The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-04-28
sirup. The best sugar is light brown
and the best sirup an amber color.
Bird MigratiOn.

In an article about birds writer in
the San Francisco Call says: What causes
bird migration is somewhat difficult to
determine, the lack of food and the ap-
proach of cold being the principal agents.
Whatever may be the direct cause, it is a
fact that there is every fall general
movement of birds toward the South,
and in the spring return. The ma
jority of birds make the entire trip from
the extreme north to the Gulf States,
Southern California and Mexico. Others,
as the crows, etc., remain in the North
during the winter, while others, again,
as jays, woodpeckers, etc., are partial
migrators.
It is somewhat of puzzle how young
birds find their way over the country to
the South and back to the same door
yard in the spring; but that they DO it
is well known. Robins build in the
same tree year after year, returning to 1t
in the spring, perhaps after travelling
1000 miles, within few hours of their
arrival on the year previous. While it is
somewhat speculative how birds find their
way, it is evident that they follow the
great rivers, az the Mississippi, the
mountain ranges, as the Coast Range and
the Rocky mountains, and the coast it.
SELF The birds on the eastern coast are
often blown out to sea, many reaching
Bermuda, and on the Pacific coast, even
the most delicate of all, the humming
birds, are found on the Island of Juan
Fernandez. and all the islands of the CAL
ifornia coast are resting places for birds
during their migrations. Some birds,
perhaps the majority, fly at night.
Astronomers have seen flocks three
miles up in the air, moving onward so
high above the earth that its familiar
markings were spread before them like a
map. From this habit of travelling at
nig hit they often fall victims to various
objects. The lighthouses on the coast,
especially those where fogs prevail, could
tell strange story of the myriads of del
icate feathered victims that dash against
the light on misty nights In Eastern wa
ters often hundred birds will be found
in the morning at the foot of the light
houses, and on light near
Denmark Heligoland), that stands
in the track of one of the great
European lines of bird migration,
great heaps of birds are often found by
the keeper in the morning. The sus-
tanning power of birds is we'll shown in
the fact that I have seen birds of many
kinds alight on the extreme outer keys
of the Florida reef. They were blown
out by northers. showing that they had
flown across the Gulf of Mexico. At
such times they are very tame, alighting
upon vessels.
A friend tells me that he has often
had birds alight on his boat when fishing
ten miles off shore, a sparrow, even,
alighting upon vessels.
In Los Angeles, in the fall. when the
migration has set in, the electric lights
are often fatal to the birds, their bodies
being found under the pole in the morn
ing, while in fog myriads have been
seen darting about as if fascinated by
the dazzling light. The headlight of
the locomotive is also fatal to birds, and
the engineers on the Southern Pacific
and other lines frequently find evidences
of contact on the glass, and dead birds
have been found on the engine and
ks~