[PREFACE]
Any attempt to elucidate the problems connected with the Migration of Birds must, in the present state of knowledge, contain some theory and speculation, but the diligent observations of an army of careful workers yearly add facts, which though they may appear insignificant when considered alone, tend in the aggregate to confirm or repudiate the conclusions of past workers. I have endeavoured to bring together some of the more important theories, and to give prominence to ascertained facts; I have also striven to check desire on my own part to wander into realms of pure speculation, though conscious that I have not always evidence to support my suggestions.
The numbers in brackets ( ) in the text refer to the books or papers mentioned in the list at the end of the volume, which is in no ways an attempt at a full bibliography. I have quoted freely from the works of past and living ornithologists. To these I offer apologies if I have misconstrued their arguments, and acknowledge my indebtedness to those whose observations or writing have given me light. In particular I tender thanks to Mr Wells W. Cooke for his permission to reproduce the maps facing pp. 76, 78, 80. I have found his writings and those of Herr Otto Herman and Mr W. Eagle Clarke especially valuable. Mr Eagle Clarke's long looked-for book on Migration is, as I write, still in the press; had mine been more than a manual I should have hesitated to publish until his had appeared.
T. A. Coward.
Bowdon, Cheshire,
4 November 1911.
[CONTENTS]
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| [I.] | [Migration of Birds] | [1] |
| Definition—Variation of migration. | ||
| [II.] | [Cause and Origin of Migration] | [13] |
| Direction of passage—The potentiality of flight—Habit of wandering—Memory—Extension of range—Influence of Temperature—Desire for Light—Glacial Epoch—Food Basis—Sexual Impulses—Competition. | ||
| [III.] | [Routes] | [33] |
| Route or Broad Front—Coasting—Fly-lines—Isepipteses—Land-bridges—Coast Lights. | ||
| [IV.] | [The Height and Speed of Migration Flight] | [47] |
| Altitude of Normal Migration—Variation in Speed—Effect of Wind. | ||
| [V.] | [Orientation and Route Finding] | [56] |
| Route Finding—Use of Memory—Eyesight—Errors—Guidance of Young—Beam Winds—Homing of Terns. | ||
| [VI.] | [The Distances Travelled by Birds] | [65] |
| The Swallow—Variation in Distances—Marking Birds—Results—Routes of the Golden Plover—Evolution of the Routes. | ||
| [VII.] | [Migration and Weather] | [83] |
| Knowledge of Approaching Weather—Favourable and Unfavourable Conditions—Importance of Winds—Cyclonic and Anticyclonic Winds—Continental Migration. | ||
| [VIII.] | [The Perils of Migration] | [104] |
| Contrary Winds—Lighthouses and Lightships—Leeward Drift—Catastrophes. | ||
| [IX.] | [Early Ideas of Migration] | [114] |
| Literature—Hibernation—Carriage of Small by Large Birds. | ||
| [X.] | [Suggestions and Guesses] | [119] |
| Trans-Atlantic Migration—Ship-borne Wanderers—Storm-blown Birds—Casual Wanderers—Swimming and Walking. | ||
| [XI.] | [Summary] | [126] |
| [Bibliography] | [131] | |
| [Index] | [135] | |