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A study of these facts indicates the existence of northern and southern populations of the same species that have quite different migration schedules. In fall, migratory populations that nest farthest south migrate first to the winter range because they finish nesting first. For example, the breeding range of the black-and-white warbler covers much of the eastern United States and southern Canada northwest through the prairies to Great Bear Lake in Canada (Fig. 1.). It spends the winter in southern Florida, the West Indies, southern and eastern Mexico, Central America, and northwestern South America. In the southern part of its breeding range, it nests in April, but those summering in New Brunswick do not reach their nesting grounds before the middle of May. (Lines that connect points where birds arrive at the same line are called isochronal lines. Fig. 2.) Therefore, if 50 days are required to cross the breeding range, and if 60 days are allowed for reproductive activities and molting, they would not be ready to start southward before the middle of July. Then with a return 50-day trip south, the earliest migrants from the northern areas would reach the Gulf Coast in September. Since adults and young have been observed on the northern coast of South America by August 21, it is very likely that they must have come from the southern part of the nesting area.

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