Why Birds Migrate. 
(Copyrighted, 1904.) 
One morning in April, after a long 
ramble through the meadows and 
thickets and across the marshes, I 
found myselt upon the shore of one of 
the smail bays that indent the wes- 
tern part ot Cape Ann. A thick 
growth of pines broke off the wind, 
still chilled by the northern snows, 
and the sun shone warmly upon the 
sheltered beach. 
It was a genuine spring morning 
and the birds were coming back to 
their northern haunts. During my 
entire walk the joyous’ medley 
of the song-sparrow had been sound- 
ingin my ears. Once, in crossing a 
ravine, | found its echoes ringing with 
the sweet cadence of the white- 
throated sparrow. The chipping 
Sparrow made its presence known in 
nearly every hedge-row and clump of 
trees which I passed. A group of 
seven cow-birds in the top of an apple 
tree seemed to catch the inspiration 
of the morning and exerted them- 
selves to sing. It was amusing to 
watch them as, with a flirt of the tail 
and a ruffle of the feathers, they gave 
in characteristic tones their squeak- 
ing cluck-see. Various groups — of 
unusually noisy crows passed over- 
head on their day’s pilgrimage from a 
neighboring roost. It may not be 
generally known that the crows with- 
in a radius of many miles have a com- 
mon roosting ground where they 
gather nightly. 
A flock of red-winged blackbirds 
settled upon the withered reeds of 
the marsh close by and vied with each 
other in their incessant chatter. Al- 
though more ambitious, they make 
as bad failures at song as the cow- 
bird. 
A flitting speck of gold caught my 
eye as I stood leaning against a pine, 
attentive to the music of wood, sea 
and bird. I cautiously followed it 
and found a pair of golden-crowned 
kinglets in a scrubby fir. Whether 
they had passed the winter in this lo- 
cality or not, or were on their way 
northward to hide their delicate eggs 
in the pendent moss of the hemlock 
NOK TH SHORE, BREEZE 
forests of the White Hills would be 
hard to say. 
The larger number of most species 
of birds migrate, but a few stragglers 
of many species remain in New Eng- 
land through the winter, notably the 
crow, jay, robin and kinglet. Birds 
dependent upon the insects for food 
move southward as the insects disap- 
pear, returning to their old breeding 
places with the return of these in- 
sects, such as the kingbird and other 
fly-catchers The reason is clear why 
such birds migrate; but why should 
those birds migrate that do not de- 
pend upon such food and can with- 
stand the rigors of the climate? 
Even a few of the golden-winged 
woodpeckers, chiefly insectivorous, 
remain in northern Massachusetts 
throughout severe winters. If some 
migrate, why not all? Possibly, I 
thought, there was once a good rea- 
son extending througha long geolog- 
ical period why all birds should mi- 
grate, and now that there is no cause 
for it the inherited instinct is fading 
from some of them, while others 
migrate from the stronger instinct. 
The kingfisher, that “flash of blue’’ 
above a woodland brook, goes south- 
ward when the ice prevents his div- 
ing. Surely here is a cause for mi- 
grating. But the greater number of 
birds—have they a lingering instinc- 
tive fear of an agent in the long gone 
past similar to the one that now dis- 
turbs the kingfisher? Ifso, when was 
the memory image made, and how long 
will it be an inheritance? These 
thoughts came to me as I strolled 
along the sand, and, climbing to the 
top of a ledge seated myself upon a 
boulder to watch a flock of gulls feed- 
ing upon a reef. 
As I watched the tide recede and 
the fish follow it, I thought that I 
saw an active illustration of the in- 
fluence of physical agents upon the 
denizens of earth. -As long as there 
has been water upon the earth and a 
moon to govern it, so long have. the 
waters been obedient, and ever since 
the seas have had tenants so long 
have these tenants Jiving near the 
shore been forced to migrate, so to 
9 
speak, with the changing of the tide. 
Geology has already demonstrated 
the transtormation of some fishes into 
amphibians, some amphibians into 
true reptiles and some reptiles into 
birds. The rocks of the Cretaceous 
Period contain many records of the 
transformation of species and yield 
specimens of flying reptiles and birds, 
flesperonis regalis (Marsh), with rep- 
tile-like teeth, and still others, Arch- 
aecopteryx, with true reptilian tails. 
Our bird is but a reptile, such as the 
Icthyosaurus of the Jurasic and Creta- 
ceous shores, with suitable modifica- 
tions to adapt itself to air, namely, — 
a shortened tail, scales modified to 
feathers, two limbs transformed into 
wings, the long jaws shortened into a 
beak with teeth omitted, bones light- 
ened for flight and chest muscles 
highly developed. The aquatic birds 
-have not made so much advancement 
as the singers, and consequently do 
not differ so much from their Meso- 
zoic ancestors, and their feeding 
grounds have been the marshes and 
fenlands from the days of the /cthyor- 
nis till the present time, and their 
habits are similar to what we may in- 
fer were the habits of the older birds. 
Indeed the marine fish-eating birds 
resemble the most ancient forms of 
bird life. 
It is easy to let imagination run 
away with reason and involve the 
mind in the labyrinth of a pretty 
theory, but, since our birds are the 
progeny of the Devonian marine life, 
may we not infer that the coming and 
going of the tides for unnumbered 
aeons left its influence upon the fish- 
like reptiles and the reptile-like birds 
which lived within the influence of 
the tides? Here, I thought, was the 
origin of the desire to flee before the 
approach of destructive elements. 
With the dawn of the Cenozoic Era 
came the destruction of most of the 
old reptilian forms and the advent of 
the species which so closely resemble 
the modern pelican, owl, woodpecker, 
waders and perchers. These had 
hardly taken a firm hold upon the 
continent and become acquainted 
[Continued on page 15.] 
BEVERLY NATIONAL BANK. 
CAPITAL $200,000. 
Transacts a General Banking Business. Accounts solicited and every facility afforded for prompt and satisfactory 
business relations. 
ALBERT PERRY, President. 
ANDREW W. ROGERS, Vice-President. 
Certificates of Deposit issued bearing interest for actual time outstanding. 
SAFE DEPOSIT BOXES TO RENT. 
OFFICE HOURS: 6.30 A.M. TO 2 P.M. 
ALLEN H. BENNETT, Cashier. 
