The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-28
BIRDS ON THEIR TRAVELS.
some Popular FaIIacies About Nil
grafton Observation-Disclosures Filters
of Great Magnitude.
From the London Mail

of Great Magnitude.
From the London Mail.
The general idea of bird migration
is that of Box and Cox on a gigantic
scale--Box being represented by the
summer visitors and Cox by those
which take their place in Winter. This
notion. however, is only true so far
as it goes.
1t does not represent the whole
truth. For there is scarcely a bird In
Great Britain which is not in the habit
of migrating from time to time. Black
bird. thrushes, robins, wrens titmice.
sparrows even-they are all more or
less restless wanderers on the face of
the earth. Sometimes they merely
travel from one part of the country
to another, as starlings do in immense
abundance. One goes, and another
comes to fill its place. Sometimes they
take a little Continental trip for the
benefit of their health. The kestrel,
for example, likes to spend December
and January in the Riviera. And
throughout the greater part of the
year a double stream of birds which
are not supposed to migrate at all is
perpetually crossing the Channel-one
stream passing from England to France
the other from France to England.
''Ffy-Lines" Through the Air.
Even the weakwinged gold-crests
cross the silver streak" in
thousands, and beat Themselves
to death against lighthouse
windows, very often, on the way.
Larks take the same journey in flights
of incalculable magnitude. No less
than 10000 of these toothsome song
sters have been Melted i'm a single night
on the tiny island of Heligoland, which
lies in their line of passage Jays, too,
assemble from all quarters to fly across
the sea. One would not have thought
that there were half as many jays in
all England as those which Join to-
gether in one of these wonderful flights
How the birds settle on a general rem
devious and a time of starting no one
knows. In some mysterious manner
word is passed round or a wave of
thought transference is circulated, to
the effect that at such date and from
such a place a flock of buntings.
finches. tits, or starlings will fly across
the Channel. And upon the appointed
day, and at the chosen spot, the birds
turn up.
Another old point is that migrating
birds-or, TO speak more strictly, those
which spent the summer I'm one coun-
try and the winter in another-never
fly straight between the two The idea
that cuckoo or a swallow, for in
stance. follows a Decline from village
in Central England to a selected spot
in Markham A frfga fa. u1faooft,or
rect. Migrating birds follow "ny-lines"
through the air-lines which though
not visible TO mortal sight are laid
down with almost the exact precision
of railway lines upon the earth below.
And those "hy-lines' pursue zigzag
course. There is a straight line across
the Channel: then another straight
line in a different direction to some
given point on the Mediterranean coast:
third straight line across that great
inland sea, and a fourth straight line
from the landing-plsce on the African
shore to the final destination in the
interior OF the continent.
A Guide on the Way.
This fact makes the instinct of
migration very much harder 10 COM
prehend. One could understand an in
ward prompting in birds mind. urg-
ing IL 10 fly at certain time OF year
for so many hundreds or thousands OF
miles I'm a certain direction. What one
cannot understand is that even young
birds, which have never taken such a
journey before. should be impelled 10
follow an arbitrary and highly irregu-
lar course. IL Is not as though the older
birds invariably led them. guiding
them by means OF landmarks which
they had noticed In following the
same route half dozen times previous