I I/L Loomis on Birds of Chester County, South Carolina. I April 



do not disprove that heredity may be an important factor in 

 migration. The disposition for migration may be dormant or 

 inoperative until awakened into action by the example or pos- 

 sibly by the instruction of older birds. The formation of wood- 

 land groups after the breeding season and their roaming through 

 the woods is the first step toward migration in the young of many 

 species. The gathering of the colonies of Red-winged Black- 

 birds in this locality into compact flocks and their desertion of 

 the breeding marshes preliminary to their leaving is further illus- 

 tration of the training that precedes migration, as also are the 

 collection of Swallows and the establishment of 'summer Robin 

 roosts,' such as described by Mr. Brewster (Auk, VII, p. 360). 

 The departure of old birds does not leave the young without 

 guidance, for the migration is a gradual depopulation. There are 

 the belated breeders of the same species, the tardy breeders, the 

 birds from localities further north, and those in which the young 

 largely accompany the old, to serve as guides. 1 While the move- 

 ments are scarcely perceptible when the old in woodland birds 

 begin to disappear, when the young depart the current of migra- 

 tion is setting steadily southward. To the trained student of bird 

 migration, the gatherings, their movements, and the notes of the 

 migrants have a distinct meaning. How much more must the 

 meaning be to the native birds of a locality. When migrants are 

 arriving and departing, and when the air and woods and fields 

 are filled with their voices, is it strange that the young should 

 catch the spirit and join the movement southward? Having 

 learned the way, is it remarkable that in subsequent seasons, as 

 old birds, that they should become leaders and give inception to 

 the migration ? Want of experience, as well as probable lack of 

 wing power, may have something to do with the tardiness of the 

 young in the first season. While the spirit of migration may be 

 hereditary, it is certain that southward migration is inaugurated 

 and perpetuated solely by the experienced travellers. Whether 

 the subsequent education of the young extends to an intelligent 

 appreciation of the necessity for migration in the early southward 

 movements, as is apparently the case in the winter and in the 



1 Guidance by veteran leaders in the northward migration is affirmed by Mr. 

 Harvie-Brown in the case of 'Wild Geese' in the Outer Hebrides (Auk, VI, p. 271) 

 and by Mr. Mackay in the Surf Scoter in New England (Auk, VIII, p. 283). 



