293 



with the first warm wave the last of the month, and by February 1 the 

 van approximated quite closely to the parallel of 39°. Here it came'to 

 a full stop, and made no advance until March 9. There were only five 

 records of Bluebirds north of latitude 39° before March 9, and all these 

 were from stations near large rivers. Starting- then at latitude 39° on 

 March 9, when the warm south wind was felt, the Bluebirds practically 

 completed their migration before the 1st of April. To be sure, a few 

 individuals were moving north during April and May, but the great 

 bulk of the species stopped between latitude 45° and latitude 46°, 

 and those which went farther north might almost be called stragglers. 

 The impetuosity of their migration was checked^ and they moved in 

 small companies, seldom of more than a pair or two, slowly idling along 

 as if undecided where to stop. During March their progress was as 

 follows: By March 16 they had reached latitude 42°, by March 22 lati- 

 tude 43° 30', and by March 24 latitude 45°. There is no plainer and 

 better attested record concerning any bird than that of the arrival of the 

 Bluebird, March 24, all along the forty-fifth parallel in Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota. A great change now took place in their speed. They were 

 two months and a day in passing from latitude 45° to latitude 47°. 

 They did not appear at Frazee City, Minn. (lat. 46° 33'), until May 25j 

 nor was the record accidental, since the same observation has been sev- 

 eral times recorded in former years. May 29 a pair of stragglers arrived 

 at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, the first Mr. Nash had ever seen in the 

 province. They remained, and at last accounts were breeding. This 

 is one of the most northern records for the species. Mr. Seton (now 

 Thompson) states that it is rare in Manitoba, but most common in the 

 region about Winnipeg* 



Again, as in the case of the Eobin, the extreme western records are 

 found to be much later than the eastern. At Ellis (lat. 38° 55'), just 

 west of Manhattan, Kans. (where the species wintered abundantly), 

 none were seen until March 19; and at' Vermillion, Dak. (lat. 42° 56'), 

 they did not arrive until March 29. The bulk followed the first very 

 closely, and in but one or two cases was its arrival more than three or 

 four days later. 



In the fall of 1884 at Elk Eiver, Minn., the departure of the bulk and 

 the last of the Bluebirds was recorded October 10; and at Des Moines, 

 Iowa, October 25. At Mount Oarmel, Mo., the last was seen October 28. 



In the spring of 1885 a set of notes was received from about latitude 

 37°, which can be regarded as indicating either winter residence or very 

 early spring migration. These refer to the presence of Bluebirds dur- 

 ing the first week in February in Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. A 

 little" farther north, at Odin, 111., one was seen February 7. If these 

 records indicate migration, it was at a standstill during the next three 

 weeks, since no other evidence of movement was reported until the last; 

 two days of the month. 



The balk of males came to Saiut Louis February 28, closely following 



