Bird Migration 59 



BIRD MIGRATION. 



UNTIL the last few years it was generally believed 

 by naturalists and ornithologists alike that in 

 migration the older or parent birds preceded the 

 younger ones on their long flight, and even eminent 

 authorities on bird life fell into this error. 



Expressed in the simplest language, the incontestable 

 result of all the numerous phenomena as they came under 

 notice in a certain North Sea observatory is as follows : — 



(1) That under normal conditions in the case of over 



three hundred specimens, with the exception of a 

 single one, the autumn migration is initiated by 

 the young birds from about six to eight weeks after 

 leaving their nests. 



(2) That the parents of these do not follow till one or 



two months later. 



(3) That of these old birds the most handsome old males 



are the last to set out on the migratory journey. 



The only exception to this rule, as previously men- 

 tioned, is the cuckoo, and this for reasons easy to divine. 

 Plumage enters a great deal into the art of ascertaining 

 the old from the young whilst on the wing. The marking 

 and colour of such birds as the starling would at once 

 identify the age. The blackbird, again, is another 

 species in the case of which the time of migration in 

 respect to age and sex can be determined with the utmost 

 exactness by reason of the difference between their early 

 and adult plumages. The young reddish-brown birds 

 with which the migration commences rarely make their 

 appearance before, say, October ; the old black males 

 defer their arrival till November, and of these latter again 

 the last to arrive, some weeks later, are the beautiful glossy 

 blackbirds with orange-yellow bills. 



In regard to the difference of time of migration of young 

 and old birds, it would be well to quote a remark or two 

 from an excellent authority, viz., " Rodd's Birds of Corn- 

 wall and the Scilly Isles." Speaking of the knot, the 



