24 
EIGHTH REPORT. 
day the 14th. In the words of the narrator, Arthur T. Wayne, “The 
destruction of bird life caused by this cold wave can scarcely be con¬ 
ceived. To say that Fox Sparrows and Snowbirds were frozen to 
death by the millions is a conservative statement. Thousands tarried 
in my yard all day long and swarmed in the piazza, fowl-yard, and 
every place that would afford protection. . . . When they were 
benumbed by the cold Boat-tailed Gracldes and Red-winged Blackbirds 
would peck them at the base of the skull, killing them and eating them. 
The stronger Fox Sparrows would also eat their dead companions. It 
was a most pathetic sight. I caught quantities of Fox Sparrows, Grass 
Finches, Snowbirds and Chipping Sparrows and put them into a large 
cage which I brought into the house and placed before a large fire with 
the hope of saving them from destruction, but despite this they all 
died. ■ • • The Woodcock arrived in countless thousands. 
. They were everywhere and were completely bewildered. Tens of 
thousands were killed by would-be sportsmen and thousands were frozen 
to death. The great majority were so emaciated that they were prac¬ 
tically feathers and of course were unable to stand the cold. One 
man killed 200 pairs in a few hours.” Mr. Wayne names sixteen species 
of birds that were killed in large numbers by this cold wave.* 
We have not time to discuss the alleged power of birds to divine com¬ 
ing storms, nor can we enter into a consideration of such instincts as 
should save them from such disasters as those just described. I have 
tried to show already that they possess no such: extraordinary powers 
of flight as are ascribed to them by popular writers, and had we the 
time, it might be shown, I believe, that at least for a very large part 
of their migratory flight they do not follow fixed paths, nor do they 
retrace their footsteps—or better, wing-beats—through memory. That 
certain great natural highways exist, I have no doubt, but certainly 
part of the throngs of birds which' use them do so not because they 
have ever used them before, or even because their ancestors used them, 
but because the same forces which led to their use then are still opera¬ 
tive and because these routes are the easiest and best paths to the regions 
desired. 
It goes without saying that the motives for migration,—the cause or 
causes, are ever at work, but whether we understand these or not, the 
great facts of migration are always before us and the ways in which 
it is accomplished demand explanation. Inherited habit, instinct, phe¬ 
nomenal eye-sight, remarkable memory, amazingly developed power of 
orientation, all these have their part in the scheme; and I am willing 
to give the birds credit for helping each other, the older for guiding 
the younger, and the younger for submitting to be led. Yet no one of 
these factors, nor all combined, will fully explain such facts as that 
the great bulk of American Golden Plover reared in northwestern Arctic 
America, move southeastward to Labrador, southward over the Atlantic 
or along the coast to Brazil and finally to the Pampas and plains of 
Argentina and Patagonia, 6,000 or 7,000 miles from their birthplace, 
and that eventually those which live resort again to Northwestern 
America to nest without ever passing in sight of a single region which 
they visited on their southward trip. This seemingly inexplicable route 
* Auk. XVI, 1899, pp. 196-198. 
