EEDSTAET. ioO 



the South. Statesville and Raleigh, N. C, are in the same latitude 

 and 200 miles apart. Raleigh is about 300 feet above sea level and 

 Statesville 1,000 feet. At both places simultaneous observations were 

 taken in April, 1885, 1887, and 1888, as follows: 1885— Raleigh, first 

 seen 9th, next 13th, common 20th; Statesville, first seen 10th, next 

 12th, common 20th. 1887 — Raleigh, first seen 13th, next 16th, com- 

 mon 18th; Statesville, first seen 10th, next 11th, common 15th. 1888 — 

 Raleigh, first seen 2d, next 3d, common 12th; Statesville, first seen 

 3d, next 4th, common 10th. Average — Raleigh, first seen 8th, next 

 11th, common 17th; Statesville, first seen 8th, next 9th, common 15th. 

 Average for both places— first seen 8th, next 10th, common 16th. 

 These records seem to determine quite closely the date of arrival of 

 the redstart in North Carolina. Migration in the spring of 1888 was 

 earlier than usual, as April 2 is the earliest date of arrival at Raleigh 

 in fifteen years of observation. The average for these fifteen years is 

 April 10. 



The distance from the south end of Florida to central North Caro- 

 lina is 660 miles. The apparent speed of migration of the redstart, 

 as obtained from the records of its vernal advance in the Mississippi 

 Valley, is 30 miles per day. Hence, if the birds which arrived in North 

 Carolina on the dates above given landed first in Florida and then 

 passed overland at a similar rate of speed, they must have reached the 

 southern end of Florida, on the average, b}'^ March 20. It is well to 

 note first that these early migrants in North Carolina do not come by 

 way of the Bahamas. Redstarts do not winter in any of the Bahamas 

 within 400 miles of Florida. Bryant saw none until April 18 on New 

 Providence and Andros islands; Northrop noted none until April 10, 

 1890, on Andros; Cory noted the first migrant of the season on March 

 27, 1891, on New Providence Island, and on March 18 of the same year 

 the naturalists of the steamer Albatross secured their first specimen on 

 the same island. It is probable from these records that the van of the 

 northward migration in North Carolina is composed of birds that have 

 wintered in Cuba. 



Few records of occurrence of the species in spring south of North 

 Carolina accord with the average date of April 10 at Raleigh. Instead 

 of March 20 the earliest dates of redstarts striking the light at Som- 

 brero Key, Fla., are April 14, 1885, April 12, 1887, April 18, 1888, 

 and April 3, 1889, and the earliest at the Tortugas is March 30, 1890. 

 In Chester County, S. C, the earliest date of arrival in fourteen years 

 is April 10. Other early records of arrival south of North Carolina 

 are: Pensacola, Fla., April 5,1885; Rising Fawn, Ga., April 10, 1885; 

 Gainesville, Fla., April 7, 1887; Tarpon Springs, Fla., April 11, 1895, 

 and month of Suwanee River, Fla., March 22, 1890. With these 

 records are to be considered the dates of arrival at Savannah, Ga., 

 April 19, 1885, and at Darien, Ga., April 28, 1890; and the average 



