the times of Hesiod, Homer, Herodotus, Aristotle, and others. In the 

 Bible there are several references to the periodic movements of birds, 

 as in the Book of Job (39:26), where the inquiry is made: "Doth the 

 hawk fly by Thy wisdom and stretch her wings toward the south?" 

 Jeremiah (8:7), wrote: "The stork in the heavens knoweth her ap- 

 pointed time; and the turtle [dove], and the crane, and the swallow, 

 observe the time of their coming." And the flight of quail that saved 

 the Israelites from starvation in their wanderings in the wilderness of 

 Sinai is now recognized as a vast movement of migratory quail between 

 their breeding grounds and their winter home in Africa. 



Throughout the ages the return flights of migratory birds have been 

 important as a source of food after a lean winter and as the harbinger 

 of a change in season. The arrival of certain species has been heralded 

 with appropriate ceremonies in many lands, and among the Eskimos 

 and other tribes the phenomenon to this day is the accepted sign of the 

 imminence of spring and of warmer weather. The pioneer fur traders 

 in Alaska and Canada offered rewards to the Indian or Eskimo who 

 saw the first goose of the spring, and all joined in jubilant welcome to 

 the newcomer. 



As the North American Continent became more thickly settled, the 

 large flocks of ducks and geese that always had been hunted for food 

 became objects of the enthusiastic attention of an increasing army of 

 sportsmen. Most of the nongame species were found to be valuable 

 also as allies of the farmer in his never-ending warfare against weed 

 and insect pests. The need for laws protecting the valuable game and 

 nongame birds and for regulating the hunting of the diminishing game 

 species followed as a natural course. In the management of this wild- 

 life resource it has become obvious that continuous studies must be 

 made of the food habits of the various species, their environmental 

 needs, and their travels. Hence bird investigations are made by the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, the bureau charged by Congress under the 

 Migratory Bird Treaty Act with the duty of protecting those species 

 that in their yearly journeys pass back and forth between the United 

 States and Canada, and between the United States and Mexico. 



For more than half a century the Fish and Wildlife Service and 

 its predecessor, the Biological Survey, have been collecting data on 

 the interesting and important phenomenon of the migration of North 

 American birds. The field men of the Service have gathered informa- 

 tion concerning the distribution and seasonal movements of the 



