452 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 20, 1909. 
lief that at this time and for this cause our 
American horses and camels and elephants per¬ 
ished. Their remains are found in vast beds 
in the warmest parts of the United States, bor¬ 
dering on the Gulf of Mexico. They had 
reached an impassable barrier, and not being 
fitted (specialized) they inevitably perished. A 
different geographical formation in Asia enabled 
the same creatures to make good their escape 
to warmer regions. 
As there was a minimum, and there will be a 
maximum, to the ice age, so there has been a 
minimum and there will be a maximum to 
migrations. The ice fronts of the polar regions 
must be the limits of the feathered tribes. 
Mammalian life will find its migratory limit far 
short of those points. 
In common with other species there is little 
doubt that earliest man himself was of a migra¬ 
tory habit. The human family was put to the 
same test as others and came out of it trium¬ 
phant. The obstacles which he was forced to 
cope with resulted in his great mental develop¬ 
ment that placed him far in the van in this 
struggle for existence. He invented clothing, 
made better dwellings, discovered the uses of 
fire, and became a domesticator of the wild 
animals, or taking lessons from some others, 
stored away food for the inclement season. 
Thus the most improved race abandoned migra¬ 
tion, and a great advance on civilization was 
accomplished. 
In answer to Mr. Gregor’s question as to 
the “logical reason” of the spring migration, I 
conclude that this characteristic of certain 
species dates from the pleistocene era of the 
tertiary period and has two causes—food supply 
and comfort. 
Of the first category the examples are numer¬ 
ous and present in everybody’s mind. As to the 
second, a forcible case would be that of the 
caribou of Newfoundland which seek a tem¬ 
perature more suitable to their heavy body 
covering three hundred miles to the north of 
their winter home, the most northerly point 
in fact which it is in their power to reach, 
further progress being cut off by the straits of 
Belle Isle. Here they pass the summer months 
in comparative comfort. There is no lack of 
provender in the southern land which they 
abandoned. The barrens are covered with the 
white moss which forms their principal nourish¬ 
ment, but the heat of their thick matted hair 
becomes too oppressive to be borne. 
This is undoubtedly also the case with our 
geese and ducks and of all those varieties which 
greet us in the spring and fall in this half-way 
house of their passage. 
We thus may reach the conclusion that, be¬ 
ginning with the first modifications of climate, 
perhaps at the commencement of the pleistocene 
era, the various forms of life being suited to a 
uniform environment, sought in their wander¬ 
ings to and fro, the continuance of those con¬ 
ditions. 
These movements becoming more necessary as 
the climatic changes became more marked, regu¬ 
lar migratory passages became systematized and 
further extended as the requirements have de¬ 
manded. Clarence J. Reynolds. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
To Drive Away English Sparrows. 
Tarpon Springs, Fla., IMarch 13.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: The purple martins 
usually appear here (perhaps from Cuba) early 
in February. Last year they came on Jan. 25 
and this winter Jan. 30. They seem now to be 
nesting. 
For the benefit of some of your correspond¬ 
ents who have had difficulty in keeping the Eng¬ 
lish sparrows from occupying their martin boxes, 
I will state that in getting rid of these inter¬ 
lopers I have employed two methods, both sim¬ 
ple, and both effective. 
The first time I undertook to scare them away 
was after they had effected a lodgment, and the 
martins, though they did their best, could do 
TWO OF THE CURRIER PARTY MAKING PHOTOGRAPHS 
OF SHASTINA FROM MT. SHASTA. . 
nothing with the intruders. As I had not made 
the boxes for the sparrows I first tried pelting 
them, but this seemed of no avail. I then put 
up a ladder and cleaned out their whole house¬ 
keeping outfit, “lock, stock and barrel.” They 
knew not what to do. They sat around on the 
branches and talked the thing over for half a 
day or so, but at last they seemed to realize 
that they had to cope with something they could 
not manage. They left that night in despair 
and I saw them no more for a long time. 
