CHAPTER IX 



EARLY IDEAS OF MIGRATION 



THE evolution of the study and knowledge of 

 migration is an interesting subject, dealt with more 

 or less completely by several writers. In a manual 

 it is impossible to treat it fully. That the Greek 

 poets Homer and Anacreon for instance, and the 

 writers of Jeremiah and Job, knew something about 

 the regular movements of birds is evident, nor is 

 it surprising that in lands like Greece, Egypt and 

 Palestine the passage of birds should be noted and 

 directly connected in the popular mind with the 

 seasonal changes. 



In a measure similar observations and con- 

 clusions may be traced in the history or traditions 

 of most peoples, but in a northern detached area, 

 such as the British Islands, there is a marked 

 tendency to overlook passage and note only arrival 

 and departure, mostly of summer birds. Early 

 observers noticed the swallow and cuckoo when 

 they had actually come, and missed them when 

 they had gone, but they failed to grasp whence 

 they came or whither they went. Interchange of 

 ideas with inhabitants of other lands was limited, 



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