296 Bird Migration in Solway. [Sess. 



wish to direct particular attention to. You wili have noticed 

 that all the rivers flow into the Solway Firth. We have the 

 Eden draining Cumberland and a part of Westmorland on 

 the English side ; then in Solway proper you have the Esk, 

 the Annan, the Nith, the Dee, and the Cree, along with a 

 number of smaller streams. All of these flow in the same 

 general direction, and have for ages been scooping out valleys 

 that all trend in a southerly direction. The firth that receives 

 this large volume of fresh water has its outlet into the Irish 

 Channel, the arm of the sea that divides Scotland and Eng- 

 land from Ireland. Now, what I want to impress upon you 

 is that the Irish Channel is what in comparatively recent geo- 

 logic times was a great tidal river, of which the Solway streams 

 were its northernmost tributaries, and this ancient river-valley 

 was the route by which the birds came and went in long 

 bypast ages, — a route which has left so strong an impression 

 on posterity that the birds still travel along above what is 

 now a broad sea-way. 



The other point in the title of my remarks is the question 

 of wliat constitutes migration. Migration fills a very large 

 portion of the life of a bird. No sooner is he safely ushered 

 into the wide world beyond the precincts of the nest where 

 his parents tended him with such unwearying assiduity, with 

 feathers stiffening and colours brightening, under the exercise 

 incidental to the first few weeks after he has acquired freedom 

 and independence of his mother's wings, than he begins to 

 think of following in the flight of countless generations of his 

 ancestors that have travelled — who can say for how long ? — 

 to the countries where winter weather and lack of food are 

 both unknown. I have attributed the power of " thought " to 

 the bird, but is this strictly accurate ? Perhaps it is not. 

 Let me call it " inherited habit, inherited memory," or, to be 

 still more precise, " an inherited association of ideas " — a 

 faculty not by any means confined to birds alone. 



Every British bird is migratory, with only one or two 

 exceptions, a notable exception being the Eed Grouse. Eew 

 people thoroughly realise this. Every one is familiar with the 

 coming of the Swallows in spring, and can readily enter into 

 the feelings of pleasure that are constantly associated with the 

 event. While many species of birds are as familiar to us in 



