he
migratory journey may even have acquired meaning. Whether there be any
recollection of a previous journey or of a nest with young, I do not
know. But the young bird is capable of performing its journey, of
building its nest, and of rearing its young antecedent to
experience--racial preparation has fitted it thus far; why then exclude
the other event in the series, the earlier departure of the male, from
hereditary equipment? If the journey were a casual affair without any
goal attaching to it, if the males upon arrival wandered about in search
of a mate, there would be some ground for thinking that a vague
recollection of the whole former experience was sufficient to explain
the hurried return; but since the pleasurable effect of association,
founded upon previous experience of a definite place, cannot well be
established, and since it is so difficult to study the objective aspect
of the behaviour in question without coming to the conclusion that the
journey is related to the appropriation of a place suitable for the
rearing of offspring, one is tempted to ask whether the hurried return
may not also be so related.

Now the males of some of the migratory species, especially of those
which are accustomed to return to their breeding haunts early in the
season, are called upon to face greater dangers and have a greater
strain imposed upon their strength by starting forth upon their journey
ten days or a fortnight before their prospective mates. The blizzards
which so often sweep across the northern parts of Europe in the latter
half of March, destroying in their course the all too scanty supply of
insect life, may take toll of their numbers; or the westerly gales,
which are not infrequent at that period, may meet them in mid-ocean and
add to the perils of their journey; or the temperature of the previous
weeks may have been sufficiently low to arrest the development of insect
life--and yet males are annually exposed to these risks in hurrying to
their breeding grounds. For what purpose? The answer will largely depend
upon the way in which we regard those few acres wherein a resting place
is ultimately found. For myself, I believe that they are of importance,
inasmuch as the securing of a place suitable for the rearing of
offspring is a primary condition of success in the attainment of
reproduction; and if this be so, it is evident that the interests of
the race will be better served by the males making good this first st