Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-05-17
THE TRAVELLING BIRD
PULLING PERFORMANCE OF THE
RED EYED WERo.

Five Months Out Of Every YeaRf
A man who travels 10000 miles In q
year Is counted q "globe trotter" Of un-
usual energy. But our common night
hawk, that every American boy and
girl knows, thinks nothing Of having
summer home up in Alaska and win
ter resort in Argentina and travelling
the 1000 miles between twice year.
Its annual trip often covers 116 de-
grees Of latitude.
And some of our shore birds. o gov
eminent naturalist tells US, are stu
more inveterate voyagers. making ex-
tra flights and covering 10000 miles or |
SO year.
voyaging by the air line is some
times extremely rapid transit. The
summer warbler that spends the win
ter in Central America and the nesting
season at Great Slave lake, far up In
the arctic, travels twice as fast as the
spring does. One hundred and sixteen
miles day Is the record 30 tar to
Great Slave lake. the speed always In
creasing as the birds move northward.
liz EOUlu 40 nA Olu An6AAOASSAV A(AVNAS
| ly tourist In comparison with some 9TH
or species. 1t never does more than
seventy miles day. The average rate
for all migrating birds from New Or
leans to Minnesota "a about twenty
three miles day. But after leaving
Minnesota several species Of feathered
migrants make first 40. then 72 and
1 n Aow hof01o thav
reach Alaska.
The bird traveller that gives the nat
uralist the hardest transportation
problem to solve is the red eyed yjreo.
1t winters in Central America and ap-
pears each spring at the mouth OF de
Mississippi, travelling twenty miles a
day. At this leisurely rate It proceeds
for six weeks, all the way up TO the
latitude Of northern Nebraska. Then
suddenly, IN the space Of twenty -four
hours and before single red eyed
vireo has been seen anywhere In the
region between. numbers OF the birds
appear in British Columbia. thousand
miles to the northwest
This puzzling performance Is repeat
ed every year. Unless the red eyed
vireo flies a thousand miles In singl,
} night, how does 1t manage this be
wildering scheduled
Nobody knows, but then n0bod.
, knows either where the chimney swif
goes for five months out OF every year.
Great focks Of chimney swifts. witt
numberless fledglings among them
| leave the United States every autumn
Their movements can be easily follow
, ed till their various migrating band
join Into a countless host on the north
! ern coast Of the gulf Of Mexico. On
day they are there; the next day the,
are-nowhere.
Five months later. In March, Joyfu
, twittering far up In the air herald
their temperance on the same spot
plump and brisk after their winter %
tourn. But where the winter has bee
i spent only the swifts know. It use
t to be tradition (made out oe "whol
cloth") that they liberated in tn
e mud. But that merely showed tn
hopeless attitude of mems minds e
] ward the problem. for no swift va
4 ever found in the mud in any know
t spot. What mud? Where? was their
j. fore the natural question, never a
I swered, and leaving the mystery deeS
d Grand muddier1than ever.
The soaden plover. too. has yoasi
schedule Of travel known 70 the mai
t uralist In every detail.
? In June 1t reaches the barre
l. grounds far in the arctic circle. w1ieE
l. Greedy found these bird voyagers a
e far north as latitude 81 degrees. II
r nests are built on the moss. close aboy
= the frozen ground; the young are rea
ed, and then the hocks hasten to IAl
n rador In August. where the erowberr
4 grows for their benefit 30 thiekly ths
d when they leave the feasting place
g the fan their bodies are plump almo'
Is to bursting. and their very hesh
n stained red with the crimson Juice I
d the berries they have eaten.
e They strike straight for the Antill'
t. and for South America beyond. mo-
10 than 1900 miles In all. The piovef ea
Is swim. however. and rest on the oceG
wave. and on the way down It Il
quently feeds In the eargasso &c
where, far out in the Atlantic. tho
IS sands Of square miles Of seawesd tee
N with marine life.
4 After resting few weeks In u
l. Antilles the plover starts afrcsh. til
Is time for Patagonia md southern A
e gentina. Unlike other birds, 1t pu
b its whole mind to travelling and di
le both night and day. Six months
IS Patagonia. and then back 1t travels
'e the arctic by way of Guatemala, Tex
', and the Mississippi. The whole year
81 route forms great, irregular clips
II 5000 miles long and 5000 miles aero
c. at its widest point. Surely. maryelo,
IS as were the stories about the migrati.
4 Of birds believed BY the ignorant
II early unscientific times. the truth Ia, 1
'e usual, stranger than fiction.-Youth