ORNITHOLOGIST [Vol. 10-No. 5 
when the most rigorous weather prevailed, while at 
the same time the reported presence of Snowy Owls 
birds have only appeared in the County two 
years in my experience. Perhaps they often ap- 
pear as transients in severe seasons, when they 
hasten by us and are not seen. I can hardly al- 
low, however, that either this species or the Pine 
is driven to the south by the severity of the 
weather. For if this is a fact, it would be reason- 
able to expect other northern birds in numbers 
during the same cold weather, a conclusion 
which is quite at variance with my observations 
on our Winter visitors. During the years that 
the Evening Grosbeak appeared, there was 
nothing to indicate that the Pine Grosbeaks were 
driven south by the cold weather. In fact, no 
specimens of enucleator had been seen for the past 
four seasons, nor since then, now ten years. 
Neither has it been proven that Snowy Owls, 
Bohemian Wax-wings or other rare stragglers 
are more abundant during the season when some 
other Winter visitors appear as common. 
It may be maintained that the scarcity of food 
is the prime cause of the movements of these 
northern forms. Such a conclusion is even less 
tenable than the view of those advancing severity 
of the weather as the chief reason. If scarcity 
of food caused the birds to seek more southern 
sections, we might reasonably infer that the Pine 
and Evening Grosbeaks would appear simulta- 
neously, as the habits of the two are similar, both 
feeding on the same varieties of berries and buds 
while here. This is shown not to be the case. 
Again, what reason is there to prove that the 
Hawk Owl, Snowy Owl and Gyrfalcon, which 
are seen in our southern counties during different 
Winters, are driven here by scarcity of food? 
We must feel satisfied that the same amount of 
animal food is found in the north as in other 
Winters, if it were not so, a replenishing of the 
country occupied by the carnivorous birds could 
not possibly take place within one year, and 
from necessity they would appear the following 
season, a point which is not substantiated. 
It is also reasonable to conclude that in case of 
scarcity of food the birds would visit other sec- 
tions where the trees from which they feed, or 
the small mammals and birds on which they feed, 
were found, and not to* more southern haunts 
where a change of faunae and florae would occur. 
In this light we might with equal propriety con- 
clude that the Owls would seek more northern 
quarters, or at least localities situated within 
isothermal boundaries. As a very conclusive 
proof that the scarcity of food theory is not firmly 
founded, I might call to the minds of the readers 
of the “ O. and O.” a certain work on arctic ex- 
plorations — reference not now at hand— in which 
Snowy Owls are recorded repeatedly during the so- 
journ of a party in the extreme north, and at a time 
within not only the U. S., but in Michigan was 
heralded in daily papers as a conclusive proof of 
the severe weather throughout the country. 
I have diverged from my regular routine in 
order to discuss this much talked of and less un- 
derstood subject, and trust that in so doing some 
readers may be interested to the extent of cai e- 
fully noting the appearances of our northern vis- 
itors with careful remarks on correlative condi- 
tion of weather, food, &c. The subject of migra- 
tion is so little understood, that, notwithstanding 
the great strides towards the elucidation of the 
main points in the last few years, there still is a 
wide field open to the close observer. At present 
we are fairly acquainted with the migrations of 
those species which come to us in the Spring and 
return to the south in the Fall, but in the rarer 
species constant variations are recorded by vari- 
ous observers in different parts of the country. 
These apparent variations are to my mind entirely 
due to the fact that the birds are little known, 
and therefore not accurately recorded, and it is 
my opinion founded entirely on theory and my 
own observations, that the irregular migrations 
of many northern birds are generally seasonal, 
and not in any wise due to either severity of the 
weather or scarcity of food. 
The fact that many species leave us for the 
south every Autumn is not by any means a nec- 
essary result of our rigorous Winters. On the 
contrary, comparatively few of our Summer 
birds would have to go south from inability to 
withstand our severe weather. A good illustra- 
tion of the ability of a more southern bird to 
live in our climate during the Winter months, 
was furnished a few seasons ago when an escaped 
Redbird, ( 0 . vwginianus), was found to live with 
apparent comfort throughout a severe Winter. It 
sang cheerily and fed on the buds and seeds a’s if 
born in the grove of evergreens which it selected 
for its northern home. No instance of a capture 
of a wild Cardinal Grosbeak in our county has 
ever taken place. 
We think that migrations occur each year 
among the northern birds, and that various lo- 
calities are visited different seasons. It is proba- 
bly as fair to credit the Northern Grosbeaks, 
Redpolls, Snow Buntings and Owls with seasonal 
migrations as it is to admit of the uncertain 
changes of the erratic Red-bellied Nuthatch, 
Robin and many others. It is reasonable to sup- 
pose that the Evening Grosbeak is a common 
bird at least, half the Winters, on the northern 
borders of Lake Superior, while it is a rare visitor 
to our southern counties, simply because it is a 
species of the extreme north, and not in the habit 
of migrating south of 45° north lat. 
Q.& O. X, May. 1886. p. 6 f~ *70. 
