136 



NORTH AMERICAN WARBLERS. 



for six years near Atlanta, Ga., April 23, with extremes of April 17, 

 1896, and April 30, 1897. 



The dates of arrival of the redstart in the Mississippi Valley show 

 a state of affairs similar to that exhibited by the records made on the 

 Atlantic coast — that the species is rare and late on the southern coast, 

 early and abundant in the interior. A possible explanation is that 

 the redstart is not a swamp dweller, and while a bird of the forest, 

 prefers hard- wood timber, and that in its flight from Cuba, Yucatan, 

 and southern Mexico, therefore, it does not alight as soon as it sights 

 land, but passes on into the interior until it attains the desired feeding 

 grounds. 



Along the Atlantic slope the rate of further advance is exemplified 

 by the following records of average date of arrival: Washington, 

 April 23; Beaver, Pa., April 29; Renovo and Germantown, Pa., and 

 Englewood, N. J., May 3; southeastern New York, May 4; north- 

 eastern New York, May 11; Portland, Conn., May 6; Providence, 

 E. I,, May 9; Boston, May 6; southern New Hampshire, May 12; 

 southern Maine, May 13; Montreal, May 16; Quebec, May 11; St. 

 John, New Brunswick, May 20; central Nova Scotia, May 25; North 

 River, Prince Edward Island, May 27. The average date of arrival of 

 the redstart for sevei'al years at Helena, Ark., is April 13, with 

 extremes of April 9, 1898, and April 18, 1900. At Eubank, Ky., the 

 average for seven years is April 16, with extremes of April 12, 1890, 

 and April 21, 1894. At St. Louis tbe average for six years is April 

 19, with extremes of April 17, 1883, 1884, and 1888, and April 24, 

 1887. Helena is about 300 miles north of New Orleans, and on the 

 basis of the usual speed of migration the redstart should reach the 

 latter place about April 1. The species is apparently rather rare in 

 spring at New Orleans, though common in fall. Three observers 

 failed to see it at all in five out of eight years of observation. In each 

 of two other years, 1898 and 1890, a single bird was seen April 8, and 

 in 1894 one was seen on April 7, and several were noted on April 11. 

 Farther north in the Mississippi Valley records of the average date 

 when the first redstart appears are: Columbus, Ohio, April 26; Water- 

 loo, Ind., April 29; Petersburg, Mich., April 30; Locke, Mich., May 

 7; southern Ontario, May 6; Ottawa, May 17; Chicago, May 8; south- 

 ern Wisconsin, May 9; Keokuk, Iowa, May 2; Lanesboro, Minn., May 

 11; Elk River, Minn., May 12; Aweme, Manitoba, May 14. 



The recorded dates of arrival of the species in Texas are without any 

 regularity: Corpus Christi, March 26-April 25, 1891, April 15, 1899; 

 Refugio County, April 15, 1899; Bee County, April 10, 1886, April 

 16, 1887; San Antonio, April 16, 1890, April 16, 1891; and Dallas, 

 April 21, 1898, April 22, 1899. These records show that migration in 

 Texas is later than in Louisiana, just as in the Mississippi Valley it is 



