From the foregoing descriptions of migration routes it will be observed that the general trend of migration in most species of North American birds is northwest and southeast. It is comparatively easy to trace the probable steps in the evolution of the migrations of some species, and some routes have developed so recently that they still plainly show their origin.

The tendency is for eastern species to extend their ranges by pushing westward, particularly in the north. For example, in the Stikine River Valley of northern British Columbia and southwestern Alaska the eastern nighthawk, eastern chipping sparrow, rusty blackbird, eastern yellow warbler, redstart, and others have established breeding stations at points 20 to 100 miles from the Pacific Ocean. The robin, flicker, slate-colored junco, blackpolled and myrtle warblers, and ovenbird, all common eastern species, also are established as breeding birds in western Alaska, the ovenbird having been detected on the lower Yukon River. These birds are essentially Atlantic and Mississippi Flyway species, however, and so do not migrate in fall by any of the Pacific or Central routes, but instead retrace their journey across the mountains and move southward along the broad flyways of the East.

The red-eyed vireo, a striking example of an abundant woodland bird, is essentially an inhabitant of States east of the Great Plains, but an arm of its breeding range extends northwest to the Pacific coast in British Columbia (fig. 23). It seems evident that this is a range extension that has taken place comparatively recently by a westward movement from the upper Missouri Valley, and that the invaders retrace in spring and fall the general route by which they originally entered the country.

In the case of the bobolink, a new extension of the breeding range, and a consequent change in the migration of the species, has taken place since the settlement of the country (fig. 19). A bird of damp meadows, it was originally cut off from the Western States by the intervening arid regions. But with the advent of irrigation and the bringing of large areas under cultivation, small colonies of nesting bobolinks have appeared at various western points, and now the species is established as a regular breeder in the great mountain parks and irrigated valleys of Colorado and elsewhere almost to the Pacific coast. In retracing their course to reach the western edge of the route followed by the bulk of the bobolinks that breed in the northern United States and southern Canada, these western pioneers must fly long distances along a line that runs almost due east and west.

Similarly it is possible to sketch what seems to be the logical evolution of the remarkable routes of the golden plover (fig. 18). It may be assumed that the eastern birds of this species first followed an all-land route from the South American winter quarters through Central America, Mexico, and Texas to the western parts of the Mississippi Valley. As the migration route lengthened northward with the retreat of the ice and the bird's powers of flight developed, there would be a tendency to straighten the line and to shorten it by cutting off some of the great curve through Mexico and Texas. First a short flight across the western part of the Gulf of Mexico was probably essayed. Proving successful, this was followed by flight lines that moved farther east, until finally the roundabout curve through Texas was entirely discarded and the flight made directly across the Gulf to southern Louisiana.

As the great areas in Canada were gradually added to the birds' domain, other important factors arose, the chief being the attractiveness of the vast stretches of coast and plain of the Labrador Peninsula, which in fall offered a bountiful store of berries. The fall route therefore worked eastward to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, thence southwest along the coast to Florida and across the Gulf of Mexico to the Central American mainland. A series of shortening flights followed to take out the great curve of the Atlantic coast. A relatively short ocean flight was probably attempted, say from Cape Cod to the Bahama Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica, followed eventually by the long direct oceanic route as it is now known.

As the Labrador Peninsula in spring is bound by frost and shrouded in fog while the season advances rapidly through the interior, the oceanic route proved useful only in fall, and the spring flight continued through the Mississippi Valley. This outline, although entirely hypothetical, gives a probable and fairly plausible explanation of the origin of this wonderful route, particularly when it is remembered that migration routes as now known are evolutions—age-long modifications of other routes.

The evolution of the migration route of the Pacific golden plover may be explained in a similar fashion. At first the route probably followed the Asiatic coast, through the Malay Peninsula and Oceania, thence east in a great curve to the Low Archipelago, with individuals and flocks dropping out to winter at many points along the way. The Siberian birds probably continue to follow this ancient highway, but those nesting in Alaska began a long evolutionary series of flights that cut down the length of their journey by shortening the curve, until finally the transoceanic route of the present day was developed.

This theory of the evolution of migration routes has been questioned by some ornithologists on the ground that it implies the possession in some degree of reasoning powers such as would be used by human beings. This opposition suggests that changes in migration routes might develop suddenly following mass survival of birds that were driven over the new route by a storm on some specific occasion. In the language of genetics, the new route would be, in effect, a mutation, rather than the result of an accumulation of infinitesimal variations. There is some evidence in support of this opposing theory. For example, information from the Hudson's Bay Co. post at Great Whale River, on the southeastern coast of Hudson Bay, indicates that in 1884 the snow geese suddenly changed their route from the eastern to the western coasts of Hudson and James Bays. According to one report, this change was caused by strong winds from the south which caught the birds in their fall migration and caused them to cross the entrance of James Bay from Cape Jones to the western side; the route thus reportedly forced upon them was then used in succeeding years.