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ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



By Otto Herman, 

 Late M.P.. Director of the Hungarian Central Office of Ornithology, etc. 



(Delivered by Mrs. A. G-inever, nee Ilona de Györy.) 



At the moment when I am to begin my short lecture, I am 

 under the impression of the suiTOundings and of the occa- 

 sion on which I have the privilege of speaking. Surroundings 

 and occasion impose upon me duties I cannot afford to lose 

 sight of. 



To speak on the migration of birds is an easy, and, at the 

 same time, a difficult task. 



Easy, if the phenomenon of migration is looked upon 

 from the point of view of the impression it makes upon the 

 mind of man — difficult if we would do justice to the require- 

 ments of the subject as a scientific study. 



It would be easy for me to draw a richly-coloured picture 

 of the arrival of our pets in spring ; to describe the feelings 

 of the inhabitant of the moderate zone called forth by 

 the sight of the first swallow. The popular songs of all the 

 nations of this zone teem with joy at the return of the 

 songsters to wood and field ; the poets, too, the noblest, are 

 inspired thereby. Perhaps I might succeed in interlarding 

 my description with oriental shades which might make a 

 lasting impression on the practical sons of Albion, who take 

 a lively interest in the enumeration of these facts. 



The reverse of the vernal picture and the feelings 

 awakened by it, is the autumnal migration. The disappear- 

 ance of our faithful house and garden friends, the sudden 

 silence of wood and meadow, makes us sad, because it tells 

 of evanescence, being the herald of inclement weather, 

 thus rendering our depression doubly acute. The autumnal 

 migration leaves its impression on the mind of the people, 

 too, an impression sometimes so powerful that a vast nation 

 cannot shake off the shackles of disconsolation. I need 

 only refer to the German song of the swallow, written by 



