrating together. Thus, for example, during spring mi- 
gration in 1885 the three birds already mentioned, namely, the King- 
bird, Brown Thrasher, and Whippoorwill, were all reported from the 
following thirteen stations: Griggsville, Aledo, and Hennepin, III., 
and Morning Sun, Ferry, Knoxville, Des Moines, Iowa City, Coral- 
ville, Newton, Grinnell, Ames, and La Porte City, Iowa. During the 
five days from April 19 to April 23 the Kingbird was reported from 
six of these stations, the Brown Thrasher from eleven, and the Whip- 
poorwill from nine. One station reported the Brown Thrasher only, 
and another the Kingbird only. The Kingbird and Brown Thrasher, 
