and the Maritime Provinces. -' r ' 



that these water birds (ducks, geese, swans, etc.), all large, strong and 

 hardy species, do not go nearly so far south as a rule as the smaller and 

 consequently weaker shore birds (curlew, plover, sandpipers, etc.). 



In passing, I will say that this fact, in a great measure, bears out my 

 idea of the origin of migration of birds, for it is highly probable that the 

 water birds were capable of living much nearer the ice sheet than were the 

 shore birds, hence never went as far south during the last glacial period. 



Before beginning to mention in detail the species among the birds which 

 we have under consideration, I will say a few words about the velocity of 

 flight. Without wearying the reader with data, I will simply say that in 

 regard to the velocity of flight of the water birds, according to my own and 

 others' observations, geese, swans and other large species move at upwards 

 of one hundred miles an hour; thus they can readily accomplish a distance 

 of 1,000 miles between meals. 



Ducks, especially the smaller species, like teal, scaup, etc., move 

 more rapidly than this, the average being probably as high as one hundred 

 and fifty miles per hour. 



Shore birds, as has been already stated, move more rapidly, averaging 

 one hundred and eighty miles per hour, and some species probably even 

 exceed this, flying at the great speed of two hundred miles per hour. It is 

 a well-established fact that the golden plover sometimes may take one unin- 

 terrupted flight from Newfoundland to the West Indies in a straight line, thus 

 covering 3,200 miles. Even if the birds went without food for sixteen hours, 

 which would probably be longer than they could fast without becoming too 

 exhausted to fly, it will be seen that they must move at the astonishing 

 rate of two hundred miles per hour, or even more, in order to accomplish it. 



It will be seen that I have qualified the above statement by insert- 

 ing the word may before take, as it is possible that such birds as 

 the plover, sandpiper, etc., occasionally alight upon those large floating 

 masses of sea-weed, which often cover many square rods of water in the 

 open Atlantic. I have seen large flocks of Phalaropes sitting upon these 

 patches of sea-weed, at least one hundred miles from land. It is probable 

 that these birds feed upon small mollusks, crustaceans, etc., which abound 

 upon the gulf-weed, and I see no reason why plover and other shore birds 

 should not, if driven to it, do the same thing. 



Now to give some of the details regarding the migration of species ; 

 we will begin with the largest, the swans. 



The whistling swan is the most common species on our southern coast, 

 from Chesapeake bay southward, nearly to the Gulf coast. Swans pass 

 north to their summer homes, in the far-away Arctic region, through the 

 interior of the country, and return in autumn the same way. Thus they 

 are now seldom, or never, seen on the coast of the northern States. 



