306 



Trees, Stars, and Birds 



Ducks and geese, when 

 migrating, fly between 40 

 and 50 miles an hour. 

 Many kinds of birds fly 

 at a height of half a mile 

 or more above the earth, 

 some probably more than 

 2 miles . On cloudy nights 

 they fly closer to the earth. 



Birds that migrate at 

 night often become be- 

 wildered in bad weather 

 by bright lights. At such 

 times many perish by fly- 

 ing against lighthouses. 



Many birds, including 

 various warblers and even 

 the tiny hummingbird, 



home of the golden plover, and its CrOSS the Gulf of Mexico, 



migration routes. In the autumn it flies wm ' c h involves a long COn- 

 over the ocean from Nova Scotia to 



South America, 2400 miles, the longest tinUOUS flight. Formerly 



tS&SJ l t SWS it was supposed that small 



Mississippi Valley. birds must be exhausted 



by such a long flight, but 



it was found that instead of descending at the first 

 opportunity, many of the migrants continued their 

 journey without pause over the low, swampy coastal 

 plain until they reached the higher land farther north. 

 The golden plovers on their way to South America 

 fly from Nova Scotia to the Lesser Antilles, not 

 stopping at the Bermudas if they have good weather. 



U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 

 FIG. 189. The summer and the winter 



