CHAPTER IV. 
THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS.* 
To the field student the season of migration is the 
most interesting of the year. The bird-life of a vast 
area then passes in review before him. Though living 
in a temperate region, he may see birds whose summer | 
home is within the Arctic Circle, whose winter haunts are — 
in the tropics. Who can tell what bird he may find in 
the woods he has been exploring for years ? 
The comparative regularity with which birds come 
and go gives an added charm to the study of migration. 
Their journey is not a “helter-skelter” rushing onward, 
but is like the well-governed march of an army. We 
feel a sense of satisfaction in knowing when we may ex- 
pect to greet a given species, and a secret elation if we 
succeed in detecting it several days in advance of other 
observers. We study weather charts, and try to foretell 
or explain those great flights or “ waves” of birds which 
are so closely dependent upon meteorologic conditions. 
* Read Allen, Scribner's Magazine, vol. xxii, 1881, pp. 932-938, 
Bulletin of Nuttall Ornithological Club (Cambridge, Mass.), vol. v, 
1880, pp. 151-154. Scott. ibid.. vol. vi, 1880, pp. 97-100, Brewster, 
Memoirs of Nuttall Ornithological Club, No. 1, pp. 22. Cooke and 
Merriam. Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley (Washington, 1888). 
Chapman, The Auk (New York city), vol. v, 1888, pp. 37-389; vol. xi, 
1994, pp. 12-17. Loomis, ibid., vol. ix, 1892, pp. 28-39: vol. xi, 1894, 
pp. 26-39, 94-117. Stone, Birds of Eastern Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey, pp. 15-28. 
48 
