"The role of tradition in evolution should not be so 

 lightly dismissed without better evidence, for such 

 dismissal tends to discourage further attempts to 

 learn the facts of the case." John E. Cushing ( 1944) 



16 

 Biological Traditions 



In the summer of 1951 a crate of young Pin- 

 tails traveled to New York State by rail. These ducklings had been hatched 

 at Delta from eggs taken from wild nests in nearby stubble and meadow- 

 land. They were half-grown when they left Delta and had seen no country- 

 side beyond the narrow view from the hatchery window. Their travels 

 ended in central New York, where they were banded and released on 

 Spicer's Marsh. Next spring, a survivor of the first autumn and winter, iden- 

 tified by her leg band, migrated back from the southland to nest and rear 

 her young on Spicer's Marsh. This place had not known nesting Pintails 

 in modern times. With all the wide northland to visit, she was faithful to 

 the marsh of her maidenhood. 



All week the wild geese passed over Delta, each flock going beyond the 

 horizon to destinations we knew not where. Then, on the evening of the 

 eighth day of April, there came thirty-six birds flying straight for the Sta- 

 tion pond. They circled only once before alighting on their home waters. 

 These were birds we had raised and to which we had presented freedom 

 the November previous. The parents came back to their home; their chil- 

 dren were with them. 



I live on the prairies, but when I dream it is of mountains. Often, when 

 there is a dark cloud bank in the west, I squint my eyes and pretend it is 

 the Rockies. When soft spring winds blow, they feel like Chinooks to me. 

 My parents are from Illinois, but I was born within sight of Long's Peak; 

 and, however wonderful the prairie sunsets, I think of the mountains 

 beyond. 



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