NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



from which the tenants have flitted, breaking and 

 burning some of the furnishings as they went, 

 leaving little more than ashes on the hearth. But 

 Nature is ever generous of beauty, and the dying 

 leaves have a literal " beauty for ashes." 



The Departure of the Migrant Birds 



We hear another note of autumn when we listen 

 to the calls of the migratory birds, as they pass 

 overhead by night, or congregate with excited 

 clamouring before starting on their southward 

 journey. It is the note of autumnal restlessness. 



Many are already gone, for the tide turned in 

 midsummer ; " the last spent pulses of the great 

 vernal wave of migration have scarcely ceased to 

 flow, before the first ripples of the autumn tide 

 begin to be apparent." Many have slipped away, 

 singly or in pairs, without a good-bye ; others are 

 still making up their minds, making many " last 

 appearances," telling us excitedly day after day, 

 " We are going, we are going." 



That they should go we do not wonder, for the 

 leaves are fallen from around their old shelters, the 

 fruits have been gathered or scattered, the seeds are 

 sown, most insects are dead or in safe resting-places, 

 the daylight is short for picking up the scraps of 

 life that remain within reach, it is becoming colder 

 every week. We draw our cloak about us shiver- 

 ingly, as we wish the last migrants " Bon voyage ! " 



To meet the Winter 



Life has been defined as a struggle to avoid death, 

 140 



