Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/829

Rh any discussion of but few of these interesting questions. From their very nature it is evident that futile must prove the labors of him who would attempt to solve these problems alone. Only through the concerted action and labors of many observers in different and widely separated regions can any reliable conclusions be reached. Not until recently has the subject of bird-migration been studied systematically in this country or elsewhere.

Three years ago a gentleman in the Mississippi Valley addressed personal letters to several hundred naturalists, teachers, ministers, farmers, and others in the different Valley States, asking them to cooperate with him in studying the movements of the birds of this region. They were requested to note only the more common phenomena of migration, such as the time of arrival and departure of each species, the time of breeding, and the comparative abundance of the various species. They were asked to record such observations as they could, and send in reports to him of what they had seen. More than one hundred observers were thus secured, who reported to him the results of their observations, and this, if I mistake not, was the first corps of migration observers in America.

A little later, in September, 1883, the American Ornithologists' Union was organized. Among the committees appointed at its first meeting was one on "The Migration and Geographical Distribution of North American Birds." Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of Locust Grove, New York, was made chairman of this committee. It has been and is the purpose of this committee "to investigate in all its bearings, and to the fullest extent possible, the subject of the migration of birds in the United States and British North America, Its work is not limited to the accumulation of records of the time of arrival and departure of the different species, but it embraces as well the collection of all data that may aid in determining the causes which influence the progress of migration from season to season." For example, severe storms, gales of wind, long periods of unusally high or low temperature, are some of the atmospheric conditions which are known to exert marked effects upon the movements of birds.

In order to secure as many observers as possible, and that the material collected by this great array of observers be speedily elaborated, the United States was divided into a dozen or more districts, each of which was placed in charge of a competent superintendent. The superintendent's duties are to secure as many observers in his district as he can, to give them all needed instructions concerning the work, to act as a means of communication between the observers and the chairman of the committee, to collect, at stated times, the results of their observations, and submit them to the committee. The chairman will arrange, condense, and systematize these reports, and present