Introduction: Migration. i^Q 



and Nycticorax caledonicus; and the Rails, Hypotaemdia philippensis , Atnauroniis 

 cinerea and mohiccmm. Dr. Ramsay's term "nomadic" for wandering Australian 

 birds denotes an initiatory form of migration not of a regular half-yearly cha- 

 racter, but, as is shown by the above species, a development of the migratory 

 habits is sometimes found as high as in many species of the northern hemisphere. 



The return-migrntion. — Birds do not appear always to return in spring by 

 the route pursued in autumn, often, ajjparently, being rare or absent in one 

 season in districts through which they pass in abundance in the other season. 



Birds which stay behind in their winter (piarters. — It seems to be a very 

 common occurrence for a few individuals to stay throughout the year in the 

 winter resorts of the species. Among Celebesian species which have been found 

 in the island after their fellows have departed to their breeding localities in 

 the North, or, respectively, the South, may be mentioned: Merops ornatus, Motacilla 

 jlava^ Charadriiis ftdvus, Aegialitis geoffroyi, A. mo7igola, A. curonica, Totanus glottis, 

 T. glareola^ Heteractitis brevipes, Tringa acuminata, T. ruficollis, Numenius variegatus. 

 To these Motacilla boarula and Anthus gustavi should probably be added; the 

 first has been sent to us from Manado tua as late as May, the Pipit as late 

 as May 26"'. Other instances of migrants killed in the|Moluccas and elsewhere 

 at dates when the main body of their species is absent will be found in the text. 

 During his travels in Polynesia Dr. Finsch found many Waders of several species 

 on the Marshall and Gilbert atolls of the Central Pacific in the summer 

 months; and similar observations will be found in "Stray Feathers" and elsewhere. 



It is unprofitable to speculate on the cause of this violation of the general 

 rule, as the possible explanations are many and the individual judgment is prone 

 to select that which conforms best to its own prejudices. Several reasons may 

 indeed work together in inducing these birds to stay behind. The following is 

 likely to escape general observation, viz. the time of shedding the remiges varies 

 in individuals') and a bird with its powers of flight thus diminished at the 

 spring migration might well hesitate at attempting the journey. Or an accident 

 — a broken wing or leg — may delay an individual, and as observers know, 

 one or more symjiathetic companions will be likely to remain by the injiu'ed 

 one with a devotion equal to that of man himself. In other cases, as, for in- 

 stance, the individuals on the atolls in the middle of the Pacific, it may more 

 plausibly be supposed that the birds had lost their way. At other times it looks 

 as if the birds remain behind simply from choice. But, though in Natural 

 History it is almost always impossible to assert that a certain this, and this 

 only, is the true explanation, it is happily sometimes possible to show that 

 some other is an untrue explanation. Thus, it has been asked in Baird, 



•; See pp. 739, 744, 747, 761, 762, 765, 768, 772, 798. 

 Meyer & Wigleaworth Birds of Celebes (May 5ih ISOSl. 



