164 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



ing were destructive to birds they would 

 not be nesting in this orchard. 



"It is true that there is a firm engaged 

 in the manufacture of a so-called insecti- 

 cide, fungicide and fertilizer, which they 

 claim contains "mineral oxides," but not 

 poisons, and which they further claim 

 should be used in order to prevent the 

 death of the birds by the arsenicals. It 

 can be seen that their statements of the 

 poisoning of birds are a part of the me- 

 thods of selling their goods. One of their 

 agents has gone so far as to criticise me 

 very severely, stating that I am respon- 

 sible for the killing of birds in this State 

 in great numbers, because I recommend 

 arsenical spraying. It is true that I have 

 made such recommendations, and have 

 shown thousands of persons how to 

 spray, and as a result of such instructions 

 we have better fruit in this State than ever 

 before; but the advocates of the bird- 

 poisoning theory can not show evidence 

 of a bird being killed by poison spray, 

 and they can not reconcile the presence 

 of birds in great numbers in sprayed or- 

 chards with their theory of death by 

 sprays." 



When the Birds Go South. 



Even as early as the latter part of June, 

 when the red-wings are flocking, after 

 their nesting season, we have occasional 

 reminders of that miracle of bird life to 

 begin — the fall migration. It seems hard 

 to comprehend the powerful instinct 

 which calls these tinv bits of life twice 



annuall}- on their long journey — a jour- 

 ney filled with dangers and fatalities — 

 and which guides them across the thous- 

 ands of miles of that trackless and seem- 

 ingly unknown territory of the air. 



Xow and then, as I write, the faint 

 chirps of passing flocks high up in the 

 darkness come drifting down to me, 

 though I cannot identify their voices, 

 for these night calls of the migrants seem 

 different from any we hear in our ordi- 

 nary acquaintance with the birds at home. 

 I have sometimes listened by the hour 

 to these chirps and twitterings. A few 

 are recognizable at times, — the bobolinks, 

 tanagers and some of the shore-birds 

 giving calls which we know, but the vast 

 army moves on, flying high or low, ac- 

 cording to the weather conditions, — 

 sometimes hundreds of miles without a 

 patise, — and we are scarcely aware of 

 their movements until we realize that 

 they have gone. 



Thus it is with the night migrants, 

 though the several species which travel 

 by day offer better chances for observa- 

 tion. The "honking" of the Canada 

 geese announces their coming far in ad- 

 vance and we look up to see their wedge- 

 shape flocks cleaving the sky. Hawks 

 and crows ; swifts, swallows and many 

 of the sea birds may be observed migrat- 

 ing by day, although many undoubtedly 

 also pass over in the night. 



The large flocks of grackles passing 

 through the fields and pastures are con- 

 spicuous examples of this great move- 



THE LARGE FLOCKS OF GRACKLES ARE CONSPICUOUS EXAMPLES. 



