MYRTLE WAEBLEB. 



63 



wick (average of nine years' records in various places), April 24. 

 Thus the first myrtle warblers are noted in New Brunswick about a 

 week before they are seen in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, some 600 

 miles to the southwest. The average dates of arrival in southern 

 Ontario are a few days earlier than in the portions of New York, 

 Pennsylvania, and Ohio lying directly to the south. Around Lake 

 Michigan stretches another district of early spring appearance. The 

 average date of arrival at Chicago and Eockford, 111., is April 16; 

 Milwaukee, Wis., April 18, and Grand Rapids, Mich., April 16. The 

 same anomalous state of affairs found along the Atlantic coast appears 

 on the Mississippi River. At four towns in southeastern Iowa the 

 average date of arrival, aggregating twenty-seven years of observa- 

 tion, is April 19; while the average date for nine years at Lanesboro, 

 Minn., and for seven years at Elk River, Minn., is in each case April 

 16. Thus the myrtle warbler appears three days earlier at Elk River 

 than in the district 300 miles farther down the river. 



Outside of the districts of apparently irregular movement the first 

 myrtle warblers appear on the average at Pictou, Nova Scotia, April 30; 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia, May 2, and North River, Prince Edward Island, 

 April 26. The arrival of the mvrtle warbler at North River is there- 

 fore one day earlier than at Beaver, Pa., while in the case of 11 

 other warblers the average arrival is thirteen days later. Southern 

 Michigan is reached on the average April 25, southern Ontario April 

 29, and Ottawa May 2. The migrants up the Mississippi Valley pass 

 into southern Manitoba April 23, and have been noted at Osier, Sas- 

 katchewan, May 4, 1893; Edmonton, Alberta, May 8, 1903; near Atha- 

 basca Landing, May 4, 1901; Fort Simpson, Mackenzie, May 16, 1861, 

 and May 7, 1904; and Fort Good Hope, Mackenzie, May 25. The 

 western birds arrive in southern British Columbia April 15; at Fort 

 Reliance on the upper Yukon, May 5, and at the mouth of the Yukon, 

 May 18. In 1899 the first were noted on the Kowak River in north- 

 western Alaska, May 22. 



By the last of March all the myrtle warblers have departed from 

 Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas. The latest recorded date 

 of striking of this species at any of the Florida lighthouses is April 

 3, 1889. By the middle of the month the latest northbound birds 

 have left southern Florida. For six years the average date on which 

 the latest birds passed Raleigh, N. C, was May 6. Directly west of 

 Raleigh, at Asheville 2,000 feet up in the mountains, the latest 

 migrants seen in the spring were noted on April 25, 1890; April 30, 

 1894; May 18, 1893, and May 18, 1899. In six years' time at New 

 Orleans the average date of departure of the latest myrtle warbler was 

 April 22, with variations from April 21 to April 27. Most of the 

 migrants cross the Rio Grande into Texas about the middle of March, 

 and it is the middle of April before the last have passed north. 



