DISPERSAL AND MIGRATIONS 157 



has been so much misunderstood or round 

 which so much mystery, superstition, and wild 

 theory has gathered as the migration of birds. 

 Much of this has lingered almost to the present 

 time, and even now there is not a little connected 

 with avine season flight that still requires 

 elucidation. We, have, however, divested the 

 subject of some of its most incredible theories 

 and speculations. No one now, for instance, 

 believes that migratory birds seek a refuge in the 

 moon during their absence from northern lands 

 in winter ; and yet this was almost regarded as 

 a scientific fact a hundred and fifty years ago. 

 There are still, however, some country people 

 who will stoutly maintain that the Cuckoo 

 undergoes transmutation in autumn, turning into 

 a Hawk for the colder months. We have known 

 one or two otherwise most intelligent game- 

 keepers who thoroughly believed in this dual 

 existence of the Cuckoo. Like many another 

 legend it rests somewhat on fact, because our 

 adult Cuckoo very closely resembles a Sparrow- 

 Hawk, whilst the young one in its brown-barred 

 plumage might very easily be mistaken for a 

 Kestrel. Then there was the yet more widely 

 prevailing belief that migrant birds — especi- 

 ally Swallows and Swifts — became dormant 



