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Why does a bird in autumn fly from the prairies of North America
to the pampas of the Argentine? How can it accomplish such a remarkable feat?
How is it guided? What stimulus induces its return flight? There is evidence that
from the beginning of recorded history man has wondered at the seasonal appearance
and departure of certain animals to and form his lands. And as his knowledge about
this phenomenon has increased, so has his fascination with it. Animals
in Migration is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive account of the most
recent developments and concepts relating to the movements of animal populations.
Whereas most previous books on the subject have been confined to a single class
of organisms -- such as birds, fish, or mammals -- this brilliant study gathers
together under one cover the basic principles underlying all animal migrations.
It integrates information from a broad spectrum of the newest scientific research
-- all of which has been carefully investigated and documented -- to bring previously
existing knowledge completely up to date. In Animals
in Migration, Robert T. Orr, author of The Animal Kingdom and one of
America's foremost natural zoologists, combines scientific authority with a lucid,
informative style and an obvious joy in his subject. He discusses in detail the
types of population movements, the reasons for migration, the environmental influences
on migration. He offers careful comparative analysis of the factors involved in
the migration of land and water birds, mammals, insects, fishes, amphibians, and
reptiles. He illuminates the mechanics of migration; discusses migratory mortality;
and explores current methods of studying migration. Many
of the mysteries of animal migration remain unsolved. It is perhaps one of Dr.
Orr's most important contributions that his book goes beyond available answers
to suggest keys that may someday unlock one of nature's most closely guarded secrets.
Robert T. Orr, born in San Francisco in 1908, graduated from the University
of San Francisco in 1929 and received his Ph.D. from the University of California
at Berkeley in 1937. He joined the California Academy of Sciences in 1936 and
is presently associate director of that institution, as well as curator and chairman
of its Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy. In 1942, Dr. Orr joined the faculty
of the University of San Francisco, where he taught graduate and undergraduate
students in biology for twenty-two years. Author
of the popular and critically acclaimed The Animal Kingdom
and the widely known textbook Vertebrate Biology,
Dr. Orr has also written more than two hundred scientific and popular articles.
He has carried on important research on marine animals, and was one of the organizers
of the Galapagos International Scientific Project in 1964. Dr.
Orr is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a
fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, past president of the American Society
of Mammalogists, and a member of twenty-three scientific societies. | 
