Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-10-16
THE mIGRaTEoN OF BIRDS
An Obscure Geological Question
Remarkable SSyiftaess OF Birds Oh
the Wing.


ls.oudon Standard
Familiar as tAtS migration OF birds Is to US
there Is, perhaps, no question in Zoology NOR
obscure. The long flights they take and the
unerrlng Certainty with which they wing Their
way between the most distant places. arriving
and departing at the same period year after
year, are points IN the history or birds OF pa
sage as mysterious as they are interesting. We
know that most migrants fly after sundo w.
though many OF them select moonlight night
to cross the Mediterranean But that their me-
neurological instinct Is not unerrlng is proved
by the fact that Thousands are every year
drowned in their Hight over the Atlantic and
other oceans Northern Africa and Western
Asia are se'ected as winter quarters By most OF
them. and they may be often noticed On their
way thi- :er TO hang over towns at night p;Iz-
zled In spite OF their experience, by the shifting
lights OF the streets and h0lsaS. The swallow
or the nightingale may sometimes be delayed
by unexpected circumstances. Yet it is rarely
that they arrive or depart many days sooner or
later, one year with another. Professor New
ton considered that were Sea-fowl satellites
revolving round the earth their arrival could
hardly be more surely calculated by an aStrOa-
omer. Foul weather or far, heat or cold the
puffins repair 70 some OF their stations punctu-
ally Oh given day. as II their movements were
regulated by clCck-work. The s%lftneSS OF
flight which charactertzeS most birds enables
them TO cover vast space Ia a brief time. The
common black swift can tly 2.6 miles an hour
q speed Which, II 1t could De maintained for less
than half 2 day, would carry the bird from its
WinteT-to It's summer quarters. The large pur-
pie swift OK America Is capable or even greater
it3tS on Ihc wing. The chlGney swallow is
slower-90 miles per hour being about the limits
OF It's powers; but the passenger pigeon
OF the Cnlted states can accomplish a
journey OF 1.0O0 miles between sunrise
ara sunset. II IS also true as the ingenious
Herr Palmer has attempted 70 show that mi.
grants during their long flights may be directed
By an experience partly Inherit ID aid partly
acquired BY the Individual bird. They often
follow the coast Ines OF continents and inva
riably take, on their passage over the Meiiter-
fanean, one or three roIiteS. Bat this theory
VIII not explain how they pilot themselves
across broad oceans, and is inyalIiated OF the
TACT, familiar to every orr thoiOgiSt. that the
Old and young BIRDS DO not Journey IN CON-
pany. Invariably, the young broods travel to-
SeJher; then come after an interval, the pa
rents; and, finally, the rear Is brought up by
lEe weakly. iniirIn, molting and broken Inged
InlS Is the rule IN autumn. The return Jour
ney Is accomplished In the reverse order The
distance travelled seems, moreover. to have no
relation 10 the size OF the traveller. The SSei-
Eh blue-throat performs its maternal functions
among the Laps, and enjoys its winter holiday
among the negroes OF the SOudan, While the
tiny. ruby-thToated humping bird proceeds an
nuaily from Mexico TO Newfoundland and back
again, though one would imagine that 80 dell
cate little fairy would be more at home
among the cdct1 aud agayeS OF the TERRA Ca
hente than among the frs and fogs OF the
north.