were obtained and processed, will explore the general nature of the
problem and show by specific example how a set of observations is
prepared for analysis. Part II will deal with the results obtained and
their interpretation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
In the pursuit of this research I have received a tremendous amount of
help from my colleagues, students, and other friends. In the first
place, in order to obtain much of the data on which the study was
based, it was necessary to enlist the aid of many persons in various
parts of the country and to draw heavily on their time and patience to
get all-night telescopic counts of migrating birds. Secondly, the
processing of the primary data and its subsequent analysis demanded
that I delve into the fields of astronomy and mathematics. Here, from
the outset, I have enjoyed the constant and untiring help of Professor
W. A. Rense of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana
State University. Without his collaboration, I would not have been
able to do this work, for he not only supplied formulae whereby I was
able to make desired computations, but time and again he maneuvered me
through my difficulties in the mathematical procedures. Moreover,
Professor Rense has manifested a great interest in the ornithological
aspect of the problem, and his trenchant advice has been of
inestimable value to me. No less am I indebted to my associate, Robert
J. Newman, with whom I have spent untold hours discussing the various
aspects of the problem. Indeed, most of the concepts that have evolved
in the course of this study have grown out of discussions over a
four-year period with both Rense and Newman. Whatever merit this work
may have may be attributable in no small part to the help these two
men have given me. In the preparation of many of the illustrations, I
am further obligated to Newman for his excellent creative ideas as
well as draftsmanship, and to Miss Helen Behrnes and A. Lowell Wood
for their assistance.
The mathematical computations required in this study have been
laborious and time-consuming. It is estimated that more than two
thousand man-hours have gone into this phase of the work alone.
Whereas I have necessarily done most of this work, I have received a
tremendous amount of help from A. Lowell Wood. Further assistance in
this regard came from Herman Fox, Donald Norwood, and Lewis Kelly.
The recording of the original field data in the spring of 1948 from
the thirty-odd stations in North America involved the participation of
more than 200 ornithologists and astronomers. This collaboration
attests to the splendid cooperative spirit that exists among
scientists. Many of these persons stayed at the telescope, either as
observer or as recorder, hours on end in order to get sets of data
extending through a whole night.
The following were responsible for much of the field data herein used:
J. R. Andrews, S. A. Arny, M. Dale Arvey, H. V. Autrey, Charles C.
Ayres, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Bailey, Irwin L. Baird, Maurice F. Baker,
Rollin H. Baker, Bedortha and Edna Baldwin, Mrs. A. Marguerite
Baumgartner, T. A. Becket, Paul Bellington, Donald Bird, Carl Black,
Jr., Lea Black, Lytle Blankenship, Mr. and Mrs. J. Stewart Boswell,
Bruce Boudreaux, Frank Bray, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Brecher, Homer
Brewer, Mrs. Harvey Broome, Heyward Brown, Floyd Browning, Cyril
Broussard, Paul Buress, Ralph M. Burress, Robert Cain, Don Carlos,
Mrs. Reba Campbell, Mr. and Mrs. E. Burnham Chamberlain, Laura Chaney,
Van B. Chaney, Jr., Edward Clebsch, Mr. and Mrs. Ben B. Coffey,
William Cook, Dr. Jack Craven, Hugh C. and William Davis, Katherine
Davis, Richard Davis, Richard DeArment, Robert E. Delphia, J. C.
Dickinson, Mr. and Mrs. Otto Dietrich, John Dietrich, Clara Dixon,
Nina Driven, John J. Duffy, Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Dunbar, Betty Dupre,
Bernard E. Eble, Jr., Robert G. Eble, Dr. and Mrs. William H. Elder,
C. C. Emory, Davis Emory, Alice H. Farnsworth, James Fielding, William
R. Fish, Mr. and Mrs. Myron Ford, W. G. Fuller, Louis Gainey, Dr. Mary
E. Gaulden, Mr. and Mrs. John J. Giudice, Lt. L. E. Goodnight, Earl R.
Greene, Max Grilkey, W. W. H. Gunn, Noel Maxwell Hall, Jr., A. J.
Hanna, Paul Hansen, Harold W. Harry, Joseph Healy, Dorothy Helmer, Mr.
and Mrs. John H. Helmer, Philip E. Hoberecht, William D. Hogan, Dr.
and Mrs. Joseph C. Howell, E. J. Huggins, Mrs. Walter Huxford, Hugh
Iltis, W. S. Jennings, William M. Johnson, William Kasler, Luther F.
Keeton, Lawrence C. Kent, W. H. Kiel, L. P. Kindler, Mr. and Mrs.
Joseph E. King, Harriet Kirby, E. J. Koestner, Roy Komarek, Ann
Knight, Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Langworthy, Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Lard,
Prentiss D. Lewis, Ernest Liner, Dr. and Mrs. R. W. Lockwood, Dr.
