THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRD 137 
Gray Lady smiled in a half-puzzled way, as Tommy 
spoke, for the questions that the children asked often 
gave her as much cause for study and wonder as the 
stories that she told them. She was finding out that 
there were three or four members of the Kind Hearts’ Club 
who had been seeing correctly and trying to think out 
things for themselves before they had a chance to ask 
questions, or had any books to consult. 
“Your grandfather’s question cannot be answered in a 
few words,” she said, “neither is there any one book that 
tells everything about these wonderful journeys, because, 
as yet, not the very wisest of the Wise Men know it all, 
though they wait and watch, and every spring and fall 
many of them are scattered through the country upon 
the course of the flying birds to watch them as they 
pass. 
“All the information that they collect is printed and 
kept as evidence of what is known, a little here and a 
little there, until we hope some day that the history will 
be complete, when it will be one of the most wonderful 
stories in the world, for even the little we know sounds 
like a fairy-tale. 
“ Of course,’”’ continued Gray Lady, “I know very little 
from my own sight, but I will tell you what I have learned 
of the Wise Men, who believe it to be the truth. I had 
intended telling you about Owls and Hawks to-day, as I 
promised you last week, when we saw the Screech Owl 
up in the orchard, but that story can wait until the next 
time you visit Birdland, for the Owls are still about; there 
are pictures of them in the library, and others that are 
stuffed and mounted in the glass case in the hall. 
