The Connecticut Valley--A Highway for Bird Migration

256 •A•, TheConnecticut Valley. [AAp•rril 2. An Adriatic-Tunisian route, along the coastsof the Adri- atic, Sicily to Tunis. ByLaridae (Larusridibundus); Scolopacidae; Gruidae;many small songbirds. 3. An Italian-Spanish route from Austria-Hungary via North Italy, Po Valley to Corsica,Sardinia, Baleuric Islands to South France and Spain:By Larldae; Charadriidae;Scolopacidae, etc. From 1903-1919, 7,778 birds were banded at Rossitten and, besides 123,569 bands were distributed to outsiders. Of these 7,778 banded birds, 2,011 have been accountedfor by reports received at the station. Observationsnow extending over 19 years have provedconclusively, that bandingis not injuriousto the birds and that it doesnot disturb or changetheir habits. All attacks made upon scienceby over-conscientiousbird protectors have been disprovenas based either upon misapprehensionor upon wilful misrepresentation. Berlin, Germany THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY--A HIG/-15VAY FOR BIRD MIGRATION. 1 BY AARON C. BAGG. Plates. XVI-XVII TrtAILSare perpetuallyfascinating. From the dawn of history the wanderingsof men and later, certain of their trade routes continuallyattract our attention. Justhow a groupbecame established in a given locality; by what route various hordespoured over a mountain-barrieror acrossa body of water; why another tribe did not remainsettled or stationarybut persistedin continual travel--all theseare problemswhich the studentof history likes to puzzleover. Soin the studyof ornithologythe routestraversed by birds of passageequally charm the studentor the layman. Long beforewhite men bravedthe mad Atlantic to explorea new world or the warriors of the Six Nations established the now • Paper read before the Allen Bird Club of Springfield, Mass., Feb. 6, 1922. My grateful acknowledgments are due Mr. J. A. Farley for his painstaking re- vision of this paper and for a number of contributions in data. A.C.B. Vol.1923 XI,']J BAGG,The Connecticut Valtey. 257 famousMohawk Trail into the ConnecticutValley; yes, prior to the time that the Abenaquisfirst descendedthe Valley from Mem- phremagogand the headwatersof the river to its mouthfor their winter'ssupply of pe•nmican,this Valley, like others,was used for centuries,if not ages,by the birds in their annual springinvasion and autumnexodus. The origin and causeof this habit of regular advanceand retreat was alwaysin the past an unsolvedmystery. Consensusof opiniontoday, however,points to the Great Ice- Sheet,or better to the declineof the age of Ice, as being largely instrmnentalin bringingabout this remarkableand regularphe- no•nenon. Bird migration is now authoritatively consideredto have begunby only short changesof location,corresponding to the first slight recessionsof the ice cap from which must have co•ne benefit in some form. So migration became gradually a habit; and more gradually still, the range lengthenedwith the shrinkageof the ice-sheetuntil the present migration routes have resultedfrom what the late W. W. Cookeof the Biological Surveycalls: "the innumerableexperiments as to the bestway to travel from the winter to the summer home and return." The threechief routes of North Americanbird migrationare the eastern and the westerncoastal plains, and that great jugular vein of our continent, the "Father of •Vaters." The Atlantic coast-lineis a "short-cut" to the greatest breedingground of the continent. Crossingor encirclingthe Gulf of Mexico, the main northward flight followsthe seaboardas far as Long Island. Here a triple divisionoccurs; one group of birdssweeps up the Hudson,another crosse•'•the ,Soundand ascendsthe ConnecticutValley, while the relnaindercontinues on up the coast. It is with the secondof theseroutes that our subject deals. The ConnecticutRiver, rising near the watersheddividing Canadafrom northernNew Hampshireand runningfor muchof its lengthin a generalsoutherly direction, furnishes the mostdirect and easily followedroute for birds into easternCanada. The river includingthe lakes,extends 360 milesto the sea,and is, thus the principalwaterway of New England. Its old Indian name means"Long River." As the bird flies,the routewould probably be closeto 300 miles. A natural basin among heavily wooded hills and mountainsof the ancientAppalachian system gives birth 258 •3•,oo,The Connecticut Valley. [April to this famousriver. Dashingmountain streams in the northern- most cornerof New Hampshireand lessthan one-halfmile from the Canadianborder, convergeinto Fourth Lake, a limpid mountain-pool,the uppermostof the quartetknown as the Connecticut Lakes. It coversbut a few squareacres at an altitude of nearly 2500 feet, and is within a few score feet of the summit of Prospect. Still within half a mile of the border the outlet of Fourth Lake entem Third Lake