ZooL.— Vol. II.] LOOMIS— CALIFORNIA WATER BIRDS. 309 



Because the Shearwaters and Phalaropes were dependent 

 upon the land for guidance off Monterey, it does not neces- 

 sarily follow that migrants over the sea are always guided by 

 landmarks. Ofttimes currents and winds ^ may possibly be 

 the directing phenomena.^ The study of migration in the 

 vicinity of isolated oceanic islands by a trained student of 

 migration would probably throw much light upon this point. 



To recapitulate: These investigations seem to prove, i. 

 That the Shearwaters off Monterey find their position and 

 shape their course by the landmarks; 2. That birds do not 

 possess a mysterious superhuman faculty for determining 

 direction,^ else the Shearwaters would not have been be- 

 wildered in the fog. 



Guidance by Old Birds. 



In the early southward movements, particularly along 

 coast-lines, it often happens that birds-of-the-year are seen 

 in advance of the adults. This simple fact has involved 

 the migration of birds in obscurity, and given rise to much 

 speculation concerning inherited experience, it even being 

 affirmed that young birds but a few weeks from the nest, 

 without the aid of their elders, unerringly perform the jour- 

 ney to the winter habitat, perhaps thousands of miles dis- 

 tant, meeting successfully all the vicissitudes of weather 

 and other dangers by the way. No wonder the migration 

 of birds has been styled the 'mystery of mysteries' if such 

 exact knowledge of geography is stored in an egg-shell. 

 Upon the surface, a more reasonable view would seem to 

 be that the young are guided from the place of their birth 

 to the winter abode through the experience of the older 

 birds. 



In the summers of 1892 and 1894 ^"^^ ^" ^^^ autumn of 

 1896 it was discovered that the first migrants of a species 

 were inclined to pass over Monterey Bay, stragglers only 



1 See Calif. W. B. No. II, p. 13. 



~ Celestial phenomena, as well as terrestrial, may be a means of guidance, at least in 

 locating the cardinal points. 



3 The supreme test in this matter is found in the highly pelagic species rather than 

 in those dwelling upon the land. 



( 3 ) February 12, 1900. 



