40 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 



THE 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



O O L G I S T . 



.1 MOXTHhY MAGAXIXE OF 



NATURAL HISTORY, 



ESPECIALLY DEVOTED TO THE STTDY OF 



BIKDS, 



THEIR ySSTS AXr) EGGS. 



uk.-?u;nei> as a means for the intekchange of notes 



and observations on bird life. 



FRANK B. WEBSTER, Publisher, 



PAWTUCKET, T(. I. 



Editor's Notes. 



What causes the Migration of Birds? 

 This (iuestiou is answered bj- a writer in the 

 Edinl>urgh Review (extracts from whose 

 article we reprint) and iinswered very posi- 

 tively—too positive]3' we think — as wholly 

 a matter of food. We venture to think 

 this solution by no means explains the 

 2)henomena seen annually all over the 

 world. No doubt it is a cause of the peri- 

 odical movements of the Birds, but scarce- 

 ly the Dii/i/, perhaps not the piinciital, one. 

 Impelled by hunger, many cf our New- 

 England Birds flock into the towns and 

 villages in severe weather; a season which 

 has been unfavorable for the rijiening of 

 certain berries will cause our Winter birds 

 to seek other localities; the extension of 

 pojiulation westward takes certain bird.s to 

 localities they had never previously been 

 accustomed to visit — and on the other hand, 

 causes the wilder sjiecies to seek more re- 

 tired quarters. But these accidents of the 

 seasons or of civilization are not "Migra- 

 tion. " If it were only a question of food 

 would not all the birds flock to genial cli. 

 mates, where insects and vegetable food are 

 abundant all the year, autl stay there ! 



Why should the Hummingbirds leave the 

 flowers of Florida and Mexico, to seek the 



compartively rare ones of New England '! 

 Would not each species soon find his Win- 

 ter resort also his best Summer home '? 

 Perhaps we are not yet sufficiently ac- 

 quainted with the facts of migration to 

 venture upon explaining tJiem, but we 

 know enough to say the Reviewer's opinion 

 falls very far short of explaining points 

 already beyond doubt. 



This month again, we insert another 

 letter upon the Destruction of Birds for 

 Millinery Purposes. W^e have endeavored 

 to give both sides an opportunity of main- 

 taining their positions, and we regret the 

 somewhat personal tone which has pervaded 

 the discussion. We allude to the matter 

 here because we think it advisable to place 

 some limit upon our correspondents. W'e 

 are promised facts, but do not seem to get 

 fnrthei- than "going for" the other man — • 

 which appears to be the preliminary. W'e 

 hope both sides are now reaily to return to 

 first piinoiples. In any further lettei-s we 

 may insert, we shall endeavor to keep 

 them to the points at issue, rather than to 

 the records of the other side. And the 

 points at issue are surely of sufficient im- 

 portance. If a senseless fashion is causing 

 widespread and jirobably permanent injury 

 to the more attractive part of our Bird 

 Life, it is well we should know it and use 

 every means to diminish or remove the evil. 

 On the other hand if the birds killed bear 

 only a small proportion to the total, we 

 may w isely conclude that there is no reason 

 for interference or cause for alarm. 



Mr. Walter Hoxie writes us that he shot 

 a specimen of Red wiug Blackbird of va- 

 riety ijitbernator, in a flock of the ordinary 

 tyjie. Tliat this Paciflc slope variety should 

 be found in South Carolina is certainly 

 very wonderful, more especially as the 

 Red-wings winter in the temperate zone, 

 and a frequent cause of straggling — win- 

 tering together in the narrow American 

 Tropics where east and west almost unite 

 — is removed in their case. 



