XXIII.—An Analysis of the Influence of Weather upon a Migratory Movement of Birds

Abstract

The fundamental impulse determining the migration of birds is connected with the reproductive cycle; but when that has been recognised it must also be admitted that there are secondary conditions of environment which regulate the actual movements of which a migration is compounded. Of these weather has long been looked upon as one of the most important. There is still, however, much divergence of opinion as to the extent and nature of the influence of weather, and indeed in recent years statistical analysis has led workers, such as Bretscher (1915), to doubt whether any satisfactory connection between meteorological conditions and migration can be demonstrated, and Lincoln to announce boldly that “the state of the weather at any point has little if anything to do with the time of arrival of migratory birds” (1935, p. 59).