Natural history -- Outdoor books; Nature; Nature study; Paris (France) -- Description and travel
One or
other of these causes will explain almost every case of migration.
Birds are lively and intellectual, imaginative and affectionate
creatures, and all their movements are not dictated by mere necessity.
They love the hedge and bush where they were born, they return to the
same tree, or the same spot under the eave. On the other hand, they
like to roam about the fields and woods, and some of them travel long
distances during the day. When the pleasurable cares of the nest are
concluded, it is possible that they may in some cases cross the sea
solely for the solace of change. Variety of food is itself a great
pleasure. By prehistoric memory is meant the unconscious influence of
ancient habit impressed upon the race in times when the conformation of
land and sea and the conditions of life were different. No space is
left for a mysterious agency; migration is purely natural, and acts for
the general preservation. Try to put yourself in a bird's place, and
you will see that migration is very natural indeed. If at some future
period of the world's history men should acquire the art of flying,
there can be no doubt that migration would become the custom, and whole
nations would change their localities. Man has, indeed, been always a
migratory animal. History is little beyond the record of migrations,
how one race moved on and overcame the race in front of it. In ancient
days lots were cast as to who should migrate, and those chosen by this
conscription left their homes that the rest remaining might have room
and food. Checking the attempted migration of the Helvetii was the
beginning of Caesar's exploits. What men do only at intervals birds do
frequently, having greater freedom of movement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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