4 BIRD FRIENDS 



from year to year for most birds. The date when the 

 early migrants arrive may vary considerably ac- 

 cording to the season, but the dates for the later 

 migrants are fairly constant. 



The order in which the various birds arrive is also 

 well fixed. Certain birds are always among the first 

 migrants regardless of the season, such as the robin 

 and the bluebird, and other birds are always among 

 the last migrants to arrive, such as the indigo bunt- 

 ing and wood pewee, and this order remains about 

 the same from year to year. 



Distances. The distances that birds migrate 

 vary greatly with the species. Some birds may mi- 

 grate southward only a few miles; others travel 

 farther, to the Southern States ; and over a hundred 

 species leave the United States. Some winter in 

 Central America, some in the northern part of 

 South America, and still others in the southern 

 part of South America. Some warblers which nest 

 in Alaska probably travel to Brazil, a distance of 

 seven thousand miles. 



Golden plover. The two most noted travelers 

 among birds are the golden plover and the Arctic 

 tern. The golden plover nests along the Arctic 

 coast of North America. It then proceeds to Lab- 

 rador and Nova Scotia, and from here it may make 

 a continuous flight, in pleasant weather, of twenty- 

 four hundred miles, to the coast of South America. 

 It then passes on to Argentina, where it spends the 



