The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-12-13
THE STORY OF BIRDS

The greatest of bird travellers has
passed through this part of the coun-
gonia. This is distance of 10000
miles. and the night howk or. bill bat"
travels it twice year to get away from
the cold of winter. When winter begins
in Patagonia. South America. he flies
away upon his long journey of 10000
miles to the arctic circle. When winter
begins there he returns again to the
extreme southernmost land in South
America. Thus he travels 10000 miles
each year in search of a climate that
suits him. something that few human
travellers ever do.
Nature has so constructed the wings
of this bird that it is capable of long
periods of flight. 1t scars through
space without any apparent motion of
its wings, and moves with the swift
mes of speeding arrow.
Long Flight of the Plover.
The plover and snipe family, which
are known as shore birds, have an ex-
tensive flight. They pass through here
in the early spring on their way north.
These birds will generally stop only
for few days, feeding around the
shores of the ponds and lankes; then
they are of for other feeding grounds.
They keep moving northward until
they reach their summer home in the
barren wastes of the arctic circle.
There upon the gravelly beach they
nest and rear their young. AS soon as
the young birds are ready to fly the
voyage southwark begins, the old birds
leading the way. These birds perform
extensive migrations.
They return to us on the southwark
journey in September and October,
passing mostly with rapid flight and
principally at night, and feeding during
the day. In some instances with fav-
orable winds these birds have been
known to speed through the air at the
rate of 100 mile to $50 miles an hour.
They go as far south as the pampasses
of Uruguay and Paraguay and the
great marshes of southern South
Africa.
The barn swallow, which has been
with us all summer has left for the
south land. 1t is interesting to
watch this bird preparing for the
fall migration. For several days,
possibly week, before the swallows
depart, they will collect in great num-
bers upon the roof of some barn or on
the fences and set up a great twitter-
ing as If they were discussing plans
for the proposed southern trip.
Vanish for Five Months.
Finally, as if resolution had been
unanimously adopted, the birds arise
amid a great chattering and sail
straight for the south. AS this feath-
cred host move along they gather re-
cruits from various points along the
route, and when they reach the south
ern coast of the United States they dis
appear, to be gone for five months.
But where they go has puzzled the
closest bird observer. Did they drop
into the water and hibernate in the
mud, as was believed of old, their OBJ
liberation could not be more complete.
In the last week in March a joyful
twittering overhead announces their
return to the gulf coast on their way
north.
The Baltimore oriole, that brilliant
colored little warbler, whose sweet
notes can be heard with us during the
summer has departed for it's winter
home in the southern part of Mexi-
co. There is tradition about the
naming of this gorgeous bird which
runs this way: When George Calvert,
the first Lord Baltimore, visited Vir-
ginia-which then included Maryland
in 1928 he wrote to his friends in
England that nothing in the Chesa-
peake country SO delighted and cheer
ed him as the color and song of the
oriole.
Afterward the orange and black
the colors of this bird-became the
heraldic colors of the noblemen who
were landed proprietors in Maryland,
and the name of England's great peer
was attached to the bird.
Goes 1000 Miles In . Day
The red-eyed vireo, a little green
VOL OASI IuoL olllVSo Iul6 ocCLlOu
the first part of May and remains a
short while and then goes northward
as far as British Columbia, pass
ed on its journey to its winter
quarters in Central and the northern
part of South America. In its spring
migration this little bird presents a
problem that has been unsolved by
field investigators.
When on it's northward journey It
appears on the southern coast Of this
country in the early spring and trav-
els about twenty miles day for six
weeks until it reaches the northern
part of Nebraska, when just about this
time and before they have been seen
in any intervening country, red-eyed
vireos are noted in Southern British
Columbia, 1000 miles to the northwest.
Is the presence of this bird in British
Columbia in SO short time to be ex-
planned by the theory that it sudden
ly grows tired of its slow pace and
flies 1000 miles in single night?
Such problem as this is what vexes