OUR GREATEST TRAVELERS 
The golden plover takes a_ straight 
course across the ocean, and, if the 
weather is propitious, makes the whole 
2,400 miles without pause or rest. But 
if tempests arise, it may be blown out 
of its course to the New England coast 
and start anew on the advent of fair 
weather; or it may rest for a few days 
at the Bermudas, one-third of the way 
along its course, or at the nearest of the 
Lesser Antilles, still 600 miles from the 
mainland of South America. These, 
however, are emergency stop-overs, to 
be resorted to only in case of storms. 
Having accomplished its ocean voyage, it 
passes across eastern South America to 
its winter home in Argentina. 
After a six months’ vacation here, the 
plover finds its way back to the Arctic 
by an entirely different route. It travels 
across northwestern South America and 
the Gulf of Mexico, reaching the United 
States along the coasts of Louisiana and 
Texas. Thence it moves slowly up the 
Mississippi Valley and by early June is 
again at the nesting site on the Arctic 
coast. Its round trip has taken the form 
of an enormous ellipse, with a minor 
axis of 2,000 miles.and a. major axis 
stretching 8,000 miles from Arctic Amer- 
ica to Argentina. 
HOW DID THE GOLDEN PLOVER COME TO 
USE SUCH A DIFFICULT ROUTE? 
The evolution of the elliptical route of 
the golden plover, wonderful though it 
is in its present extended form, is easily 
traced through its various stages. To- 
ward the end of the glacial era, when 
the ice began to recede, the peninsula of 
Florida was submerged and a compara- 
tively small area of land in the south- 
eastern United States was free from ice. 
Any golden plover that attempted to fol- 
low up the retreating ice must have been 
confined to an all-land route from Cen- 
tral America through Mexico and Texas 
to the western part of the Mississippi 
Valley. As larger areas of the eastern 
United States were uncovered and _ be- 
came available for bird habitation, ex- 
tension of the route would be to the 
northeast, until in time the whole of the 
Mississippi Valley to the Great Lakes 
could be occupied. 
187 
As the migration route lengthened and 
powers of flight developed, there would 
arise a tendency to straighten the line 
and shorten it by cutting off some of the 
great curve (No. I, page 188) through 
Texas and Mexico. — A short flight across 
the western end of the Gulf of Mexico 
was finally essayed (No. 2), and this 
gradually lengthened and its points of de- 
parture and arrival moved eastward until 
evefitually the roundabout curve through 
Texas was discarded and the flight was 
made directly from southern Louisiana 
across the Gulf (No. 3). 
As the great areas of Canada were 
added to the birds’ domain, other condi- 
tions arose. Here appeared a vast new 
stretch of coast and plain—the Labrador 
peninsula—offering in the fall rich stores 
of the most delectable berries and fruits; 
but at migrating time, in the spring, 
bound by frost and shrouded in fog. 
Since Chinook winds made the climate 
of the interior of the continent just east 
of the Rocky Mountains especially favor- 
able for spring migration, there arose 
gradually a dividing of the spring and 
fall routes, the fall route tending east- 
ward (No. 4), while the spring route 
remained unchanged. When the fall 
route had worked eastward to the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence (No. 5), a. shortening 
began to take out the great westward 
curve of the New Englamd coast. A 
short ocean flight was attempted (No. 
6); and, when this proved successful, it 
was extended until the present direct 
route (No. 7) across the Atlantic was 
obtained. 
HOW DOES THE PLOVER FIND ITS WAY 
EVERY SEASON TO THE LITTLE HA- 
WAIIAN ISLANDS, 2,400 MILES 
ACROSS THE OCEAN ? 
The above gives a probable and fairly 
satisfactory explanation of the origin of 
the present migration route of the golden 
plover over the Atlantic Ocean. But this 
is a very simple problem compared with 
that presented by the Pacific golden 
plover. The Hawaiian Islands are in 
the middle of the Pacific Ocean, distant 
2,000 miles from California on the east, 
2,400 miles from Alaska on the north, 
and 3,700 miles from Japan to the west. 
