MIGRATIONS ON FOOT.
By Rev. J. G. WOOD, M.A.
We have to consider those creatures who are deprived of food by climate, but who are able to pass to other places where food still exists. Travel for this purpose is called migration, and it may be accomplished in two ways, namely, upon the earth by means of feet, or over it by means of wings. We will first take migration on foot.
Again, I put aside man, because his migrations (and we English are the most migratory race on the earth) are the result of reason and not of instinct. Man migrates for a definite purpose. He knows beforehand the object of his travel, and if he should prefer staying in one country he can do so. But these papers do not deal with human reason, but with animal instinct, which is, in fact, Divine wisdom brought into visible action without the exercise of free will on the part of the agent.
In many cases migration has a strong influence on man. To uncivilized man it is mostly an unmixed benefit, as he lives upon the migrators. But to civilized man it is almost invariably an unmixed evil, as the migrators destroy the crops which he is cultivating, in order to supply food for the coming year. We shall see examples with both these influences.
As might naturally be expected, food is more apt to fail toward the poles than in the temperate zones, and so we find many examples of migration in northern Europe. One of them has the curious result that it involves the migration of man. I allude to the annual migration of the vast herds of reindeer possessed by the Lapps. Forced by instinct, the reindeers are obliged to migrate in search of food, and unless their owners wish to lose all their property, they must needs accompany the deer.