CAPE MAY WABBLEE. 



51 



Bahamas, March 19, 1891; Tortugas, April 8, 1890; Sombrero Key 

 lighthouse, Fla., April 4, 1889; Key West, Fla., April 11, 1887; 

 Puntarasa, Fla., April 16, 1886; Gainesville, Fla., April 14, 1887; 

 Tarpon Springs, Fla., April 17; Daytona, Fla., April 14, 1901; near 

 mouth of Suwanee River, Florida, April 15, 1892. An unusually 

 early individual struck Sombrero Key lighthouse March 3, 1887, a 

 night that witnessed an enormous flight of birds of many kinds for 

 most of whom the flight was one to three weeks earlier than usual. It 

 would seem that these flocks of birds were caught in a storm, driven 

 out of their course, and carried north to Florida. The average of the 

 dates on which the earliest spring migrant was seen in five years at 

 Kirkwood, Ga., was April 26, with extremes of April 20, 1901, and 

 April 30, 1897. At Rising Fawn, Ga., the only bird noted arrived on 

 April 26, 1885. At Asheville, N. C, May 5, 1893, May 7, 1894, and 

 May 5, 1899, represent the first arrivals and show the effect of the alti- 

 tude, as these dates are about .simultaneous with the date of usual 

 appearance of the bird at Washington, 175 miles farther north. The 

 average date of arrival in southeastern New York is May 12. The first 

 arrival was noted at Montreal May 14, 1890; Quebec, May 16, 1902, 

 and Scotch Lake, New Brunswick, May 17, 1901. Thus, the Cape May 

 warbler makes an average daily speed of 28 miles from Florida to its 

 breeding grounds. Records of average date of arrival farther west 

 are: Brookville, Ind., May 5; Chicago, May 6; northern Ohio, May 7; 

 southern Wisconsin, May 11; Ottawa, May 15; Lanesboro, Minn., 

 May 16; and Elk River, Minn., May 20. The first arrival was noted 

 at Aweme, Manitoba, May 14, 1900, and at Medicine Hat, Assiniboia, 

 May 17, 1894. 



The western limit of the range of the species can be marked approx- 

 imately by a line drawn from Florida to southern Missouri and up the 

 Mississippi River to Minnesota. There is a single record of occur- 

 rence in Louisiana, probably accidental, and less than half a dozen in 

 the United States west of the Mississippi south of Minnesota. 



As already remarked, some Cape May warblers breed in Jamaica, 

 but the bulk of the species leave the southern part of their range by the 

 latter part of March. Some late dates of final departure for the North 

 are: St. Croix, March 16; Haiti, April 6; Andros Island, April 20, 

 1890; Tortugas, April 27, 1890; Cuba, May 2, 1900; Key West, May 

 4, 1887, and Asheville, N. C, May 15. 



Fall migration. — The average date of appearance of fall migrants at 

 both Chicago and Washington is August 26. Since these places 

 are about 500 miles south of the nesting grounds, it follows that 

 the southernmost breeding birds begin their migration not later than 

 August 10. The earliest recorded date of fall arrival at St. Louis is 

 August 24, 1887; at Asheville, N. C, September 15, 1894; in Chester 

 County, S. C, October 4; at Puntarasa, Fla., October 6, 1886. The 