This winter they came again and as I could 
not shoot them in this village and did not care 
to pelt them, I cast a line over the top of the 
martin house, to one end of which I attached 
a weight, and carried the other end to the door 
of our habitation. I thought that if they were 
about to occupy their old quarters I would pull 
on the line and rattle the weight against the 
bottom of the house. This, however, proved 
unnecessary, for the mere sight of the cord 
aroused their suspicion, and being naturally 
afraid of traps, they could not see what the 
string was for, unless it might be a snare. At 
any rate they left and after a while I removed 
the line. If they come again I shall replace it 
and I think this is all that will be necessary to 
scare them away. 
It is growing warmer; the mercury to-day 
stood at 86 degrees. Kelpie. 
Annual Meeting N. Y. Audubon Society. 
The annual meeting of the Audubon Society 
of the State of New York was held at the 
American Museum of Natural History in this 
city on Thursday, March 18, at 3:30 P. M. The 
following officers were elected: 
President, Henry Fairfield Osborn; Honorary 
Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Robert Abbe, Miss Maria 
R. Audubon, Mrs. Samuel P. Avery, Miss Elea¬ 
nor Blodgett, Mrs. David S. Egleston, Mrs. 
Morris K. Jesup, Mrs. Cadwalader Jones, Mrs. 
William M. Kingsland, Mrs. Francis P. Kinni- 
cutt, Mrs. Seth Low, Mrs. V. Everit Macy, Mrs. 
H. Eairfield Osborn, Mrs. James Roosevelt, Mrs. 
Frank K. Sturgis, Mrs. John King Van Rensse¬ 
laer, L. H. Bailey, Henry Bergh, John Bur¬ 
roughs, John L. Cadwalader, De Witt Clinton, 
George Bird Grinnell, Ph.D., Leonard E. 
Opdyke, Theodore Roosevelt, William O. Still¬ 
man, M.D., Abbott H. Thayer, Alfred Wagstaff, 
Chas. H. Williams; Vice-President, Hermon C. 
Bumpus, Ph.D.; Secretary and Treasurer, Miss 
Emma H. Lockwood; Board of Directors, Henry 
Fairfield Osborn, Hermon C. Bumpus, Ph.D., 
Mrs. Melbert B. Cary, Miss Lilian G. Cook, Mrs. 
H. Fairfield Osborn, Mrs. May Riley Smith, J. 
A. Allen, Ph.D., C. William Beebe, Frank M. 
Chapman, William Dutcher, Henry van Dyke, 
D.D., LL.D., William T. Hornaday, PYederick 
A. Lucas, Frederick Peterson, M.D.; Executive 
Committee, Frank M. Chapman, Chairman; Mrs. 
Melbert B. Cary, Miss Lilian G. Cook, Mrs. May 
Riley Smith, J. A. Allen, Ph.D., William Dut¬ 
cher, Frederick A. Lucas. The president, vice- 
president and secretary-treasurer, ex-officio mem¬ 
bers. 
Louis Agassiz Fuertes delivered an ad¬ 
dress on Birds and Their Songs, and in con¬ 
nection with this address there were exhibited 
Mr. Fuertes’ painting of birds. These paint¬ 
ings will remain on exhibition during the week 
following the meeting. The pictures should be 
seen by everyone interested in our birds. 
The Vision of Animals. 
Naturalists attached to the Zoological Park 
at Washington have concluded some interesting 
experiments to test the vision of certain ani¬ 
mals. Crocodiles cannot distinguish a man at 
distances exceeding ten times their length. Fish 
see for only short distances. The vision of 
most serpents is poor, the boa-constrictor, for 
example, being able to see no further than one- 
third of its own length. Some snakes see no 
further than orte-eighth of their length. Frogs 
are better endowed with sight, for they can 
distinguish objects clearly at a distance of 
twenty times their own length. The hearing of 
nearly all reptiles is even worse than their 
vision. Most of them are quite deaf, especially 
boa-constrictors. The phrase, “deaf as an 
adder,” represents the careful observation of 
our forefathers.—Shooting Times. 
