The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-07-03
Wonders of Bird MIGRATION

great ueLtl OIL lnOTUldIlOu ABOUT
birds has been gathered by the Bio
logical Survey of the u. S. Depart
ment of Agriculture in the past
quarter of century. Some highly
interesting data have been cleaned
in relation to the migration of
birds, the routes traversed, the
times and speeds of their journeys.
and published in one OF the many
bulletins.
A few birds, notably the grouse,
the quail, the cardinal, and the Car
! DINA wren are nOn-migratOry,
while the arctic tern which nests
in frigid regions only few degrees
from the north pole and migrates
to the borders of the antarctic con
! tinent, is wonderful traveller.
! The $4,000 mile journey from one
place to the other requires barely
| twenty weeks. This means that
the bird must cover $50 miles a
day, Undoubtedly it averages con
siderably more than this, for its
side flights in quest of food must
. be taken into consideration.
1t would seem that the arctic
| tern is lover of the light. AT any
rate it manages to secure more
hours of daylight and sunlight ev-
| cry year than any other living crea-
ture, for during at least eight
months of the year it lives in a re-
gion of perpetual daylight and dur
| ing the other four months it lives
where the daylight period is much
longer than the period of darkness.
The average weather, rather
than the weather which appears to
prevail in migration period of
any particular year, determines the
dates Of migratory movements.
That is to say, migration is more a
question of climate than of weather.
| When the travels once begin. how
| ever, the weather encountered has
some effect in retarding or accel-
| Grating the advance more or less.
The time of flight appears to be
little affected by winds.
The different species do not fol
low the same route in migrating.
The favOrite course extends directly
across the Gulf of Mexico. IT has
generally been believed that after
such long continued flights as this
most birds are exhausted and are
obliged to seek the ground as soon
as possible. but evidence submitted
to the biological survey tends to dis
prove this suggestion
AS knowledge concerning the
flight of birds increases, their mar
velouS efficiency as flying machines
becomes more and more apparent.
The golden plover which in favor
able weather is able to cover the
2.4O0 miles over the ocean between
Nova Scotia and South America
without stop. remaining some for
ty-elght hours on the wing. is
spoken OF as IAN aerial machine
that is more economical of fuel
(energy) than the best aeroplane
yet invented" The application of
power in the to-and-fro motion of
the birds appears theoretically to
be uneconomical, since the power
required in bringing the wing for
ward is wasted and at the same
time 1t increases the friction
against the air and retards mo-
ton forward. The screw propeller
OF the aeroplane. with no lost mo
ton, would seem a far more effic
lent form OF mechanism. yet in Gov
erlng the 2,400 miles of it's migra
tory flight the golden plover uses
only about two ounces of fuel in the
form OF body fat. If a 200 pound
aeroplane could be made as eco |
nomlcal of fuel as this bird. it
could make 20-mile flight on a
single pint of gasoline instead of a
gallon as it actually requires.
The question of how migrating
birds find their way has always
been a puzzling one. Birds gro !
known to return unerringly year af-
ter year to old nesting places after
spending the winter thousands of
miles away, flying a large part of
the distance NV piuht on1