Abstract
IN a reply of Dr. Weismann's to some remarks by Prof. A. Newton in his paper on the migration of birds (NATURE, vol. xix. p. 579), a statement of mine is quoted to the effect that “in July young starlings pass over Heligoland by hundreds of thousands without a single old bird accompanying them,” the learned Doctor adding that he “cannot regard this as a fact, but as a more or less probable conjecture.” This is a rather bold and unceremonious assertion. As, however, Dr. Weismann, with reference to the above, and to the autumnal passage of young birds prior to their parents in general, puts the question “but are these really facts?” admitting that if they were they would “seem to be against the sufficiency of the five senses”—and as in any probable future efforts of the learned gentleman's on the above topic, incontestable facts might prove infinitely more useful than ever so voluminous an amount of nicest conjecture, I beg to be allowed to contribute some statements bearing on the question, which are based on daily observations of mine now extending over a period of more than forty years, and made on Heligoland—than which an observatory more favoured for such purposes the rest of Europe may not afford.
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GÄTKE, H. The Migration of Birds . Nature 20, 97–99 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/020097b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/020097b0
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