Evening star., 1921-11-18

coast. and apparently keep this same
direction across the gulf to eastern
Mexico. The birds of the central Mis-
sissippi valley. go southwark to and
Missouri and the edge of the plains
and those Of Canada east of the
Rocky mountains move southeast
ward and south until they join the
others in their passage Of the gulf.
In other words, the great majority
Of North American birds bound for
winters sojourn in Central or South
America, elect a shortcut across the
Gulf of Mexico in preference to a
longer land journey by the way OF
Florida or Texas. In fact, millions of
birds cross the Gulf of Mexico at it's
widest part. which necessitates a sin
, gle flight Of 500 to 700 miles. The
earlier naturalists. finding the same
species of birds both in Florida and
Yucatan, took this probable route for
granted, and for years 1t has been
noted In pathological literature as
one Of the principal migration high
ways Of North American birds.
There are other routes which rep
resent the land journey of those birds
from western United States that win
ter in Mexico and Central America.
THESE. however, are merely conven-
lent subdivisions of the one great
Highway which extends from North
PlOver Most Interesting.
Perhaps the most interesting bird
route. which is best known as the
water highway. is the one which ex-
tends in an approximately north and
south line from Nova Scotia to the
lesser Antilles and the northern coast
Of South America. This route is not
used by any land bird. But it Is the
favorite fall route for thousands Of
water birds. notable among which is
the golden plover. The journey Of this
bird is interesting and wonderful
enough that some detail of it's habits
might be Of unusual interest to STU
dents of bird life. Its most striking
characteristics are a single fight of
2.4OO miles. the longest fight of any
| bird. The time it takes to make this
| trip has never been learned. The first
| week in June finds the golden plover
at their breeding grounds on the bar
rem grounds" above the Arctic circle
far beyond the tree line. While the
axes are still icebound they build
their shallow nests in the moss only
few inches above the frozen ground
When the young are old enough the fall
! migration is made to Labrador, where
they fatten on native fruits; from
thence across the Gulf of st. Lawrence
| to Nova Scotia. the starting point for
their extraordinary ocean fight due
SoutH u the COdSL south America,
their objective point. These birds pa
| Bermuda without stopping. and many
tlocks do not stop even at the first An
TILES. but keep on to the larger islands
and even to the mainland Of South
America, making the journey Of 2,400
miles without pause or rest Most
| migrants fly at night and rest in the
3ay or vice versa, but the plover fly
both night and day. After a short stop
On the northern coast of South America
they go on overland to the pampas of
Argentina, where they spent the sum-
mer Of the southern hemisphere (Sep-
| tember to March). After six months
outing in the far south the plover
starts back to the Arctic, but by an
entirely different route. They cross
| northwestern South America and the
Gulf of Mexico. reaching the United
states along the coast of Louisiana
and Texas. From thence they move
slowly up the Mississippi valley, and
~ early June are again at their nest
ng site on the Arctic coast, thus max.
ng the round trip of 5000 miles from
arctic America to Argentina.