BIRD GENEALOGY 



what appears to an outsider to be a most deso- 

 late region regard their home as superior to 

 any other country on the globe, and pine if 

 taken away from it. 



Now the seed-eating myrtle warbler that 

 spends its winters in the cold and stormy 

 north is undoubtedly as clannish as the Es- 

 kimo, and considers itself superior to the 

 south-seeking myrtle warbler, and it would 

 probably pine for its northern home if trans- 

 planted by force with the rest of the species 

 to tropical regions. Its clannishness probably 

 also impels it to choose a summer home apart 

 from its southern relations. 



At present man cannot distinguish the 

 northern from the southern myrtle warbler, 

 just as in the remote past it is probable that 

 the Eskimo could not be distinguished from 

 the Indian. In time, however, aided by this 

 inherent clannishness and love of home, one 

 might predict that a larger race of northern 

 myrtle warblers would be formed with thicker, 

 stronger bills and more muscular gizzards. 

 Indeed, I have endeavored to investigate these 

 three points in order to discover whether a 

 beginning had been made in the evolution of 

 this new species, but I have not as yet exam- 



295 



