2 STUDIES IN BIRD-MIGRATION 



thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south ? " 

 This is an undoubted reference to the well-known 

 autumnal emigration of certain birds of prey, so much 

 in evidence in the East, and is probably the earliest 

 allusion to the subject of bird-migration. 



In the opening of the Third Book of the Iliad — 

 attributed to Homer, who probably lived in the twelfth 

 century i5.c. — we find the Trojan hosts described as 

 coming on with noise and shouting, "like the Cranes 

 which flee from the coming winter and sudden rain, and 

 fly with clamour towards the streams of the ocean," or, 

 as Pope has it : — 



So when the inclement winters vex the plain 

 With piercing frosts, or thick-descending rain, 

 To warmer seas the Cranes embodied fly, 

 With noise and order through the midway sky. 



Homer also alludes to the gathering, in autumn, of 

 vast numbers of water birds by the Asiatic rivers. 



In the fifth century B.C., the Greek poet Anacreon 

 welcomed, in inimitable verse, the return of the Swallow 

 in spring ; and it is noteworthy that he assigned Egypt 

 as among this bird's winter retreats. His lines (Carmen 

 2,1) are thus beautifully rendered by Moore : — " 



Once in each revolving year, 

 Gentle bird ! we find thee here ; 

 When nature weirs her summer vest, 

 Thou com'st to weave thy simple nest ; 

 But when the chilling winter lowers. 

 Again thou seek'st the genial bowers 

 Of Memphis, or the shores of Nile, 

 Where sunny hours for ever smile. 



A century after Anacreon, the prophet Jeremiah 

 (viii. 7) thus refers to the advent in spring of several 

 species of migratory birds: "Yea, the Stork in the 

 heavens knoweth her appointed time ; and the Turtle 



