loth March, IQT4. 



Professor J. A. Lindsay, M.A., M.D., F. R.C.P., President 

 in the Chair. 



"THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS." 

 I3y Profkssor J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., Aberdeen. 



{Abstract) 



The Chairman said they were to have the privilege that night 

 of hearing a very distinguished man of science, to whom, he was 

 sure, they would all give a very hearty welcome. Professor 

 Thomson was one of the leading authorities on natural history, 

 and his works were well known to the world of science. He was 

 no stranger in Belfast, as he had lectured there before on several 

 occasions, and his lectures were remembered with pleasure by all 

 who had had the privilege of hearing them. Without further 

 remark, as their time was limited, the lecturer having to leave by 

 the steamer that night, he wcjuld ask Professor Thomson to 

 proceed with his lecture. 



Professor Thomson, in the course of a very interesting 

 address, said the phenomenon of migration had attracted men's 

 minds from very early times, and was alluded to in the Book of 

 Job and also in Homer's Odyssey, though little was known 

 definitely until comparatively recent times. Latterlyj observations 

 of bird movement in Heligoland, which was favoured by migratory 

 birds only with the exception of the common sparrow, formed the 

 foundation of the study. The five fundamental facts with regard 

 to migration were, first, that in the Northern Hemisphere migration 



