The Migration of North American Birds (1935)Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Science
The Migration of North American Birds (1935)
Lincoln, Frederick Charles
Birds -- Migration
A modern view, based on studies of living behavior, favors the theory
of photoperiodism, propounded by recent investigators as the cause
of the annually induced movements of the birds. This theory holds as
its major premise that quantity of light and length of day are the
stimulating causes of migration. Its proponents urge that migration
is a phenomenon far too regular to be created anew each season merely
under stress of circumstances, such as need for food; and that it
begins before the necessity for a change in latitude becomes at all
pressing. Swallows, nighthawks (_Chordeiles minor_), shore birds,
and others may start their southward movement while the summer food
supply in the North is at peak abundance; while robins (_Turdus
migratorius_), bluebirds (_Sialia sialis_), and others may leave
an abundant food in the South in spring and press toward northern
points when the food supplies there are almost entirely lacking
and when severe cold and storms are likely to play havoc with the
advance migrants. The regularity of arrival and departure is one of
the most impressive features of migration, and since birds travel in
almost strict accordance with the calendar, the proponents of the
theory ask: What phenomenon to which we may attribute the stimulating
impulse occurs with such precise regularity as the constantly
increasing light in spring?
Experimental work has abundantly demonstrated the effect of increased
light upon the growth, flowering, and fruiting of plants. Similarly,
experiments with the common junco, or snowbird (_Junco hyemalis_),
reported by Rowan (_42, p. 121_), resulted in increased development
of the sexual organs by the end of December, although the birds
were confined in outdoor aviaries in Canada and had been exposed
to temperatures as low as -44° F. From the first of November until
early in January, the juncos were subjected to ever-increasing
light, supplied in the aviaries by electric bulbs. As regards
illumination, they were thus artificially provided with conditions
approximating those of spring. At the close of this period, it was
found that the sexual organs of the birds had attained the maximum
development normally associated with spring. With gradual reduction
of the lighting over a period of little more than 1 month, the organs
returned to their normal winter condition.
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