ta 
279 
then 17° below zero. I found then in their stomachs wild grapes and seeds from а small bush 
(probably Symphoricarpus). Тһе trees in that part of the woods were covered to their top with 
grape-vines, and many other vines grew underneath. Тһе birds were in good condition, and seemed 
as lively as in midsummer. Hence it would seem that these old birds, being the last to migrate, do 
not go so far south as the rest of their species, but get into these dense thickets and are unnoticed 
by most people, until with the first warm weather they fly out into the open fields. Тһе first day or 
two of February were warm, the mercury rising to 46? above zero, and these Robins were seen by a 
good many people in the city. А cry went around, “Spring is coming, we have seen а Robin.’ 
But February 5 cold weather returned, and now (February 16) the thermometer ranges from eight to 
fourteen degrees below zero. The people wonder where the Robins have gone, but if they would 
go to the dense thickets of Walker’s Island, on the Nebraska side of the river, they could find the 
same Robins as lively as ever.’ 
“Тһе same warm wave of February 2, just spoken of by Mr. Scougal, caused Robins to appear 
at Vermillion, Dak., a few miles north-west of Sioux City. A large flock was seen at the same place 
February 7. From points south of latitude 38° records of ‘firsts’ can hardly be taken as necessarily 
indicating northward migration; but the dates given when the Robins became common show when 
the general northward movement began." 
Mr. Ernest Thompson gives a good idea of the migration of this Thrush in his paper on the 
Birds of Manitoba (Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xiii. p. 635) :—* On April 28, 1882, I drove to the spruce 
bush. The country seems flooded with Robins, and the last mile of prairie, just before entering on 
the wooded and sandhill region, was covered with an immense straggling flock. They were to be 
seen chiefly on the ground or making short flights, and the general movement of the birds was 
northward. There must have been several thousands of birds in the flock." 
It has already been noticed that even in Canada and several of the northern and eastern 
United States the present species remains occasionally through the winter. А specimen obtained by 
Mr. E. W. Nelson in Alaska in November is in the Henshaw Collection. Mr. Chamberlain has 
recorded it as wintering in New Brunswick (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, viii. p. 11), and Mr. Dwight says 
that an occasional bird remains on Prince Edward Island through the winter, subsisting on the 
berries of the mountain ash (Auk, x. p. 15). Mr. Brown says that the species wintered in unusual 
numbers in and about the city of Portland, Maine, in 1888-89 (Auk, vi. p. 283). 
Mr. Comeau (Auk, viii. p. 317) writes from Godbout, in Quebec :—* I desire to place on record 
what isto us here a most unusual occurrence, viz., the wintering of the Robin (Merula migratoria) 
on the north shore of the St. Lawrence. On looking over my notes on the species, extending over 
twelve years, I find that the latest bird previously seen was noted on December 5 ; other years from 
95th to 30th November. Arrivals in spring have been noted from April 18 to May 6. This year I 
kept recording their occurrence day after day, always expecting that it was going to be the last seen, 
but they are here still (Feb. 4, 1891), and intend to stay I believe. Every day when the tide falls, 
leaving the rocks or some shoals bare, they flock to these places in hundreds for the purpose of 
picking up gravel and small shells; when these places are covered with ice, as often happens, they 
hop from one piece of ice to another, following the shore-line, evidently thinking (if birds can think) 
tbere must be something wrong. І have shot several from time to time to see what their crops 
contained, and invariably found in them small shells, principally minute, blackish whelks, gravel, and 
the fruit of the mountain-ash, and sometimes bits of seaweed. 
« АП the birds I shot were in first-rate condition. The winter has been a very severe one— 
Feb. 2 and 8, 24 and 32 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit)—but this does not seem to truoble 
them at all Тһе reason for their wintering here is possibly due to the enormous crop of 
mountain-ash berries." 
CH E MN 
ЕРТАС DAS IA 
