Page:The Migration of Birds - Thomas A Coward - 1912.pdf/58

42 later the shortening of the journey, through lengthening of the short cut, would lead the birds to Vera Cruz and later still to Yucatan. It may be questioned, what object could the birds have in risking an over sea voyage, away from chance of food and hope of rest, when the land-bridge remained open for them? Each individual or group of individuals which arrived at any particular place a little in advance of the migrating multitudes of its own species, or others which fed upon the same kind of food, would certainly gain advantage, and would he the most likely to develop strong flight and the power of endurance in its descendants; it would indeed be a winner in life's race.

Great weight has been placed upon the use of land-bridges and the hereditary habit of crossing seas where these land-bridges once existed but have been submerged during the great geological changes in the earth's surface. Many have insisted that wherever migrants cross the see they do so along submerged coastlines or over submerged land-bridges, arguing that the gradual evolution which has made the advantageous adoption of a habit of migration possible was unable to eliminate the hereditary tendency to follow the exact route by which their ancestors passed from place to place. That there have been considerable alterations in coast-lines and in the general distribution of land