ORNITHOLOGIST
—AND—
OÖLOGIST.
| $1.00 per | Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. | Single Copy |
| Annum. | Established, March, 1875. | 10 Cents. |
| VOL. VIII. | BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1883. | No. 11. |
Mississippi Valley Migration.
Note.—The stations and observers, to which these numbersrefer, are given in the O. and O. for April.
A group of entirely different habits andof comparatively rare occurrence is composedof the Cape May Warbler, (P. tigrina,)Bay-breasted Warbler, (D. castanea,)and the Connecticut Warbler, (O. agilis.)These all leave the United States to winter,and pass entirely beyond it to breed;at least, we know the first two do so, andit is generally supposed that the last doesalso, although its nest and eggs have neveryet been found. No. (30) was the onlyobserver who saw the first two, and hefound the Cape May Warbler on the 2d ofMay, and the Bay-breasted for the firsttime May 3d, and the last time both maleand female were seen on the 21st of thatmonth. Both (30) and (52) observed theConnecticut Warbler, which is the rarestregular migrant in the Mississippi Valley,during the Spring, and on the Fall returnseems to shun its Spring course and passessouthward through New England. No.(30) saw it on 5-14, 5-18 and the last one5-24, while (52) procured his first specimen5-26, and saw it three times afterward,the last being 5-29. Different inhabits from the rest of their Warblerbrethren are the Warbler Thrushes, theGolden-crowned Thrush, or Oven-bird, (S.auricapillus,) the Small-billed WaterThrush, (S. nævius,) and the Large-billedWater Thrush, (S. motacilla.) Their rangesdiffer widely. The bulk of all of themwinter beyond our limits, though a few ofthe first remain in Florida, and numbers ofthe second are scattered over all the SouthernStates and occasionally as far north asSouthern Illinois. But while the first twobreed over all the Mississippi Valley, thelast breeds regularly only to Middle andNorthern Illinois and sometimes as farnorth as Southern Minnesota. The firstGolden-crowns reached (30) 4-17, andpassing north with medium speed (38)found them about 4-26, (52) 4-28, and (51)on 5-5, while farther west, like the otherWarblers, they were somewhat later, appearingat (21) on 5-5, and (45) on 5-6.No. (30) found a nest 5-15, with threeeggs and a Cowbird’s, while only threedays before they were just beginning to becommon at (52), and the height of the seasonwas not until 5-19. The Large-billedwas the earliest of the three to migrate,arriving at Southern and Central Illinoisabout the 10th of April, and at (21) on the14th, but after that, moving rather slowly,reached its usual northern limit at (41) on5-10. It will be convenient to study fivemore Warblers together, no