8 BIRD FRIENDS 



and in the eastern United States, the coast-line. 

 The route by which a bird travels north is usually 

 the same as the one by which it returns south, al- 

 though there are some exceptions to this rule. 



When birds which are en route for South Amer- 

 ica reach the Gulf Coast of the Southern States, 

 several routes are possible. A few birds pass from 

 Florida and follow the chain of islands extending 

 southeast — the Bahamas, Haiti, Porto Rico, and 

 the Lesser Antilles — and thence to South America. 

 A few fly from southern Florida to Cuba, thence 

 to Jamaica, and then make the flight of five hun- 

 dred miles from Jamaica to South America: the 

 bobolink takes this route. A few birds, like the cliff 

 swallows, follow along the coast of Mexico; but the 

 great majority of species fly directly from the Gulf 

 Coast of the Southern States across the Gulf of 

 Mexico to the southern shore of the Gulf, a distance 

 of from five hundred to seven hundred miles. From 

 there the journey is continued through Central 

 America to South America. 



Another route much used by water-birds extends 

 from Nova Scotia to the Lesser Antilles and the 

 northern coast of South America. It was the birds 

 which were migrating along a portion of this route 

 that guided Columbus to land. 



How birds find their way. One of the puzzling 

 problems of migration is how birds find their way 

 during these long journeys. On June 7, 1911, a 



