386 KEl'OKT ON TlIK MIGRATION OF BIKDS, 



posed, iu tlie year 1888, that the (•olle<;ting of observations should be 

 stopped temporarily, tliat tlie immense mass of facts iu the nine re- 

 ports, arranged in concise form, statistically, and in strictly scientific 

 manner, might be treated as briefly and clearly as possible, in order 

 to attain practical scientific results. This proposal was accepted by 

 the British Association in the year 1888, and a member of the commit- 

 tee, Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, charged with the duty of directing the com- 

 prehensive undertaking. 



The British example exerted a deep influence on the First Interna- 

 tional Ornitliological Congress iu the year 1884. Through the eftbrts 

 of the authorities of the permanent ornithological committee of the 

 Congress, the wish was communicated to as many state gov^ernmeuts as 

 possible that the passage of the birds might be observed at the light- 

 houses. The authorities of these institutions are also charged to ad- 

 vance the question as much as possible, from the White Sea to the C'as- 

 pian. The light-house officers on wide tracts of the coasts of South 

 Asia, certain parts of Africa, Australia, and South America are in the 

 same manner called upon to make observations. 



As yet, h<^wever, we have but few printed reports from the light- 

 houses, except from Great Britain. These few are the ones above men- 

 tioned from Denmark, 1886-'81), ami two reports on bird life at the Ger- 

 man light-houses, published by E. Blasius (Orni,s, vi, vii). 



In Xorth America the investigations relating to tlie migration of 

 birds liave assumed quite an indepeiulent form and reached considera- 

 ble dimensions. 



In tlie year 188:2 Prof ^\ ^\'. Cooke took the initiative with a sys- 

 tematic observation of the migrati(m of birds, at first in the State of 

 Iowa, butlater in the whole Mississippi VaUey. Thirteen observers were 

 at work the first year and twenty-six in the year 1883. But after the 

 American Ornithologists' Union had been organized in September of 

 the last-named year, it appointed a committee for the investigation of 

 the geographical distribution of the birds of l^orth America, as also 

 another for the in\'estigation of the migration of birds. The two were 

 however consolidated later on. By the co-operation of this committee 

 with Prof Cooke, the iuA'estigations were continued systematically un- 

 der the direction of Dr. C. II. Merriam. The whoU' territory Avas di- 

 A'ided into fourteen, later sixteen, districts, each under a superintend- 

 ent; and for tlie year 1884 thousands of question-sheets and instructions 

 were communicated to members of the most different social groups, as 

 well as to all light-houses and other public institutions. 



As it was to be expected that the homogeneous territory of the 

 Mississippi Valley, in consequence of its immense extent from north 

 to south, and the absence of mountain range or great lakes, would 

 aftbrd a particularly favorable field for the investigation of migra- 

 tion, the observations coming from there for 1884 and 188.") were 

 taken in specinl cliargc by Tiof. Cool<«'. 



