110 JOURNAI, AND PROCEEDINGS 



Natural History Notes 



Read Before the Hamilt07i Scientific Association, 

 May 9th, 1907. 



BY WM. YATES, HATCHLEY 



SOME PECULIAR TRAITS IN BIRD MIGRATIONS. 



Near the time of the autumnal migration, almost all of 

 our common species of birds appear to be taken possession of 

 by the socialistic idea, and are impelled to associate in larger 

 or in smaller flocks or companies. But what seems remark- 

 able is the fact that often a few individual laggards or 

 negligent ones are apt to get "left." Even the platoons of 

 the small birds, such as Wrens, Finches and Robins, often 

 leave lonely, odd members of their kith and kin that would 

 appear not sufficiently on the alert in observing the social 

 resolve to remove " to new fields and pastures new." 



These dilatory individuals are reduced to the expediency 

 of accompanying later groups of " Emigrees " of a different 

 species or bird clan, that have the habit of flitting south- 

 ward later in the season, or else of braving the risks of the 

 non-migratory species. 



When the weather conditions give the bint to the 

 feathered kinds to make a move toward a presumably better 

 "environment," an impulse like the swarming of bees is 

 manifested. In the falcon tribe, this mode of journeying is 

 frequently observable on a gigantic scale. The migrations of 

 the various species of the larger hawks is often a magnificent 

 and interesting spectacle. 



The time of this phenomenal occurrence is usually near 

 the tenth of September, and usually a calm cloudy day is 

 selected for the journey, which begins in the early part of the 

 day. The flight is irj the form of a deliberate whirl or 



