234 MIGRA TION, 



not require a great deal of experience to secure so wonder- 

 ful a result with so much certainty? Here is a mystery 

 which the most careful study can only enhance. In that 

 mystery who does not exclaim: 



There is a power whose care 



Teaches thy way along that pathless coast, 



The desert and the inimitable air." 



The manner of the birds in their passage is in every way 

 interesting. There is often much ceremony by way of 

 preparation for the journey. Some go singly or in pairs, 

 others in families or flocks, these moving communities some- 

 times being enormous. The Swallows will gather in im- 

 mense flocks, perching in dense lines on the ridge of the old 

 barn or along the telegraph wires, and laugh and chatter as 

 if their formidable journey were to be the merriest ching 

 possible; the vast assemblages of the several kinds of Black- 

 birds, generally each kind by itself, will fairly darken the 

 corn-fields and the meadows; and the Robins will assemble 

 with a subdued but peculiar hilarity. Generally there is 

 the greatest possible difference between the spring and the 

 fall migrations, the former being hurried, jubilant, and full 

 of song; the latter leisurely, quiet, and comparatively voice- 

 less. 



It is the opinion of some of the best European observers 

 that the more hurried and joyous the vernal migration, the 

 earlier and more genial will be the spring, and that loitering 

 or hesitation betokens the opposite; while the more leisurely 

 the southward movement, the greater the probability of an 

 easy winter, and vice versa. 



Gregarious species, especially the water-fowl, often move 

 in the most exact and beautiful order. Who has not 

 noticed the flight of Wild Geese, Ducks and Plover, in 

 the form of a V, a straight line, or a graceful curve ? As 