Harvey B. Lovell, William J. Lueck, Don Luethy, James Major, Mr. and
Mrs. Russell L. Mannette, Mrs. John B. Mannix, Donald Mary, Dale E.
McCollum, Stewart McConnell, Mr. and Mrs. M. L. McCroe, Robert L.
McDaniel, Mr. and Mrs. Frank McGill, Thomas Merimer, Mr. and Mrs. I.
S. H. Metcalf, Ann Michener, John Michener, T. H. Milby, D. S. Miller,
Burt Monroe, Jr., Burt Monroe, Sr., Mrs. R. A. Monroe, Gordon
Montague, Duryea Morton, James Mosimonn, Don L. Moyle, Grant Murphy,
John T. Murphy, Mrs. H. F. Murphy, Mrs. Hill Myers, Mr. and Mrs.
Robert J. Newman, William Nichols, R. A. Norris, Floyd Oaks, Eugene P.
Odum, Mrs. E. E. Overton, Lennie E. Pate, Kenneth Patterson, Ralph
Paxton, Louis Peiper, Marie Peiper, Mr. and Mrs. Harold S. Peters,
Mary Peters, Mr. and Mrs. D. W. Pfitzer, Betty Plice, Max Plice,
Lestar Porter, D. R. Power, Kenneth Price, George Rabb, Marge Reese,
Wayne L. Reeve, C. L. Riecke, R. D. Ritchie, V. E. Robinson, Beverly
J. Rose, Mary Jane Runyon, Roger Rusk, Bernd Safinsley, Mr. and Mrs.
Glen C. Sanderson, Lewis L. Sandidge, John Sather, J. Benton Schaub,
Evelyn Schneider, Henry W. Setzer, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Shackleton, Mr.
and Mrs. Francis P. Shannon, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Shaw, Paul H.
Shepard, Jr., Alan C. Sheppard, Mabel Slack, Alice Smith, R. Demett
Smith, Jr., Nat Smith, Major and Mrs. Charles H. Snyder, Albert
Springs, Dr. and Mrs. Fred W. Stamm, J. S. Steiner, Mrs. Paul
Stephenson, Herbert Stern, Jr., Herbert Stoddard, Mr. and Mrs. F. W.
Stomm, Charles Strull, Harold P. Strull, Mrs. Fan B. Tabler, Dr. and
Mrs. James T. Tanner, S. M. H. Tate, David Taylor, Hall Tennin, Scott
Terry, Mr. and Mrs. S. Charles Thacher, Olive Thomas, G. A. Thompson,
Jr., Dr. and Mrs. S. R. Tipton, Robert Tucker, Tom Uzzel, Mr. and Mrs.
M. G. Vaiden, Richard Vaught, Edward Violante, Brother I. Vincent,
Marilyn L. Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Willis Weaver, Mr. and Mrs. W. L.
Webb, Margaret M. L. Wehking, W. A. Welshans, Jr., Mrs. J. F.
Wernicke, Francis M. Weston, Miss G. W. Weston, Dr. James W. White,
John A. White, A. F. Wicke, Jr., Oren Williams, J. L. Wilson III, W.
B. Wilson, Dr. and Mrs. Leonard Wing, Sherry Woo, Rodney Wuthnow,
Grace Wyatt, Mr. and Mrs. Malcom Young, Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Zimmerman.
To the scores of other people who assisted in making these
observations I extend my hearty thanks.
Drs. E. R. Hall, Edward H. Taylor, and H. B. Hungerford of the
University of Kansas have read the manuscript and have made valuable
suggestions, as have also Dr. W. H. Gates of Louisiana State
University and Dr. Donald S. Farner of the State College of
Washington. Dr. Farner has also been of great help, together with Drs.
Ernst Mayr, J. Van Tyne, and Ernst Schuez, in suggesting source
material bearing on the subject in foreign literature. Dr. N. Wyaman
Storer, of the University of Kansas, pointed out a short-cut in the
method for determining the altitude and azimuth of the moon, which
resulted in much time being saved. For supplying climatological data
and for guidance in the interpretation thereof, I am grateful to Dr.
Richard Joel Russell, Louisiana State University; Commander F. W.
Reichelderfer, Chief of the U. S. Weather Bureau, Washington, D. C.;
Mr. Merrill Bernard, Chief of the Climatological and Hydrologic
Services; and Mr. Ralph Sanders, U. S. Weather Bureau at New Orleans,
Louisiana.
Acknowledgment is made to Bausch and Lomb Optical Company for the loan
of six telescopes for use in this project. Messrs. G. V. Cutler and
George Duff of Smith and Johnson Steamship Company, operators of the
Yucatan Line, are to be thanked for granting me free passage on the
"S. S. Bertha Brovig" to Progreso, Yucatan, where I made observations
in 1945 and 1948. I am also indebted to the Louisiana State University
Committee on Faulty Research for a grant-in-aid.