2 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



but it announces in no uncertain tones the ad- 

 vent of spring with her many and varied attrac- 

 tions. Who does not feel a thrill of vernal J07 

 when on some bleak and sunless day in March 

 there comes to his eager ears the trumpet-like 

 honk, ho7ik, honk of wild geese as they make 

 their hurried way across the leaden sky, bound 

 north? It is with keen admiration and a feeling 

 akin to awe that one beholds the sudden appear- 

 ance of these hardy forerunners of the migrating 

 army; and one wonders at the strange instinct 

 that prompts them to leave their comfortable 

 quarters in the distant southland and start upon 

 what seems to us a long and wearisome journey, 

 whose goal is the frozen and forbidding north. 

 In bird land life is a constant change, and the 

 events of a year make a complete cycle. With 

 those birds that migrate, the winter months are 

 passed amid scenes which suit the individual 

 taste of each variety; and to the migrant headed 

 southw^ard the choice of locality is surely a broad 

 one. No doubt food habits play a very important 

 part in the selection. To be sure of an adequate 

 supply of their favorite food, the Flycatchers 

 journey to the land where Jack Frost rarely, if 

 ever, visits ; while seed and berry eaters may re- 

 main where the weather is much colder, the 

 hardier varieties even in the land of snow and 

 zero temperature. That hardy denizen of the 

 north woods, the Ruffed Grouse, whose favorite 

 food is the delicate buds of birch, maple and 

 apple-tree, finds cold weather and deep snows 

 little hindrance to his well-being; in fact, I have 

 sometimes thought, when coming unexpectedly 



