Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/831

Rh early April. The record for 1884 shows that it appeared at Rodney, Mississippi, April 7th; at Oxford, April 15th; at Anna, Illinois, April 18th; at St. Louis, April 19th; at Glasgow, Missouri, April 23d; Jacksonville, Illinois, April 27th; Liter, Illinois, and Coralville, Iowa, May 2d; Des Moines, May 4th; Racine and Jefferson, Wisconsin, May 6th; Pine Bend, Minnesota, May 13th; Elk River, May 14th; and Oak Point, Manitoba, May 25th. East of the Mississippi, the record shows that it appeared in Jessamine County, Kentucky, April 18th; at Bloomington, Indiana, April 21st; at Camden, April 24th; Petersburg, Michigan, April 30th; Battle Creek, May 1st; Sing Sing, New York, May 2d; Lockport, May 4th; Painted Rock, May 5th; Locust Grove and Auburn, May 6th; Watertown, May 11th; Lake George, May 13th; Brewer, Maine, May 16th; and Montreal, Canada, May 24th.

The average rate of speed from Rodney to St. Louis was twenty-five miles per day, while the average daily rate for the entire distance—Rodney to Oak Point—was twenty-seven miles. The species seemed to move in greatest numbers about April 29th and 30th, filling up the whole country already reached by the vanguard.

The various reports show that the rate was remarkably uniform throughout the thirteen hundred miles, and that, though it increased very slightly to the northward, it nowhere varied greatly from the average rate—twenty-seven miles per day.

This bird is also very regular as to the time of its arrival at any given place from year to year. For the last four years the first arrivals have been seen here (Bloomington, Indiana) on April 20th, 21st, 20th and 21st. At Camden, one hundred miles north of this place, April 28th, 24th, 21st, 24th, and 25th, are the dates for the last five years. At Locke, Michigan, the record for twenty-five years (from 1856 to 1880), gives April 28th as the earliest date, and May 11th as the latest. The average date for the twenty-five years was May 5th, and it is interesting to know that this average date, May 5th, is the date upon which the first arrivals were seen for six of the twenty-five years. But the oriole is a late migrant, and therefore not so greatly influenced in its movements by the weather as are many other species. The late migrants, those which do not begin their northward flight until the weather has become in a measure settled, have been found to be the most regular in their movements. The early migrants are the ones which advance or retreat as the weather favors or prevents. The swallows and martins are excellent examples of this class, and their wide range has enabled them to be studied more, perhaps, than any other birds. As Dr. Coues has said, they are thoroughly cosmopolitan; their northward range reaches into the Arctic zone, and in the South the explorer has never gone so far that he did not find the swallows there. Insectivorous as to food, they must of necessity move with the appearance of insect-life, while their recession from