THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 769.— July, 1905. 



ON THE MIGKATION OF BIEDS.* 



By Otto Herman, late M.P., Director of the Hungarian 

 Central Office of Ornithology, &c. 



At the moment of commencing my short lecture, I am 

 under the impression of the surroundings, and of the occasion 

 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 

 requirements 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 temperate 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. Per- 

 haps 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. 



* Address given at Fourth International Ornithological Congress, 

 London, June, 1905. 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. IX., July, 1905. u 



