THE COLLECTORS' MONTHLY. 





localities in the study of ornithology, t is 

 pat what is most needed at the present 

 hour. Wilson and Audubon travelled 

 extensively and promiscuously over 

 Kar country, and bhe latter through 

 pastern North America pretty gen- 

 pally. Knl thorough study of partic- 

 ular localities was impossible on this plan. 

 Every one who has spent any time as an 

 Orinthologist or Oologist,will have learn- 

 ed, no doubt, how much the distribution 

 of our birds isdependent ou fchenatureof 

 the place. Attitude may compensate for 

 latitude; and an immense swamp, render- 

 ed cool by humid forests, may also fur- 

 nish the conditions of bird life, found in 

 higher latitudes. 



Then, too, certain tracts of country are 

 covering points of great, geographical re- 

 gions of distribution. Western New York, 

 my home at the time referred to, was one 

 of these commercing places. Not only 

 did the formal areas of Canada and the 

 Alleghany mountains lap over each other 

 here, but certain birds belonging to the 

 Mississippi Valley region, and others of 

 the great North western region, found their 

 way quite commonly into this locality 

 Western New York, again, having itslocal- 

 ities. Some of which 1 will now describe. 



First of all I must speak of the country 

 north of the ridge. Sonic eight or ten 

 miles from the south shore of Lake On- 

 tario, — and the same is true of Lake Erie 

 — is a sandy ridge, supposed to have been 

 either the lake shore or an immense sand 

 bar near the shore in some former geo- 

 logical period. Between this ridge and 

 the south shoi-e of the lake, the country 

 is very level and the soil stiff and clayej . 

 Here are also wooded streams and con- 

 siderable forest. These features differen- 

 tiate the land north of the Ridge from the 

 rolling and somewhat loamy, and highly 

 cultivated belt of country south of the 

 Ridge. As the Warblers, during their 



imigrnl ion delight in sheltered places 

 along streams of water, 1 his country north 

 of the Ridge is afavoriteresorl with them 

 during I heir somewhal leisurely migra- 

 tions. Then, too, bhe crossing ol the 

 great Lakes is a severe besl totheseslow- 

 ly Hitting creatures, evidently so averse 

 to strong winds, and many of them perish 

 in case of inclement weather during the 

 attempt. That delicate and sensitive in- 

 stinct or intuition, which is so character 

 istdc of the birds al all times and especi- 

 ally during migration, induces them to 

 halt here before crossing the Lake. 



About the twelfth (12th) of May, the 

 grand Hood of Warbler migration was 

 at its heightfat this point. If theweather 

 were favorable at this date,— the time 

 when the warm days of spring generally 

 set in— ,the Warbler would pass in an 

 almost, continuous troop. Then I might 

 expect the brilliant Blackburnian in con- 

 siderable numbers, t he elegant Cocmlcan 

 very commonly. The Bay-breasted gen 

 erally the Black and Yellow (Maculosa) 

 in abundance, the Black-throated Blue, 

 the Black-throated Green, the Chestnul 

 sided and the Cape May. The Nashville 



Warbler, the Redstart, the Yellow and 



the Yellow-backed Blue Warblers having 

 appeared a week or ten days previous. 

 The chant of the (ioldcn-erowned accen- 

 tor, might be regarded as the announce- 

 ment of bhe arrival of the Warbler family. 

 Later,— about the tirst week in dune—, 



I used tO find the nest of the liolden wing- 

 ed Warbler, the Chest nut sided, the Coe- 



nileaii, I he Hooded, while t he nests of the 



Yellow Warbler and theRedstari wereso 

 abundant as to be almost a nuisance, 

 when one was hunting for those more rare 

 and the mourning Wabler was so abund- 

 ant throughout the breeding season, as 

 to make its niditiealion a certainly, 

 though I never could find its nest. This 



