4 THE MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS 



different species in former times were used as omens, 

 a custom that prevails to-day in certain sections of 

 the earth. 



Historical Account 



Historical allusions to the migratory flights of 

 birds are innumerable, and we may suppose that 

 these regular movements have been observed by 

 man and correlated with the change of season since 

 the Pleistocene. On turning to the Bible, we find in 

 the Old Testament what is considered the earliest 

 definite written reference to migration when Job 

 (XXXIX, 26) remarks: "Doth the hawk fly by thy 

 wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?" 

 Jeremiah (VIII, 7), in an exhortation to Judah, is 

 more explicit in the statement, "Yea, the stork in 

 the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the 

 turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the 

 time of their coming." The Israelites wandering in 

 Sinai were saved from starvation when "at even the 

 quails came up and covered the camp" {Exodus ^ 

 XVI, 13) ; and again, a year later, when " there went 

 forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from 

 the sea." {Numbers XI, 31.) Canon Tristram has 

 calculated that this occurred in spring when migra- 

 tory quail were in flight to the north from their 

 winter home in Africa. Further, he has indicated 

 the date as in the month of April, about 1580 b. c. 



