63 



which brought immense numbers of Ducks. On February 12, 1884, they were going 

 north in large flocks; February 14 they returned, coming back just at the time we 

 had a cold wave from the north. We had fine Duck shooting until the storms of 

 February 22 and 23, whea they disappeared. The varieties killed were Pintails, Mal- 

 lards, Gadwalls, Black Ducks, and Sheldrakes. By March 18 only a few Ducks were 

 left. 



At Saint Louis the thaw began March 9, and was fairly under way 

 on the 10th. Ducks began to return, and the first real advance since 

 February 1 was made March 10. By the 12th and 13th they had moved 

 to latitude 41° 10' in Illinois, and 41° 42' in Iowa. The movement 

 rapidly gained headway. The Ducks had been held back so much later 

 than usual that as soon as a movement was possible it was participated 

 in by the whole family. March 15 and 16 were great days for migra- 

 tion, aided by a warm south wind. The movement was peculiar in that 

 the bulk was almost abreast of the van. The first had not yet appeared 

 in Wisconsin, the most northern record being Polo, 111. (lat. 41° 55'), 

 but the bulk was only a few miles in the rear, being recorded from lati- 

 tude 41° 36'. In Iowa the van was at latitude 42° and 42° 1', and the 

 bulk in all favorable localities from latitude 41° 40' southward. In the 

 West the van had come to Vermillion, Dak. (lat. 42° 56'), and the bulk 

 to Linwood, Nebr. (lat. 41° 22 ; ). 



Prom this time on each day was marked by a record of advance. 

 Southern Wisconsin was reached March 18 ; northern Iowa and southern 

 Minnesota on the 20th and 21st. March 23 was the day of an immense 

 flight of about a dozen species at Heron Lake, Minn., all coming from the 

 west as if from the Missouri valley, at the nearest point of which they 

 had arrived some days previously. On this day also they reached 

 Waupaca, Wis., latitude 44° 22'. During the next three days the rec- 

 ords show advances in Minnesota and Dakota to latitude 45° 25' in 

 the former, and up the Missouri river to latitude 46° 58' in the latter. 



They were reported at Frazee City, Minn. (lat. 46° 330, March 31 ; 

 at Argusville, Dak. (lat. 47° 080, the day before; at Two Eivers, Mani- 

 toba (49o 280, April 12, and Oak Point, Manitoba (50° 300, April 16. 

 There were not many records of the arrival of the bulk in the North, but 

 they indicate that the bulk and van kept pretty close together up to 

 about latitude 45°, when the van pressed forward, while the bulk was 

 delayed by April storms. 



Eeturniug to the South, we find that the bulk left Louisiana and 

 Texas about the middle of March; they left latitude 39° the last of 

 March and the first week in April, and latitude 43° about the third week 

 in April. North of this parallel so many Ducks remained to breed that 

 no departures were given. 



In the fall of 1884 the first migrant appeared at Des Moines, Iowa, 

 October 1, and at Emporia, Kans., October 9. At the latter place it had 

 become common by the 25th of October, and was last seen December 1. 



For the spring of 1885 all notes giving the arrival of "Ducks," with no 

 specific name have been brought under this head, as was done in treat- 



