It is only in the last hundred years or so that we have really begun to understand migration. Before then, people had some pretty strange ideas. But even with all the advantages of modern technology, we still have lots to learn.
Ancient books show how people in early times noted the comings and goings of birds. In the Iliad, written in the 8th century BC, the Greek poet Homer described the Trojan army as being ‘like the cranes which flee from the coming winter and sudden rain’.
In The Bible, the prophet Jeremiah says: ‘Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle (turtle dove) and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming’ (Jeremiah 8: 7). Thousands of years ago, migratory birds were an important source of food. No wonder people noticed when they disappeared!
View this page online at http://www.rspb.org.uk/youth/learn/migration/understanding/index.asp