The daily gazette., 1880-10-16
the MIGRATION OF BIRDS.
REMARK aBLE swIFrSEss of BIRDs ON

REMARK SBLs swIFTNEss of BIRDs ON
THE WING.
The London Standard in a recent is
sue says: Familiar ~ this migration of
birds IN To US, tbere ID, perhaps, no ques-
ton In zoology more obscure, The long
Il & IT. TT y take, aId thu unerring GER
o.. t .in,y With which th wing their
way between The most distant placer,
q riviDg aid departing at the same
p ri II yeir rfter yea aru points In the
Story of birds 4 passage al mysIt r.Ous
q they are interesting. We know that
most niigraH.s fly after ~ down,
tuoigh niaHy of them select q moor
light night 20 cross the NJ edit-ranean -
But that their meteoro logical instinct liz
not unerriug IL proved Ivy the Tact that
their H. ght over hs Atlantic aud other
ooeaDs' Northern Africa aud Western
Asia are selected ss winter quarters by
most Uf them, aud they may be often
noticed GU their way thiiher to hang
Yer town at night, pazzled, III spite of
tn 'ir experiences, by the shf,ing lights
:" the streets and houses. Tue swallow
or the nightingale may sumeSim,s be de-
10 ell nv unexpected circunstai ces.-
Yet 1t rarely happens that they arrive
or IL pat many days sooner or later one
sidered that we SCI fowl sat ties re-
vo wing around the earth their arriva.
ebuld rrdly be more surely calculated
BY an astrono Ell. Foul weather or fair,
heat OF colii' the plfii us repair 10 some
OF their statiOus punctuallv on a given
day, a. II their movements were reSu-
lated BY clock-wOrk. The swiitness OF
Il ght which characteiiz-s most birds
-nabl them 10 cover vast space In a
brief time. The common black swim
can fl. 276 miles an hour, a speed, which
II 1t could be 10 obtained for less than
halt a dav, would carry the bird from
from its winter TO It's summer qnar'ers
The large purple swift OF America IL
c.pabls Of even greater feats on the
wing. The chimney-swall0w Is slower
80 miles an hour being about .he limit
OF its powers; nut the passenger pigeon
OF the I'm te States can accomplish h
Jo0rney nf ], 900 miles between sunrise
ami suo.et. It. is also true, as the inge
NOUS Herr Palmer has attempted to
show, that migrants during their long
high.s may be directed by an experience
party ,nherl,et aod partly acquired by
the individual bird. They often follow
the coastlines OF continents, and iDvari-
Mediterranean, one Of three routes.-
Butthis theory will not explain how
they pilot tbeD.selv across brOud
oceans, and is invalida'ed by the fact,
familiar 10 every ornithologist, that the
old amt young birds do not journey In
company. Invariably, the yoaog bI GODS
travel together, linen come, AFTER AN IN
'erval the parents, ami finally The rear
Is OiouPht up BY tho weakly, infrm,
Drilling, and brokeL-wibged. This is
tha rul, 10 aItumn. ibe return journey
Is acc 'mph he'd In tie reverse order
The "a tAtc Travelled seems, moreover,
to have no relation to the sIz of the
'ravele-. The Swedish blue throat per-
forms its maternal Lotions amoag The
Laps and enJoya its winter holiday
amODg the DeIroes Of The Soudau, y lille
The my ruby-throa' ed humming bird
lrocrels annually from Mtx'c, to New
ouud aud and back again, though one
wOuii ImagiLe thar 30 Gehoate a little
fairy would he more al home among tbe
cAcii and agsvss of the TERRA Callente
than among the frs and fogo Of the
North.