at an altitude somewhat over 2000 feet. This lake has an area of three-fourths of a square mile and like the Fourth Lake is set in a densemixed forest, made up for the most part of small spruceand fir. SecondLake is reachedsix and one-half miles below Third lmke by meansof a fair-sizedstream, which having gone five miles.is joined by a streamequal in size,coming in anotherdirection from the Canadian border. The Lakes increase in size and decrease in altitude as we proceed. SecondLake is two and three-fourthsmiles long by a mile or morewide at onepoint, and is more than a thousandfeet lower than Third Lake. Four miles further south and the First or "ConnecticutLake" is reached,the largest of all and the body of water from whichour river directly flows. This Lake is 1680 feet above sea-level,covers nearly three square miles and measuresfour mileslong by two and three-fourthsmiles in extreme width. The surroundinghills are coveredwith deciduoustrees, sprinkledhere and therewith evergreen;but the fieldsadjoining the Lake and for a considerabledistance back have long since been cleared and summer cottagesare becomingmore and more nu- merous. Regardingthis country, Mr. CharlesL. Whittle, the geologist,after visitingthe Lake regionin 1918says:'"In the matter of the generalcharacter of the coontry outsidethe zones surroundingthe ConnecticutLakes, I will state that with the ex- ceptionof a few squaremiles of farming land about First Lake and stretchingsouthwest to Canaan,Vermont, along the roads, the entire countryis an nn13rokenwilderness covered in the main by a virgin forestof deciduoustrees from which nearly all the conifershave beenremoved by the lumberman." With a rapid, sizablecurrent the river leavesConnecticut Lake and continuesswiftly for two or threemiles with an averagewidth of 90 feet. Severalotherstreams meantime contriLute their quotas. ¾oi.1923 XL'IJ BAGG•, The Connecticut Valley. 259 Eighteenmiles from First Lake the river comesto the dividing line of Canada,New Hampshireand Vermontand in this distance descends 583 feet. It is now 1035 feet above sea-level. For the next 50 milesthe drop is but 204 feet. Toward the end of this lap the proximityof theWhite Mountainspushes the river twentymiles to the ;vest to where it joins the Passumpsicriver, a good-sized tributary comingdown from the regionof Willoughbylake to the north in Vermont. From this janetion to the Massachusettsline it is 118 miles as the crow fliesand 137 milesfollowing the course of the river. The descentis about two feet per mile. The Valley takes on now its characteristicappearance of a seriesof terraces. In the river bottom the rich soilsnourish the prosperousfarms all the way along, and with each successiveterrace, sometimesfive in number, fertility givesplace to outcropsof variousrock-forma- tionsor to remnantsof ancientflood-plains which the glacialriver overflowedeach year. The highestterrace may rise as much as 200 feet, above the river. Where the Valley is narrow, as for muchof its lengthon the line of cleavagebetween New Hampshire and Vermont, the terracesrise closeand steep;for the river is not as yet the broad tortuouscurrent that it becomesthrough Massa- chusettsand much of Connecticut. Contributing streamsenter all along the way and here and there mountain peaksstand guard. East of Haverhill, New Hampshire, towers Moosilauke,4790 feet abovethe sea,the outpostof the southwestextension of the White Mountains. Not far to the south in Orford is Mt. Cube, 2927 feet above the sea, while farther down on the Vermont side lies Mr. Ascutney3168 feet, the highestelevation lying wholly within the Valley. At White River Junction enters White River the largest stream in Vermont east of the Green Mountains, while in the next twenty-five miles a half-dozenmore tributaries join. Again the hills convergeand hem in the river until at Bellows Falls it becomesa foamingtorrent, the steephills on either side rising to 1200 feet above sea-level. During the seventeen-mile run to Brattleboro, Vt., the river again broadensout and becomes placidand two tributariesjoin. Twenty milesaway on the eastern edg• of the Valley, Monadnoeklifts his head to a height of more than 3000 feet. The Ashuelot,last of the Nev½Hampshire rivers, enters the Connecticut within four miles of the Massachusetts 260 B•, TheConnec•icug Valley. [AA7il border. At this junction the river has already come208 miles with a descentof 1412 feet, but is yet 206 feet above the sea and has 152 miles to go before entering Long Island Sound. Its total length in New Hampshirefollowing all bendsand turns is approximately236 miles,but as the bird flies it is not more than two hundred miles. Acrossthe fifty-mile extent of Massachusettsthe Valley varies in width, but averagesabout twenty miles. At the southernend,

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