INTRODUCTION. 15 



There may be something in the increased temperature in the 

 south which the birds have found to be unsuitable while raising 

 their young, and a change has become a matter of necessity, though 

 the cause may not be to us apparent. 



How are we to account for the habit in such birds as the Little 

 Bittern, very many of which are resident in the south, and raise their 

 young in tropical America, while those we see in Ontario are regular 

 migrants, generally distributed, some straggling as far north as Mani- 

 toba and Hudson's Bay, but all leaving the country before the first 

 touch of frost 1 



With these facts in view, it is not surprising to find some differ- 

 ence of opinion among ornithologists regarding the causes of migra- 

 tion. It seems as if the habit were, to some extent, coincident with 

 the origin of the species, had extended very gradually through a long- 

 succession of ages, to meet the various climatic and other changes 

 which have taken place in the surroundings of this part of the animal 

 kingdom since "the beginning." Even within our short lifetime we 

 have seen changes taking place in the distribution of the birds, some 

 of which we can account for, and for others we have no explanation 

 to offer ; but the whole subject is one about which we have yet much 

 to leai"n. 



I commend it to the special consideration of my youthful readers, 

 who, I feel sure, will find it most interesting, and I hope that they 

 may yet be able to explain many of the difficulties which at j^resent 

 surround the subject of bird migration. • 



COLLECTING AND PREPARING 

 SPECIMENS. 



Since it is possible that the perusal of these pages may create 

 in some of my younger readers the desire to collect and preserve 

 specimens of the birds whose history they have been considering, 

 I would advise them, by all means, to cultivate the taste, for I 

 know of no pastime so conducive to health, nor one that will afford 

 so much rational enjoyment. An outing in our bracing Canadian air 

 is enjoyable at any season of the year, and the capture of a rare bird 

 is an event productive of feelings which only the enthusiastic collector 

 can understand. 



In spring, to watch the daily ari'ival of migrants from the south, 



