Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-16
ase.INc 4 WARM Roosr.
Manner OF Flight and the Speed Made ~
Migratory Birds.

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Migratory Birds.
Nearly all the native American summer
birds make migratory journeys southwark
MT the approacE of winter. A few of the
varieties. such as the swallow family, leave
as early as the Utter part of August. AS
soon as the young birds are able to leave
the nest. much time is spent on the wing
by those birds that have the fall journey to
make. and when the breeding time is well
over they bunch into troops, having holi-
day time feasting on the new crop OF seeds
and enjoying the fine weather. Children
ali grown up. no household cares, the young
rejoicing in the use of their developing pin
ions. thew frisk and flutter, scour the sur
rounding country, but no one sees them
leave.
Singularly enough, the warblers make
these Journeys in the night. That noisy
and now unwelcome and voracious pet, the
English sparrow, is not migratory, so far
rs autumn Journeys pertain toimmigration.
They were imported to this, strange Gil
mate to them, and have not learned to leave
with the approach of winter. Whether or
not they are an insectivorous bird In their
native isle, they certainly could not be oth-
erwise than granivorous here in the winter
They are hardy, pugnacious and aggressive
well typifying the peculiar character OF
the Briton.
A puzzle to the scientist is to solve the
problem of where the energy can come from
to sustain the expenditure of force involved
in many occasions of bird flight. That
diminutive bit of stomach, charged with
few seeds as fuel, should generate II forceto
cleave the air, continuously bearing the
body forward at a rapid rate for hours and
sometimes days, seems incredible. No land
or water locomotion can compete with 1t.
A goose, swan or duck may start from Lab
rador, and sooner than an express train
could do the distance many reach the ever
glades of Florida. And this is probably
done on less than the equivalent of half a
peck of corn. We understand the physics
of their motion, we can grasp both the
mathematics and the mechanics involved
in the wing movement, but how this neces-
sary energy is conserved is a matter that
simply confronts our researches with def
ance.
One versed in ornithology should know
the kind of bird in it flight and walk, as
we'll as if in hand. Each family of birds
has wing stroke peculiar to it's class.
Buzzards and the familiar chicken hawks
fly in circles with the wings outstretched
and still much of the time. The crow af-
fects peculiar swagger in it's walk. A
quail and pheasant cannot sustain a long
flight. Owls have light bounding move
ment, as if much lighter than the air.
Nearly all small birds fly by jerks, and Of
course rise and fall, and these also hop
when on the ground. Woodpeckers open
and close their wings when they fly, the
line being series of rising and falling
curves. Larks walk. The killdeer is a
runner, and when not on the nest is never
at rest. The humming bird has wing
stroke almost as rapid as that of some in
sects, but this cannot be much prolonged.
The grain and grass caters are the speediest
and sustain the longest flights. Birds of
prey all have wide base of brain, large
combativeness and destructiveness, and
very few are the kinds that deserve de-
MISUNDERSTANDING Dispatch.