A BIRDLQVER'S YEAR 



migrants were travelling at heights varying 

 from one to two miles. Amongst the birds 

 he saw were warblers, finches, woodpeckers, 

 and "blackbirds." At these great heights 

 birds must be subjected to very severe cold ; 

 but the exertion of flight no doubt helps to 

 keep up their circulation, which is always 

 at a high pitch the average temperature 

 of a bird registering from 104 to 108 

 degrees (compared to the 98*6 of a human 

 being). 



Herr Gatke describes how from 10 P.M. 

 on the night of October 28, 1882, until the 

 following morning the little gold-crests eddied 

 round the lantern on Heligoland as thick 

 as flakes in a heavy snowstorm. But given 

 the paths, going and coming, of migratory 

 birds, the marvellous and inexplicable 

 question still remains ; How do they 

 so unerringly accomplish these immense 

 journeys ? Year after year the migratory 

 cuckoo will deposit her eggs in our isles, 

 and yet in each interval of time she will have 

 spent a long period wandering in the heart 

 of Africa. Sight alone can hardly be regarded 

 as affording much aid, for, to start with, 

 migration nearly always takes place at night. 

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