Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1875-11-26
The Migration of Birds.

ear was not trained to observe them, they
would never be noticed. These small
cries are the notes of delicate birds fly
ing South, 1t is delightfully."- mysteri-
Gus Where have they come from, and
where are they going thus by night, and
straight over forest and farm, and city
sea /? If we go into the woods we shall
find them peopled by different folk
than crowded their arches six months or
three months ago. The thrushes, that
have made melody all summer long,
have unstrung their harps, and are si-
lently taking their leave. The dainty,
satin-slippered ground warblers and wag
tails have left their fern-coverts. The
scarlet tanagers, that used to glow among
the trees like fire-brands, have kindled
the naples and flown away, taking with
them titled orioles and crazy -winks.
In their place are strangers-fox, and
white-throated, and gray-crowned, and
tree-sparrows the northern pe-wee the
tiny kinglets and little groups of war
blers chattering gaily in subdued tones
among themselves. There is quiet, Sc
rene satisfaction expressed in the de-
meanor of these autumn visitors, alto
gether different from the exultation and
riotous singing of the full -plumaged
hosts which return to us in the spring.
Yet they are-all except the young birds
of the year-the same that we saw when
the crisp oak leaves under our feet were
unfolding from juicy buds. But in
some cases birds which were common in
spring are very rare now, and vice ver-
sa this has come to be rule with some
species that we can count upon, since we
have learned that in the spring they al
ways migrate Northward by route west
of the Alleghanies, and return along the
coast, or just the opposite.
If you ask why they go north at all,
| must tell you that these sparrows and
warblers only differ from other birds in
going farther. Every bird moves more
or less with the seasons. Crows, for ex-
ample, are here pretty much all winter,
but not the same individuals those who
built their nests in our woods are now in
Virginia, and the ones we see to-day are
visitors from Canada. Our autumn birds
went north to find suitable places in
which to raise their young. A bird can
not live anywhere, although we have
come to think it as free as air. Even
the eagle and the frigate bird, roaming
over continents and oceans, must have
home wherein to hatch their eggs. The
choice Of this home depends on several
things, but upon one consideration in
particular-the chance of getting suita.
bic food for its young. For whatever
be the chosen diet of the parents, the
chicks must have their tender worms
and flies-and an astonishing quantity,
too-till they are strong enough to gath
er their own subsistence, and gradually
adopt the rougher fare of their parents.
If the birds cannot find the necessities
of their home life here and only about
one bird in three does they must 90 on
to the high Catskills or the higher Adir-
ondacks, to the plains about Quebec, or
the wilds of Labrador, to those mysteri-
GUS mountains south of Hudson Bay.
even to the reedy shores of lakes close
under the Arctic circle, that have scarce
ly time to get free from ice before anoth-
er winter freezes them again. No explor-
er has been to such high latitudes that
he has not found birds yet nearer the
pole in the summer time. But the Arc
tic summer is short one, and the adj
venturous water fowl that have been con-
sorting with the polar bears are early
chased out by Jack Frost. Then two or
three families join together for the jour
ney, and some bright morning whirl
away from the ice-clad shores, buoyed up
by favoring wind. Soon they come up
on other friends and warn them, and |
that strange longing to travel seizes up
on all as this increasing army of messen-
gers sweeps by, and Up and away -
is the cry, as every wing is stretched to-
ward the south. After a time they move
more leisurely, and the harder winter
birds who don't care for cold weather so
long as the tall grasses are not showed |
under, linger behind, while the old males |
of all kinds gradually outstrip the fe-
males and weaker young, and reach us
a week or so ahead of the rest. Thus |
the fugitives keep just in advance of
winter as he, also, marches southwark, |
flying most by night, and by day picking
up bountiful harvest of berries, ripen.
ed seeds, Larvae and eggs of spiders and
beetles and flies, and such insects as they
can capture.
By the last of October about all the
small, short winged birds are gone from
our woods some no farther than Cape
May, some to the rice-fields of Louisiana,
some even to the West Indies and Hon
III L /