WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



ing-grounds not yet threatened by frost ; the wood- 

 land birds flit from willow-copse to birch-grove, 

 and scud to the shelter of thick larches as they see 

 following overhead the ominous forms of hawk 

 and owl; the ducks and geese form into geometric 

 angles and cleave their way through the air so 

 swiftly that they can pause and rest almost in- 

 definitely when some pleasant lake invites them 

 to feast upon wild celery or rice, while slower trav- 

 ellers ''catch up with them/' 



And as the migrants go on, tracing the Yukon, 

 the Mackenzie, and other great rivers to their head- 

 lakes, skirting the coasts of Hudson Bay, and re- 

 viewing the sights of Labrador or Keewatin or 

 the Canadian plains, they pass and leave behind 

 them some hardy natives, like the ice-owl, the 

 cross-bills, and the ptarmigans, who laugh at their 

 haste ; but they pick up and set a-going a constant- 

 ly augmented multitude of birds who last spring 

 stopped to make their nests in these less remote 

 districts, until finally Canada has been swept 

 clean of its summer birds and all are on the wing, 

 southward bent. 



Again, too, as in spring, it is noticeable that the 

 old males are leading the host of each species, 

 and that only later — sometimes much later — come 



107 



