TRAVELING AND WOOING. 



In sunshine and tempest, the seasons go by ; 

 The orchards of April grow warm to the eye ; 

 More joyful than daylight, the beauty they bring — 

 The first of Auroras, the presage of spring! 

 Across the bright vista of hillside and plain 

 The note of the wood-dove falls mellow as rain ; 

 The snows are retreating, 

 The river runs clear, — 

 Then list to the greeting, and blessed be the year ! 



— Dora Read Goodale. 



We may divide our birds, according to their habits of 

 travel, into summer birds, winter birds, and resident 

 birds. Before the frost and snows of winter lock up the 

 favorite food of our summer songsters, they are away for 

 the warm sunny climes of the South, where their food can 

 be easily obtained. Here they remain till the northern 

 winter is past and the bright, warm sunshine of spring is 

 opening the winter home of the insect and making the 

 frozen earth alive again. Were it not for the scarcity of 

 food in winter and the cold, the birds would no doubt re- 

 main during the year in those localities where they now 

 find it agreeable to nest. We have often seen large flocks 

 of blackbirds and swallows fly about in a restless way for 

 a few days in autumn, preparing for their long journey. 

 They suddenly take their departure, and we see no more 

 of them till spring. If we were in the South in early 

 spring we should see the same thing repeated as they pre- 

 pare to go North. Great numbers of birds pass over us 

 on their way from their summer homes in the far North 



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