NA TURE 



465 



THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1877 



PALM^N ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS 



Ucber die Zugsirassen dcr Vo^el. Von J. A. Palmdn, 

 Docent der Zoologie an dcr UniversitJit Helsingfors. 

 Mit einer lithographirten Tafel. (Leipzig : Engel- 

 mann, 1876.) 



GRANTING it to be true that truth rever dies, it is 

 undeniable that error is hard to kill. A notable 

 instance of this last assertion is furnished by the infatua- 

 tion which possesses so many people, otherwise, perhaps, 

 not unreasoning, to believe that more or fewer of the 

 birds which commonly frequent these islands in summer, 

 pass the winter in a torpid state — *' hibernate," as they 

 are pleased to say. Vainly have travellers or residents 

 on the shores of the Mediterranean, or in the interior of 

 Africa, told us over and over again, how that as the hot 

 weather comes to an end with us, our cuckoos, our swifts, 

 our swallows— nay, almost all our summer birds — come 

 crowding southwards. As vainly have the same ob- 

 servers recorded the northward journeys of the same 

 species, though under somewhat different conditions, on 

 the approach of our spring. Of course, no one who merits 

 the title of an ornithologist disregards the plain evidence 

 thus afforded, or entertains a single doubt as to what it 

 proves — however strongly he may recognise the fact that 

 we know little of the paths taken by the migrants, and 

 next to nothing of the faculty whereby they ordinarily reach 

 their ancestral summer-home. But there are not a few 

 persons enjoying among the vulgar of all classes the repu- 

 tation of being ornithological authorities, and there are 

 thousands of the general public, who still hanker after the 

 ancient faith in "hibernation." It may be said that it is 

 but lost labour to attempt to bring such people to reason, 

 and so, possibly, it is. Still, the apparent gravity with 

 which this absurd notion is from time to time propounded, 

 renders it necessary that its folly should be as often ex- 

 posed, lest the pertinacity with which it is urged gain for 

 it adherents among those who think that, as they en- 

 counter no refutation of it, it mayor must be true, and the 

 testimony in its support unanswerable. As a rule, there 

 seems to be an outbreak of the " hibernation " mania 

 every tv/o years or so. It nearly always presents the 

 same essential features. Some one, who with the multi- 

 tude passes for an ornithologist, sends to a newspaper a 

 second or third-hand story of some nameless person who 

 in some nameless place found a number of torpid 

 swallows in the chink of a chalk-pit, or a drowsy land- 

 rail in a haystack — or, on a log of wood being laid on the 

 fire, of a cuckoo that woke from its slumber and, emerging 

 from its retreat, sat on the hob, regardless of its singed 

 plumage and cheerfully singing its accustomed song. 

 Occasionally a brilliant imagination, and the desire of 

 supplying some grateful novelty suggests a diversion of 

 the details, and the swallows are dragged from a horse- 

 pond in a casting-net, or have got themselves into an eel- 

 pot— or the cuckoo is discovered as the billets are being 

 split. The story, which can be fairly compared with the 

 I tales of witches' imps, and of our dear old friend the ante- 

 diluvian toad-in-a-hole, is repeated in many newspapers, 

 and countless correspondents write letters to their respec- 

 Vol, xv.-r-No. 387 



tive " organs," citing parallel cases of which they have 

 heard from their grandmothers, and wonder why " Pro- 

 fessor " Darwin, Mr. Buckland, or the great " Doctor " 

 Owen, do not favour the public with their views on the 

 matter. 



A delightful example of all this occurred not many 

 weeks since, and one, moreover, marked by so much ori- 

 ginality of conception as to reveal the hand of a master. 

 A reverend gentleman published the evidence of a friend's 

 friend, or that friend's friend's friend (there was a charm- 

 ing uncertainty on this point, and the final friend was of 

 course nameless), who watched " a brood of young 

 swallows too weakly to be able to follow their parents in 

 their migration." (Here it is to be observed that the 

 " hibernation" advocates of late years don't deny migra- 

 tion t'n toto, and that, as explained by the reverend story- 

 teller, the " swallows must have been martins !") " So the 

 old birds left them in their nests and plastered them up 

 with mud." To cut the story short, it is enough to observe 

 that the ingenious and considerate parents were (as they 

 expected) rewarded, on their return next spring, by finding 

 their offspring " none the worse for their six months' in- 

 carceration," and after this happy ending to the tale had 

 been told, the sympathies of the British public were duly 

 roused, and the " hibernation " mania was ready to run its 

 usual course. On this occasion, however, its symptoms 

 were more pronounced than usual, and a philosophical 

 contemporary of ours, always prone to the analysis of 

 conduct— perhaps also seeing in the story a fresh argu- 

 ment against experiments on live animals — hastened to 

 record the story among the news of the week, though 

 admitting that it was " not much in the way of evidence." 

 This admission, however, was prefaced by the very 

 curious statement that " It is at least quite conceivable 

 that a creature which had been a hibernator generations 

 ago, and which had since discovered the preferability of 

 migration to a warmer climate, should yet be able to 

 return to its old habit in case of need." This remark 

 might be allowed to pass if it had only been proved that 

 any bird, since birds ceased to be reptiles, ever had been 

 a " hibernator." As that is not the case it may be sent 

 instantly to the limbo of false hypotheses. Still the ad- 

 mission roused the remonstrances of a correspondent of 

 the same journal, for he not only " was inclined to think " 

 the story " authentic," but adduced in its support an 

 agreeable variation of the fable. His gardener had 

 assured him " that he had himself seen what he described, 

 '* layers of young swallows in a hibernating state, when 

 taking up the flooring of some house in that parish 

 [Thorpe Arch] during winter." O fortunatos nimmm / 

 What sights bless the eyes of gardeners ! Layers of 

 young swallows under our boards or bricks ! How were 

 the rats and mice kept from feasting on their tender 

 bodies ? And then if one did happen to die before the 

 day of release, how sweet would be that superimposed 

 chamber ! Inviting as the theme is, we must leave it to 

 record the further progress of this maniacal outbreak. 



The next portion of our history introduces us to a new 

 world and to a family of birds never before accused of 

 "hibernating." A second correspondent of the same 

 journal, writing under the honoured initials " R. N.," 

 spins a yarn, fit for the fo'castle (if there happen to be an 

 audience of marines), and tells how humming-birds at 



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