WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



sects' eggs are hatching juicy grubvS, and these 

 changing into perfect insects by the milHon. Bird- 

 food is, therefore, unusually varied and abundant, 

 so that no one can believe that fear of starva- 

 tion forces the migrants into exile. Nevertheless, 

 away they go, always arousing the country and 

 beating up recruits, always choosing the easy route 

 along the two sea-coasts, avoiding the mountain- 

 ous interior, whose valleys send down reinforce- 

 ments as the hosts pass, until they pour like a 

 river from the Mexican lowlands into the United 

 States — like two streams, in fact, for one goes up 

 west of the mountains to people the Pacific coast 

 of the continent. That east of the Cordillera is 

 the more important, however, and as it enters Tex- 

 as it spreads out and jogs into motion the large 

 number of kinds that have been wintering there 

 and in the Gulf States, until a mighty army in 

 feathers is mustered and pressing North. A few 

 follow the Rocky Mountains, and some march 

 straight across the plains, but the great body gath- 

 ers about the Lower Mississippi and press north- 

 ward up the valley of that water-trunk to diverge 

 later along its various branches and so overspread 

 the interior. 



A strong side-stream is deflected almost at the 

 7 97 



