A list of numbers and kinds of birds killed is given in Table 1. Discussion of data afforded by certain species for which, large samples were available will be found below. There are additionally certain data afforded by the sample and certain comments to be made on various species which can be handled most conveniently in an annotated list. In this list we have included all weight data (still scarce for many North American birds), comments on status in Kansas of various species, results of comparisons to determine subspecies, and miscellaneous observations. Weights of birds are given in grams and were taken on a triple-beam balance. Fat condition is given in the scale proposed by McCabe (1943:556). Weight data from birds migrating at night should be especially useful because these migrants all have relatively empty crops and stomachs, thus reducing variability. Not all birds were suitable for weighing and measuring, for a variety of reasons. This accounts for discrepancies in totals between Table 1 and the annotated list.
All passerine species were aged by noting the degree of ossification of the skull. In no case, of the more than a thousand passerines aged by examination of the skull, did we find difficulty in determining whether an individual was a bird of the year or an adult. We found no specimens in which ossification of the skull was nearing completion. In the several species in our sample with distinctive first-winter plumages, we found complete agreement in age as shown by plumage and by condition of the skull. We think this is further proof, if such is needed, that this method of aging is thoroughly reliable in early autumn for the passerine species included in our sample and for others with similar breeding seasons.
Table 1.—Birds Killed at a Television Tower at Topeka, Kansas, in 1954
See annotated list for division into sex- and age-classes. Where discrepancies exist between totals given here and totals given in the annotated list, these result from the fact that some specimens could not be sexed and aged.
| Sept. 25 | Oct. 1 | Oct. 3 | Oct. 4 | Oct. 5 | Oct. 6 | Oct. 7 | Oct. 8 | Oct. 9 | Oct. 10 | Oct. 23 | Totals | |
| Pied-billed Grebe | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Green Heron | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Blue-winged Teal | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | ||||||||
| Virginia Rail | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| Sora | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||||||
| American Coot | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Mourning Dove | 8 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||
| Yellow-billed Cuckoo | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Black-billed Cuckoo | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Yellow-shafted Flicker | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Yellow-bellied Flycatcher | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| House Wren | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||
| Long-billed Marsh Wren | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Short-billed Marsh Wren | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
| Catbird | 1 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 43 | |||||
| Brown Thrasher | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Wood Thrush | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Hermit Thrush | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Olive-backed Thrush | 14 | 1 | 1 | 16 | ||||||||
| Golden-crowned Kinglet | 1 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |||||
| Yellow-throated Vireo | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Blue-headed Vireo | 1 | 19 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 40 | |||
| Red-eyed Vireo | 18 | 36 | 2 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 75 | ||||
| Philadelphia Vireo | 3 | 9 | 12 | |||||||||
| Warbling Vireo | 8 | 19 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 34 | |||||
| Black and White Warbler | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | ||||||||
| Tennessee Warbler | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |||||||
| Orange-crowned Warbler | 7 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 19 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 52 | |||
| Nashville Warbler | 7 | 94 | 4 | 3 | 39 | 27 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 181 | ||
| Parula Warbler | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Yellow Warbler | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |||||||
| Magnolia Warbler | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Black-throated Blue Warbler | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Myrtle Warbler | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Black-throated Green Warbler | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Chestnut-sided Warbler | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Bay-breasted Warbler | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Palm Warbler | 3 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| Oven-bird | 4 | 21 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 32 | |||||
| Northern Water-thrush | 5 | 1 | 6 | |||||||||
| Mourning Warbler | 15 | 64 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 95 | |||||
| Yellow-throat | 10 | 115 | 2 | 4 | 25 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 176 | |||
| Yellow-breasted Chat | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Wilson Warbler | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||||
| Canada Warbler | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| American Redstart | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Bobolink | 4 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Rose-breasted Grosbeak | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Indigo Bunting | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||||||
| Dickcissel | 31 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 36 | |||||||
| Savannah Sparrow | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 16 | ||||
| Grasshopper Sparrow | 7 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 18 | ||||
| Leconte Sparrow | 3 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Sharp-tailed Sparrow | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Slate-colored Junco | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Clay-colored Sparrow | 11 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 15 | |||||||
| Fox Sparrow | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Lincoln Sparrow | 41 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 82 | ||||
| Swamp Sparrow | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
| Song Sparrow | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Total—species | 22 | 41 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 31 | 29 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 61 |
| Total—individuals | 94 | 585 | 16 | 3 | 26 | 146 | 147 | 31 | 10 | 8 | 24 | 1090 |
The annotated list may be consulted for further data in connection with the species listed in Table 1. As is indicated below, we regard the figures of this sample as unreliable to an unknown degree in comparing the relative abundance of one species with another. Accumulation of such data from various localities, however, should prove useful in another type of comparison. Samples of the same species killed in the same way at about the same time at different localities should be directly comparable. Eventually, this should provide us with a means of determining relative abundance of a species in different parts of its migratory route.
Approximately 200 of the most interesting specimens were preserved as study skins and are in the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History. An effort was made to preserve at least one of each species, and we fell only a few short of this goal. All of the forms rare in Kansas are represented by skins. We could see no reason to list the preserved specimens in detail here. Species of which no study skins were made, however, are so marked.
So far as we can tell, no truly western subspecies (from west of the Great Plains) occurred in the Topeka sample. Probably most or all of the birds came from areas more or less directly north of eastern Kansas.
In critical areas where different subspecies of the same species occur together in migration, data from samples of this kind should prove enlightening. In future analyses, conducted in such areas, it might be possible to preserve all specimens of some of the variable species, or at least to measure all individuals of species in which size is the most important variable character. Quantitative study could then be made of the different geographic variants occurring, their proportions in the migrant population determined, and their origins deduced. In studying populations of Painted Buntings (Passerina ciris) wintering in Mexico, Storer (1951) has provided an interesting demonstration of methods which can be applied to such samples.