THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS 



CHAPTER I 



MIGRATION OF BIRDS 



MIGRATION is the act of changing an abode or 

 resting place, the wandering or movement from one 

 place to another, but technically the word is applied 

 to the passage or movement of birds, fishes, insects 

 and a few mammals between the localities inhabited 

 at different periods of the year. The wandering 

 of a nomadic tribe of men is migration ; the mollusc, 

 wandering from feeding ground to feeding ground 

 in the bed of the ocean, migrates ; the caterpillar 

 migrates from branch to branch, even from leaf to 

 leaf ; the rat leaves the ship in which it has travelled 

 and migrates to the granary ; we pack our goods, 

 hire a removing van and migrate to a new abode. 

 The word migration thus applied may be literally 

 correct but it fails to convey the generally accepted 

 meaning, and the expression Bird Migration sug- 

 gests periodical and regular movement, the passage 

 as a rule between one country and another. 

 The popular application of a term does not do 



