A BIRDLOVER'S YEAR 



of one thousand miles from land, save in 

 the spring, when they congregate on islands 

 in order to lay their eggs. The great frigate 

 or man-of-war bird, which surpasses all 

 other birds in power of flight, seldom visits 

 the land, and is found in tropical seas. The 

 storm petrel is another wanderer of the 

 ocean, as is the albatross. These birds 

 spend all their lives on the high seas. 



In the Antarctic regions the penguins re- 

 present bird-life, but these birds have lost 

 their power of flight, and their wings have 

 dwindled into flippers, which are of far 

 more use to them in their present aquatic 

 existence. 



The swallow, swift, and sand-martin 

 journey to Africa for the winter, as do also 

 the sandpiper, kestrel, and cuckoo, and 

 nearly all our warblers leave us for southern 

 latitudes. The woodcock comes to us from 

 Scandinavia and the northern districts, as 

 do the redwing, fieldfare, and snow-bunting. 

 Flocks of chaffinches come also, probably 

 from the same country ; and as these flocks 

 were formerly supposed to be composed 

 entirely of cocks, Linnaeus christened the 

 bird Fringilla ccekbs, or the bachelor finch. 

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