hollow trees, caves, or in the mud of marshes. Aristotle ascribed 

 hibernation not only to swallows, but also to storks, kites, doves, and 

 others. Some early naturalists wrote fantastic accounts of the flocks 

 of swallows allegedly seen congregating in marshes until their 

 accumulated weight bent into the water the reeds on which they 

 clung and thus submerged the birds. It was even recorded that when 

 fishermen in northern waters drew up their nets they sometimes had 

 a mixed "catch" of fish and hibernating swallows. Clarke (1912) 

 quotes Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, who in 1555 published a 

 work entitled "Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalis et Natura," 

 wherein he observed that if swallows so caught were taken into a 

 warm room they would soon begin to fly about but would live only a 

 short time. 



Although the idea of hibernation as a regular method of spending 

 the winter is no longer accepted for any species of bird, certain 

 hummingbirds, swifts, and poorwills have been known to go into an 

 extremely torpid condition in cold weather (Jaeger 1948, 1949). Thus 

 Aristotle was at least partially vindicated. 



Aristotle also was the originator of the theory of transmutation, or 

 the seasonal change of one species into another. Frequently one 

 species would arrive from the north just as another species departed 

 for more southerly latitudes. From this he reasoned the two different 

 species were actually one and assumed different plumages to 

 correspond to the summer and winter seasons. 



Probably the most remarkable theory advanced to account for 

 migration is contained in a pamphlet, "An Essay toward the Probable 

 Solution of this Question: Whence come the Stork and the Turtledove, 

 the Crane, and the Swallow, when they Know and Observe the 

 Appointed Time of their Coming," mentioned by Clarke (1912: v. 1, 

 9-11) published in 1703. It is written "By a Person of Learning and 

 Piety," whose "probable solution" stated migratory birds flew to the 

 moon and there spent the winter. Astronauts have so far failed to 

 verify this. 



Some people, who easily accepted the migratory travels of larger 

 birds, were unable to understand how smaller species, some of them 

 notoriously poor fliers, could make similar journeys. They 

 accordingly conceived the idea that larger species (e.g., storks and 

 cranes) carried their smaller companions as living freight. In some 

 southern European countries, it is still believed these broad-pinioned 

 birds serve as aerial transports for hosts of small birds that 

 congregate upon the Mediterranean shore awaiting the opportunity 

 for passage to winter homes in Africa. Similar beliefs, such as 

 hummingbirds riding on the backs of geese, have been found among 

 some tribes of North American Indians. 



Today we realize that birds do not migrate by "hitching" rides with 

 other birds and that the scope of the migration phenomenon is 

 worldwide, not simply limited to the United States, the Northern 

 Hemisphere, or the world's land masses. The migration heritage is 

 developed just as extensively in Old World warblers migrating to and 



