BIRD MIGRATION IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



By W. W. Cooke. 



In the winter of 1881-'82 the attempt was made to secure the assist- 

 ance of the ornithologists of Iowa in studying the migrations of birds ; 

 but a change of residence on the part of the author from Iowa to Minn- 

 esota necessitated a modification of the original scheme, and it was de- 

 cided to increase the size of the area to be investigated so as to include 

 the whole Mississippi Valley. All the ornithologists of that district were 

 invited to co-operate by contributing notes on the winter birds and re- 

 porting dates of the spring arrivals. Answers were received from 26 

 persons who promised to aid in the work, but at the end of the season 

 it was found that but 13 had actually forwarded observations. These 

 13 were distributed as follows: Arkansas, 1; Missouri, 2; Kansas, 1; 

 Illinois, 3; Nebraska, 1; Iowa, 2; Minnesota, 2; Wisconsin, 1. Thus 

 it will be seen that a small part only of the Mississippi Valley was rep- 

 resented. The notes contributed were published, without comment 

 or change, in Forest and Stream for October, November, and Decem- 

 ber, 1882. 



The same work was undertaken for the spring of 1883, and, by a lib- 

 eral use of the press, a much larger corps of observers was obtained. 

 The names of 42 persons were received, but of these 26 only furnished 

 reports. They were distributed as follows: Texas, 1; Mississippi, 2; 

 Tennessee, 1; Kansas, 2; Arkansas, 1; Missouri, 3; Illinois, 7; Iowa, 

 4=; Wisconsin, 2; Minnesota, 3 — thus leaving Louisiana, Indian Terri. 

 tory, Nebraska, and Dakota with no representatives. 



The larger part of the hundreds of notes received from these observ- 

 ers was never written up, and for that reason frequent reference will 

 be made to them in the present report.* Some of the species were 

 treated in the Ornithologist and Oologist for 1883, and the full notes 

 from two of the stations appeared in the American Field for December, 

 1883, and January, 1884, and were afterwards issued as Bulletin No. 1 

 of the Eidgway Ornithological Club of Chicago. 



The founding of the American Ornithologists' Union (in September, 

 1883) greatly enlarged the scope of the work, but did not materially 



[* Since the above was written most of these notes have been printed in the Orni- 

 thologist and Oologist.— C. He M.] 



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