Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1892 — Bird Migrations. [ARTICLE]

Bird Migrations.

A few scientists recently spent the night in the hand of Bartholdi’s Liberty on Bedloe’s Island, New York harbor, making observations on the migration of birds. They saw flocks of blackbirds, robins, thrushes, mocking birds, woodpeckers, kingfishers, larks, sand-pipers, plovers, snipes, bobolinks, brants, ducks, and geese. With large nets they were able to catch all the specimens necessary for examination, and when the temporary prisoners were set free they at once started southward. Hundreds of birds dashed against the statue and fell to the ground dead. Each flock seemed to have a few veterans as leaders, whose calls were answered by a rear guard. The birds that migrate at night are supposed to take their direction from the stars and not the topography of the country.