HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 15 



ments of individual birds, as contrasted with mass 

 observation of a species as a whole. This modern 

 development of the study while still in its infancy- 

 has already yielded highly valuable results, and will 

 be steadily productive of new information that will 

 aid in the solution of many problems. 



Theories of Migration 



Superstitious Beliefs 



The migratory movements of larger birds, evident 

 in their accomplishment, were understood by the lay 

 mind with comparative ease; but to account for the 

 travels of smaller species, which appeared or disap- 

 peared between suns, was a matter of greater diffi- 

 culty. In 1740, J. G. Gmelin was assured by the 

 Tartars of Krasnojarsk, and the Assanians, in 

 Siberia, that each crane carried a corn crake on its 

 back to some warmer land. In southern Europe the 

 peasants hold that the smaller birds congregate on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, where they 

 await suitable opportunity for passage to Africa on 

 the commodious pinions of storks and cranes — a 

 superstition further correlated with the belief of the 

 Egyptian laborer that these great birds on their 

 journeys carry a living freight of their smaller com- 

 panions. 



