6 BULLETIN OF THE 
no indication of the birds across Indiana and Ohio they must take a 
hyperlaken route along the north shores of Lake Superior and Huron, 
around the great indentation of Georgian Bay and then south to Lake 
Ontario. This would bring them directly to the Toronto locality where so 
many specimens have been taken. 
From the eastern corner of Georgian Bay there springs a great water 
system, extending down via Lakes Muskoka, Couchaching and Simcoe and 
the Holland, Don and Humber Rivers directly to the city of Toronto, and 
offering what seems, if our present ideas are correct, an ideal migration 
route. That this latter part of the way is a natural highway of communica- 
tion and something more than a chance connection of small streams is evi- 
dent when we remember that it was the old Voyageur and Indian route and 
later the military highway to and from Fort York and the upper posts of the 
Great lakes. 
That Toronto lies right in the path of a strong migratory movement 
no one who has colleted or observed there will doubt. Spring and fall 
there is a great massing of bird life at this point, both of species and 
individuals, that can be explained in no other way. Probably in no 
other like locality can as many birds be seen at times as here, except per- 
haps the classic valley of the Connecticut River. Nor does the line of 
densest population appear very wide. Many birds are common and regular 
on Toronto Island that are rarely met with elsewhere in the Province. 
By this same token it would appear that the route lies directly across 
Lake Ontario from here, for any pronounced movement along the shore 
would have been noted, especially if it led around the most obvious end of 
the lake, viz., the western, for Hamilton has been a well watched station 
for years and from the work of Mr. Thos. MclIlwraith is one of the classic 
spots of Ontario ornithology. 
This slow but steady drift of straggling birds about the north end of 
the larger of the Great Lakes indicates something more than accidental 
wanderings. It points to peculiar conditions that naturally direct these 
forms along such a course. According to a high authority such bodies of 
water should have but a slight effect on the direction of migration, but the 
facts of these cases lead to a different conclusion. It is interesting in this 
connection to observe that with one exception the winter ranges of these 
birds lie entirely within the boundaries of the United States or northern 
Mexico and that on their normal migation no necessity occurs to cross the 
broad waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In the cases of such birds, unaccus- 
tomed to sustained flight across large bodies of water, we can readily under- 
stand why they should hesitate to cross the expanses of the Great Lakes. 
Other species habituated to such passages and perhaps better provided with 
powers and instincts for it would venture boldly across, but none of these 
occur in the above list. The fact is suggestive and it is evident that the 
Great Lakes do form serious deflectors to the current of the migration 
of at least these species. 
I do not think I can be seriously charged with jumping at conclusions 
if I infer from these straggling wanderers a much more pronounced move- 
ment in other forms along the same lines. In fact it appears likely that, 
