WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



of civilization or otherwise, to settle in unaccus- 

 tomed districts, they take in their migrations, both 

 ways, the roundabout course they pursued in 

 their gradual spread of colonization. Thus all 

 the bobolinks, lately become numerous in Colorado, 

 go straight east to the Mississippi Valley and then 

 southward, in the autumn, instead of striking 

 straight south across Texas on their way to their 

 winter home in Central America. 



To call it ''instinct'' is only an attempt to dis- 

 guise ignorance, but for a long time those who did 

 so asserted that in this and that case the young of 

 the year were the first to arrive from the North, and 

 by doing so, and proceeding on their way without 

 hesitation, showed intuitive knowledge. One by 

 one, how^ever, the alleged instances have been 

 shown untrue ; and it is safe to say that no species 

 of migratory bird is now known whose young ha- 

 bitually precede their parents either in the spring 

 or the fall. Even if they occasionally did so, other 

 birds are thronging in the same direction, and the 

 innocents need only "go wdth the crowd'' until 

 they met some of their own race. There is, then, 

 no more mystery as to the young : they are guided 

 by their elders, or else they are likely to get lost. 



What does happen? This. The adult males 



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