The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-04-01
WHO GUIDES THE BIRDS?

Familiar as the migration of birds is
To Ms. there is perhaps II" question i'll
znringy uor; obscure. the long flights
they take. and the unerlinG certainty
with which the. wing their way be-
twcr', the m.-, q. t"M places, arriving
atI drphrtir., al the same period. year
after Year. alc points HI the history OF
birds OF passage as mysterious a. they
migrants fly after shutdown, though
many of them select a moonlight to
crn>S the Mediterranean. But that their
meteorological instinct j, not uutrriD., is
proved by the fact that thousands are
every year drowned in their flight over
the Atlantic and other oceans. North
ern Africa and Western Asia are selec-
ted as winter quarters by most OF them,
and they may often be noticed on their
way thIther to hang over Il town at
II ght, puzzled in spite of their eXper-
fence by the shifting and shnin. lights
of the streets and houses. The swallow
may sometimes be delayed by unexpec-
ted circumstances: yet it is rarely that it
arrives or departs many days sooner or
LATER one year after another. Prof.
Newton considered that were scatowl
satellites revolving round the earth,
their arrival could hardly be more surely
calculated by an astronomer. Foul
weather or fair. hot OF cold. the putlins
repair to some Of their stations punctu-
ally on given days as if their movements
were regulated by clockwork. The
swiftness of flight which charactcrizos
most birds enables them to cover a vast
space i'll 4 short time. The common
black swift can fly 2I6 miles an hour-a
speed which, if it could be maintained
for less than half a day, would carry the
bird from its winter to its summer quar-
tiers. The large purple swift of America
is capable of even greater feats on the
wing. The chimney swallow is slower
eighty miles an hour being about the
limit OF its power-but the passenger
pigeon of the United States can accom-
plish Il journey OF one thousand miles
between sunrise and sunset. 1t is also
true. as the ingenious Herr Palman has
attempted to show, that migrants. dur-
ing their flights, may be directed by an
experience partly inherited aud partly
acquired by the indl idual bird They
often follow the coast line OF continents,
aud invariably take, on their passage
over the Mediterranean, one of three
routes. Bat this theory Will not explain
how they plotted themselves over broad
oceans, and is invalidated by the tact,
familiar to every ornithologiSt. that the
old and youn.. do not j"urney in eompa-
ny. Invariably the Aonng bro"lS travel
together: then come. after intervals. the
parents. and finally the rear is brought
up by the weakly. the intirm, the mo-
ting. and the brokcu-winged. This is
the rule in autumn. The return journey
is ace ,mplshed in the reverse order
Tie distance travelled seems moreover
to have no relation to the size OF the
traveller The Swedish buethroat per-
forms its maternal functions among the
L,is, and enjoys its winter holiday |
among the ne .,rocs of the Soudan. while |
the tiny lrby -throated hummng bind |
proceed annually from Mexico to New |
foundland and back again, though one
would imagine that s, delicate Il little |
I l. l. Il
e,cti and agayes of the TERRA Caienthe
tn IN among the iirS and fogs Of the |
North.