The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-06-27
THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS.
Some of Them Fly Faster Than an
Express Train.

"SlS dUlS W luduGSS lo4lS hiSiIo - oAA
other countries exercised the minds
of the naturalists for centuries. The
first man to collect accurate informa-
ton on the subject was the late Herr
Gatke. Living on the little island Of
Heligoland, in the direct route of mi
grafton, and entirely devoted to his
subject. says a writer in the Strand,
he was able to verify for himself
many facts which had until then es-
capped notice.
For instance he pointed out that
birds on migration often flew very
high-probably as much as 10000
feet (over two miles, above the
ground. That they do fly at great
height has been corroborated by as
tronomers, who have seen birds fly
ing across the face of the moon at a
height not less than one mile.
Gatke's ideas on speed were prob
ably exaggerated, but only by the
ory of tremendously swift flight at
a high altitude could he account for
the fact that certain birds were
never, or rarely, seen in the coun-
tries between their winter and sum-
mer quarters. For instance, he point
ed out that the blue throat, which
winters in Africa and breeds in Scan
dinavia, is but rarely met with in
any of the countries on the line of
route-Italy, Greece, Southern Ger
many.
When they arrived in Heligoland,
they came in large focks and were
tired and exhausted; also they always
arrived at the same hour-somewhat
late in the morning. He thought it
probable that they left Africa at dusk
the previous evening, and flying at
the rate of $50 miles an hour would
be able to reach Heligoland in the
one flight.
Between 1880 and 1887 the Brit
ish association granted some money
to a special committee for the study
of migration, and by means of sched-
ules much information was collected
about the birds that are killed annu-
ally at coast lights. Although many
facts were thus obtained, the obser-
vations in this respect are almost en-
tirely dependent on weather cond1-
tions. In fact, it may be said. that
the only migration that can be actu-
ally seen is that which has partially
failed, for it is only when delayed or
held back by storms or fog that birds
obviously on passage are encountered
along the coast or in other places
where they are not usually found.
In Denmark and Germany, orni-
biologists have been experimenting
by ringing birds and having those
that are caught returned to the ad-
dress given on the aluminium band
placed on the birds leg. In this way
the habits of migration, speed and
direction of fight and other facts are
discovered. Storks have given the
most striking results from ringing.
Without exception, all storks that
have been recovered in the first au-
tumn after ringing had travelled in a
due southeasterly direction.
From Hungary to Palestine no
ringing birds have been procured,
but from Palestine four have re-
turned, from Alexandria one, Blue
Nile one, Victoria Nyanza one, and no
fewer than seven from the Transva-
al, Natal, Basutoland, etc., while of
the Hungarian office no fewer than
IT birds have been reported from va
rious localities in South Africa. 1t
is therefore practically certain that
north German and Hungarian storks
travel southeast to Palestine and
thence due south to South Africa.
1t has further been proved that
the majority of those obtained in
spring on the return journey return
ed to within few miles of their
home. AS regards the actual dis
tance and age of some of these ring
ed birds, two of them when nine
months old were shot at about 5000
miles from Their birthplace, and one
young one in autumn travelled over
200 miles in two days.
There is still one point left TO be
further investigated. How do birds
find their way So far as we are
aware, only one experiment has been
made on these lines. This was car
ried out by DR.. Watson, an Ameri-
can, who took some terms from their
nests on rocky islet near the coast
of Florida. Having marked them, he
released them at sea about 500 miles
to the north of their home and seV-
eral hundred miles north of their