292 



October 18. At Saint Louis, Mo., the first large flocks going south were 

 noted September 9 ; from October 5 to 27 Eobins were numerous ; the 

 last flock was seen October 30, and the last transient November 11. At 

 Bonham, Tex., the first migrant came in October; the next was seen 

 October 28, and they had become common by November. Xone were 

 noted at Gainesville, Tex., until November 11. 



761a. Merula migratoria propinqua Ridgw. [7a.] Western Bobin. 



October 12, 1883, Colonel Goss killed two out of a flock of seven at 

 Wallace, Kans. ; and Mr. Lloyd found a single flock in winter at San 

 Angelo, in southwestern Texas. Mr. Lloyd says they are abundant iu 

 winter west of Tom Green County in Texas. 



766. Sialia sialis (Linu.). [22:] Bluebird. 



The Bluebird breeds from the Gulf of Mexico northward to southern 

 Manitoba. It is another familiar bird whose coming each spriug is 

 eagerly looked for, and whose movements are closely watched through 

 the summer. Over the southern part of the United States his admirers 

 are denied the pleasure of looking for his arrival, for he remains through- 

 out the year. Hardy by nature, and capable of adapting himself to the 

 food of the season, he remains at his post winter and summer. Orni- 

 thologists claim that these winter birds are not the same individuals 

 which are seen in summer, but that the summer birds have moved south- 

 ward and their places have been supplied by arrivals from the north. 

 This of course is generally true, and yet it is also a fact that from lati- 

 tude 37° southward there are occasionally Bluebirds which keep their 

 summer stations all through the winter, and it is not safe to say that 

 none do so even up to latitude 39°. While its winter distribution is 

 quite similar to the Bobin's, and governed likewise by the food supply 

 rather than the temperature, yet the average winter range of the Blue- 

 bird is a little more to the north, and it is as plentiful at latitude 39° as 

 the Bobin is at latitude 37°. Mr. Widmann contributed the following 

 note from Saint Louis, Mo. : 



In rough weather they spend much of the time in their holes, that is, Woodpeckers' 

 holes, which they enlarge for their own use as shelters and roosting places. Novem- 

 ber 30 (1883) I watched a pair, when the female repeatedly eutered the hole, brought 

 out each time a bit of dead wood and reached it to the male, who carried it off a few 

 yards and dropped it. 



It is fair to conclude that this pair intended to pass the winter at that 

 locality. Toward the western part of the Mississippi district the species 

 is not common, giving place to the Bocky Mountain Bluebird (Sialia 

 arctica). It is not abundant much west of longitude 97°. Immense 

 numbers were reported in winter from southwestern Texas ; and these 

 must migrate largely to the northeast. Mr. Lloyd says the species is 

 resident in portions of Ooncho County, Tex. 



Throughout the winter of 18S3-'84 Bluebirds remained at suitable 

 places between latitude 37° and latitude 39°, but were driven from less 

 favorable localities by the severe weather of January 1. They returned 



