Vol. IV. 

 1904 



] Littler, The School in Wild Life. 59 



home whenever the way opens. . . . What of the larger 

 ranges — of birds which leave the edge of the eternal snows and 

 do not stop till they sight the coast of Africa ? For a solution 

 the mind goes back to the Ice Age, when the hard conditions 

 extended so far that a winter in Europe, except in the extreme 

 south, was as cold as in the Arctic Circle now." He is of opinion 

 that in no instance do young birds start without leaders ; that 

 it is often a question of luck whether they will reach their 

 destination or perish on the way ; and will not admit that the 

 migratory instinct is inherent in the young of migratory species. 

 This is a matter on which many ornithologists will disagree 

 with him. To me it seems beyond doubt, so far as we can tell. 

 If birds could speak, it is questionable if they would be able to 

 say why they go south in the winter — and far south too, some- 

 times — and why they return north again to nest. They would 

 simply ansvver that what their parents and great grandparents 

 had done was good enough for them, and that they would expect 

 their children and children's children to do the same. Much 

 has been learnt and written on this fascinating question of 

 migration, but still very much more requires to be known before 

 we can say that we understand it.* 



Bird Sanctuaries of New Zealand. 



New Zealand has done two things thoroughly, as the follow- 

 ing paper from The Argus of 23rd July, 1904, will show. 

 One of these is to preserve those wingless birds so character- 

 istic of the country, and which, because of their helplessness, 

 would soon disappear as settlement increased ; the other is to 

 acclimatise the best game of other countries. Thus, in turning 

 down Canadian moose in their mountains, they brought a Can- 

 adian forester to look after the young calves, and a Scotch game- 

 keeper is now engaged attending to the Grouse. Resolution 

 Island, in Dusky Sound, West Coast, discovered by Captain 

 Cook, is named after one of the ships in which Cook made his 

 first voyage. There is material for a charming little book on 

 Nature in this official document, the last place where a Victorian, 

 knowing something of the character of his own Government 



[* Here again we are only on the verge of knowledge. The heredity of a migratory 

 instinct, more particularly when one remembers that from extreme north to extreme 

 south there was virtually a bridge of land, and that, according to some theories as to 

 the origin of species, these began in noith and passed stage by stage to south, 

 possibly in search of food, or more possii)ly in search of favourable quarters for breed- 

 ing. The latter theory would seem most feasible. But how, after all, account for 

 the fact that birds desert comparatively warm and favourable regions in our south for 

 such places as the steppes of Siberia. Most of those who do pass feed either on 

 insects or the food which a sea-shore produces, and as tropical regions are especially 

 favoured in this way, why should they be passed by? The theory as to following the 

 line of an old sea-shore does not seem to fit in with every circumstance in the migra- 

 tion of those birds which are usually known as " Wanderers." — H.K.] 



