M

AN'S interest in birds began in those far-distant primitive days when an intimate knowledge of all the wild life about him was often his only safeguard against starvation.

Long before the dawn of history the mystery in the great northerly and southerly movements each spring and autumn of vast numbers of birds of many kinds keenly interested him and stimulated his imagination. Fantastic theories were built up to account for them and entered into myths and folklore, where some still survive, even in civilized countries.

For a long period the flights of birds. were considered serious portents in the affairs of men and even of nations, and priests and soothsayers used them to awe the multitude and to read the future. Literature abounds in references to bird migrations, and the poets of the sagas as well as those of more recent times have felt the mystery of these movements and have repeatedly woven them into their writings.

It has long been known that some of the smaller birds that breed in the north appear in middle latitudes on their return in July. The number of these little voyagers increases in August and the movement is in full tide in September. The hosts of wild fowl linger mainly until October and November, when the frosts of approaching winter in the north send them southward.

The multitude of Warblers that went northward in spring so gaily bedecked in all the bravery of their nuptial colors come trooping back with their young, all clad in sober hues more fitting their present prosaic task of making a living off the

country, and laying in a goodly supply of fat to help meet any privations winter may hold in store in the warm southern lands they seek.

ESKIMOS WELCOME THE COMING OF

THE BIRDS

In far northern lands, where untold millions of Ducks and Geese and other wild fowl go to rear their young, the advent, during the last of April or early in May, of the first of these birds is the cause of exultant joy to the people. Contentment fills their hearts, for the coming of the birds marks the end of the long, cold period of scarcity and the beginning of that part of the year in which food is again plentiful.

In the old days fur traders in Canada and Alaska rewarded with tobacco the Indian or Eskimo who saw the first Goose winging its way overhead in spring. White men joined with the natives in the jubilant welcome to the newcomer. four consecutive seasons the writer witnessed such arrivals among the Eskimos on the icebound shore of Bering Sea.

In

The first comer was always a single Goose. He circled high overhead, surveying the snow-mantled region where he and his kind would later rear their young. Each time this "scout" appeared to be as excited at seeing his breeding ground as the people were to see him, and the bird would fill the air with a continuous series of loud, clanging notes, sometimes heard long before he could be seen.

After viewing the snowy landscape the scout always turned back and disappeared toward the Yukon without alighting and

his kind appeared no more until spots of bare ground became visible.

MILLIONS MIGRATE AS SEASONS CHANGE

The bird life of the United States is believed to total more than four billion individuals. This means that many hundred millions of migrants move north and south with the changing seasons. Though many go by day and may be seen by all who take the trouble to observe, vast numbers also pass by night.

During the height of the spring migration, those whose ears are attuned to Nature's voices may hear mysterious notes overhead, many of which may be recognized. They mark the course of winged travelers exulting in springtime vigor and approaching nuptials in the haunts which they seek toward the top of the world. Telescopes held on the moon at that time often reveal their silhouettes as they cross its face.

In autumn the throng moves southward over a longer period, and the travelers wear the soberer garb of everyday life.

Though it has been plain that migrating species, in general, move north and

south-the movements of some covering nearly or quite the entire length of the continent-yet only vague information on the subject has been available, since it was impossible to determine the movements of individuals. Through bird banding a method is now developed that will not only tell us where individual birds wander, but will enable us to trace their routes and determine the exact areas where they go in the north to rear their young or in the south to winter.

We may also learn something concerning the strange, sporadic occurrence of birds in parts of the world far distant from their homes.

Such wandering individuals are probably much more numerous than we suspect. This is indicated by the repeated occurrences of Robins, Bobolinks, and other American birds in England, and even on Helgoland, that insignificant islet in the North Sea where so many visitors from distant regions have been found. St. Paul Island, the largest of the small Pribilof Islands, in Bering Sea, appears to be another landing place for lost birds, judging from the number of stragglers from

eastern Asia and the Alaskan mainland that have been found there.

SYSTEMATIC BIRD BANDING IS A MODERN DEVELOPMENT

Systematic marking of birds, each properly recorded for the purpose of studying movements and habits, has developed in Europe and the United States within the past 30 years. The greatest advance has been since 1920 and it is now becoming a well-recognized line of research.

Investigators familiar with the bird life. of their districts capture the birds, alive and unharmed, with many ingenious traps, and place a numbered aluminum band or ring on the leg of each. Each band bears a central address, so that whenever the bird is retaken, alive or dead, the finder may forward either the band or the number on it.

The use of birds as messengers by man began in the dim past. Perhaps the earliest record is that of Noah, who is said to