290 ; 
a month ahead of their fellows (the next individuals of which were 
seen April 1), but it is more probable that they had wintered in that 
vicinity, as the neighboring bluffs along the Mississippi River furnish 
numerous well-sheltered spots, suitable for winter quarters. Mr, Alex- 
ander Scougal, of Sioux City, Iowa, sent the following interesting note: 
Among our winter birds there is one in particular which I wish to mention. It is 
the male Robin. Hardly a person will believe that there is 2 Robin in the State dur- 
ing the winter; but on December 23, 1883, I shot a male Robin but took no particular 
notice of it except to skin it. Last December (1884), during the holidays, I took my 
gun and started for a dense thicket, almost impenetrable by man or dog. There Isaw 
a number of Robins, and shot three. One of them was wing-tipped and when caught 
beyan to call, and immediately there were thirty-four Robins sitting around me, wak- 
ing noise enough to deafen one. I held the one in my hand fora Jong time so I could 
look at the rest; all of them were male birds; not a female could be seen. I found 
a house in the woods and asked the man about them. He informed me that they had 
been there all winter, but he was not able to distinguish males from females. I can 
not say positively that the female does not stay here in the winter, but I never have 
seen one nor heard of any here during that season;.so I think it must be rarely if 
ever seen. The day I saw the birds was December 27, and the temperature was 22° 
below zero. Again, January 2, 1885, I was there and saw the Robins a second time; 
it was then 17° below zero. I found in their stomachs wild grapes and seeds from a 
small bush (probably Symphoricarpus). The trees in that part of the woods were 
covered to their top with grape-vines, and many other vines grew underneath. The 
bir.ls were in good condition, and seemed as lively asin midsummer. Hence it would 
seem that these old birds, being the last to migrate, do not go so far south asthe rest 
of their species, but get into these dense thickets and are unnoticed by most people, 
until with the first warm weather they fly out into the open fields. The first day or 
two of February were warm, the mercury rising to 46° above zero, and these Robins 
were seen by a good many people in the city. A cry went around, ‘‘ Spring is coming, 
we have seen a Robin.” But February 5 cold weather returned, and now (February 
16) the thermometer ranges from eight to fourteen degrees below zero. The people 
wonder where the Robins have gone, but if they would go to the dense thickets of 
Walker’s Island, on the Nebraska side of the river, they could find the same Robins 
as lively as ever. 
The same warm wave of Tebruary 2, just spoken of by Mr. Scougal, 
caused Robins to appear at Vermillion, Dak., a few miles northwest 
of Sioux City. A large flock was seen at the same place February 7. 
From points south of latitude 38° records of “firsts” can hardly be 
taken as necessarily indicating northward migration; but the dates 
given when the Robins became common show when the general north. 
ward movement began. 
In the spring of 1885 true migration seems to have commenced during 
the last two days of February and the first two days of March. Robius 
were not marked “common” before March 3 at any station north of lat- 
itude 39° with the exception of Glasgow, Mo., where they were so re- 
corded February 25. Out of about twenty species of the most common 
birds which had been studied before this bird was taken up, there was 
not one whose record could compare in irregularity with that of the Robin. 
It is utterly impossible to find any regular movement from the notes for 
the first three weeks in March. It may be supposed that something 
like this occurred: That during the first week of March the van moved 
