Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-24
MIGRATION OF BIRDS
MANY PERILs THAT THE FEATH.
Erred TRAVELLERS ENCOUNTER.
Storms Destroy Thousands Annually
Long Journeys Made by Some
Of the Species.
Written for The Star

Whatever the cause of bird migration, 10
must be urgent-otherwise It is unlikely
that 50 many frail beings would. twice a
year. brave long journey. the hardship
and perils of which great that thou
sands perish in the attempt to accomplish
| it.
The perils of migration are innumerable.
| Chief among them, perhaps are the storms,
which sometimes destroy thousands of birds
at once, but they include every bird enemy,
every tower. every high building, every
| telegraph wire along the line OF march.
Probably there is not a mile of wire fenc-
ing In the country but has it's feathered
victims. l know a stretch of thirty miles
OF wire fencing eight feet high, against
which many probably scores of birds kill
themselves every year. In my own or
chard there is a space less than 100 feet
square inclosed by six-foot wire netting
ana at the foot of that fence l picked up
three birds. two dead and one stunned
| during the last spring migration Probably
many more We're killed and afterward car
rleu on by foxes or other beasts OF prey
before l had chance to observe them.
The birds which during migration cross
large bodies of open water are perhaps the
ones most likely to perish in great numbers.
fIocks or warbiers winging their way
across the gulf or one of the great lakes
are sometimes overtaken by heavy storms
which result in their wholesale destruction
Plucky as they are, their tiny muscles are
winds
sweep the ocean and they are beaten back
ward and downward. with no spot on which
to rest even for a moment. Even in such
dark hours their courage asserts itself; they
do not give up, but battle still with their
giant foe. the wind. which hurls them far
from their course. Then perhaps comes q
cold and driving rain. which soaks their
plumage and increases the burden already
too great for the weary muscles Down
they go toward the roaring water beneath
them until they are met by the leaping
waves. which lick them into the deep.
where the last spark of their dauntless
| courage is auenched in death.
Migrations Vary in Extent.
| The extent to which birds migrate varies
greatly with differo t species Some birds
| do not migrate at all. some make a round
trip of fifteen or sixteen thousand miles to
and from their breeding grounds and the
rest make journeys of every conceivable
distance between these two extremes Some
species during the winter forsake entirely
| their summer range: others simply gather
| in the southern portion of 1t, the indi-
viduals of the more northern portions being
| the only ones to change their abode.
The migrants which take the longest
voyage are found among the shore birds,
| but there are land birds which make a
round trip of ten thousand miles each year.
Many nighthawks which have wintered in
the southern part of South America fly five
thousand miles northward to nest in
Alaska.
| Often enough the route taken by birds
| during emigration are quite different from
those which, at first thought, would seem
the most convenient for them. If We looked
at the map of the western hemisphere and
| tried to select easy lines of travel for the
migratory birds, we should probably find
| that few of our ideals on the subject were
| in accordance with the facts. For the
birds which nestled in New England and
| desired to winter in South America, we
should be very likeiy to choose the route
extending to southern Florida, thence to
Cuba, and through Haiti, Porto RICO
ana the Lesser Antilles to the South Ameri-
| can continent. Flying by this route the
birds need hardly ever be out of sight OF
land, would have resting places at frequent
intervals. and would travel very little fur
Their than they would If they took direct
line. Yet, as Is pointed out by Mr.. w. w.
Cooke in his recent government report on
bird migration, beyond Cuba this high
way is little used. About twenty-five
species continue as far as Porto Rico and
| remain there through the winter. Only adj
venturers out of six species gain the South
| American mainland by completing the
island chain."
Scarcity Of Food.
Further, Mr.. Cooke points out that the
| reason this route is neglected is scarcity
! Of food. The small area of the West Indies
east of Porto Rico, teeming as 1t is with
animal and vegetable life, could support
but small fraction of the feathered
hordes which pass between the two conti-
nents.
A favorite route with some of the mi
grants journeying from North America
stretches from Florida to South America,
through Cuba and Jamaica. Vast numbers
follow this route as far Cuba about
half of them continue the journey far
as Jamaica, whence perhaps a third face
the 500 mile ocean trip to the continent.
Mr.. Cooke refers to the route as the ''bobo-
link route" since it is favored by the bobo-
link more than by any other species.
But the most-traveled highway between
North and South America is one which ex-
tends southwest from northwestern F'lori-
da, and which involves a flight of 700 miles
across the guf. To a man 1t would prob
ably seem much simpler for the birds to
Journey to southern Florida, and then
make two short flights, to Cuba and thence
to Yucatan. Early naturalists took 1t for
granted that this was the principal route
taken, and it was many years before the
error corrected. A few swallows and
shore birds do take this course, but other
wise it is deserted, while hundreds of
thousands choose the seemingly more haz-
ardous route and guided perhaps by some
unknown sense wing their fearless way
across the gulf.
ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES.