WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



of ducks, and ' ' wisps " of snipe and the like, coming 

 in from the offing at dawn and settHhg down to 

 rest and feed. They remain quiet during the day, 

 but towards evening flocks are seen gathering and 

 setting out anew to disappear in the dusk deepen- 

 ing over the waters. Similarly inland, the wood- 

 land and meadow birds show every sign of weari- 

 ness and hunger as they drop into the fields and 

 thickets at sunrise, and busy themselves in forag- 

 ing. During the day our inland birds flit about, 

 moving onward by short flights, perhaps, but 

 without haste, loitering and feeding and playing 

 as they go, until night comes, when you may 

 see them rising into the air and moving with 

 swift, steady strokes towards their goal. Hence 

 a very dark and windy night impedes the advance 

 of the migration more than a gloomy day; and 

 warm, moon-lighted nights are followed by the 

 greatest plenty of new arrivals ; and hence, also, the 

 birds are prone to follow the lines of valleys, be- 

 cause these afford not only more shelter for the 

 diurnal resting, but a larger amount of wayside 

 food than bleak mountain-tops or dry, open plains. 

 Professor Cooke has computed that the average 

 advance in the spring is twenty- three miles a day; 

 but this is never regularly maintained, the delays 



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