Lincoln Frederick Ch. Migration of Birds

Revised Edition. — New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1952. — 111 p.When the birds that have nested in our dooryards and those that have frequented the neighboring woods, hills, and marshes leave us in the fall, the question naturally comes to mind: Where do they go?
This, however, is only one small part of the question as we also wonder: Will the same ones return next spring to their former haunts? What dangers will they face on their round-trip flight and while in their winter homes? These and other questions on the migratory habits of most species of Northern Hemisphere birds puzzle all who are interested in them, whether it be the farmer who profits by their tireless warfare against the weed and insect pests of his crops, the bird student who enjoys an abundance and variety of feathered inhabitants about him, or the hunter who wants a continuation from year to year of the sport of wildfowling. Lack of information on the subject may mean the loss of an important resource by unconsciously letting it slip from us, as ignorance might be responsible for inadequate legal protection for such species as might urgently need it. More general knowledge on the subject will aid in the perpetuation of the various migrants, the seasonal habitats of some of which are in grave danger from man’s utilization, sometimes unwisely, of the marsh, water and other areas that were formerly homes for birds.
The migrations of birds were probably among the first natural phenomena to attract the attention and intrigue the imagination of man. Recorded observations on the subject date back nearly 3,000 years, to the times of Hesiod, Homer, Herodotus, Aristotle, and others. In the Bible there are several references to the periodic movements of birds, as in the Book of Job (39:26), where the inquiry is made: “Doth the hawk fly by Thy wisdom and stretch her wings toward the south?” Jeremiah (8:7), wrote: “The stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed time; and the turtle [dove], and the crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming.” And the flight of quail that saved the Israelites from starvation in their wanderings in the wilderness of Sinai is now recognized as a vast movement of migratory quail between their breeding grounds and their winter home in Africa.
Throughout the ages the return flights of migratory birds have been important as a source of food after a lean winter and as the harbinger of a change in season. The arrival of certain species has been heralded with appropriate ceremonies in many lands, and among the Eskimos and other tribes the phenomenon to this day is the accepted sign of the imminence of spring and of warmer weather. The pioneer fur traders in Alaska and Canada offered rewards to the Indian or Eskimo who saw the first goose of the spring, and all joined in jubilant welcome to the newcomer.