14 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



as they pass overhead on their way southward, leaving a land of 

 plenty behind them. 



In the movements of some of the warblers, too, are seeming 

 irregularities which we are at a loss to explain. These, like other 

 migrants which raise their young in the north, retire before the 

 approach of winter, and we should expect to hear of their resting 

 when a temperate region was reached : but many of them follow up 

 the southern route till they reach the equator, and pass on two or 

 three hundred miles beyond it. 



We have so far taken a cursory view of the southern movement of 

 the birds at the approach of winter. We see the necessity for it and 

 admire the means they possess to enable them to carry it out. 

 Eventually, all the species find suitable winter-quarters, where they 

 quietly remain for a time and soon get to be in excellent condition, 

 both as regards flesh and plumage, having nothing to engage their 

 attention but dress and diet. 



Soon, however, the time arrives when another change of habitat 

 must be made, and the migratory feeling again stirs within the 

 different species. There is a flapping of wings, a stretching of necks, 

 a reiteration of their peculiar calls, and an occasional flight with no 

 apparent object save exercise. " To the north, to the north," is now 

 the general cry, and to the north they go, often fighting their way 

 through storms and fogs, but still bent on making the journey. We 

 should respect their courage and admire their intelligence more highly 

 if we knew that the change was necessary, but that is the point we 

 are unable to decide. The birds were living comparatively undis- 

 turbed with abundant fare and pleasant surroundings, why should 

 they change ^ Why do they expose themselves to the vicissitudes and 

 fatigue of this tedious journey of thousands of miles, to reach a land 

 where they know that they cannot remain? We have heard "love 

 of the nesting ground," and "strong home affection," mentioned 

 among the leading causes of the desire to return, and there may be 

 instances where such feelings, fully developed, have great influence in 

 this connection. These are usually strongest in the female sex, but 

 we find that the males always lead the northerii movement, and are 

 often in their former haunts a week or moi'e before the females 

 arrive. The home affection must, in certain cases, be of short 

 duration, for we find in the history of some of the ducks, that no 

 sooner are the eggs deposited than the female assumes the duties of 

 incubation, and the males, getting together in flocks, keep outside in 

 the open water, and ignore all further family responsibilities. 



