The Birds and Poets 57 



a year, taking about seventy-eight days for each 

 trip. 



Most of the birds when migrating, travel at 

 night, and feed by day. Many of the most inter- 

 esting and reliable observations on record have 

 been made at lighthouses, and elsewhere by view- 

 ing with a telescope the face of the moon, across 

 which the birds have been seen flying. 



Many of our summer residents may be called 

 half-migrating, for while they usually migrate 

 southward in the fall, and return in the spring 

 they sometimes remain in the north during the 

 winter, especially in neighborhoods where the 

 requisite food may be had, thus proving again that 

 food is the most controlling consideration in the 

 migration of the birds. Among the common birds 

 that sometimes spend the winters with us may be 

 mentioned the robin, blue bird, meadowlark, 

 junco, kinglets, cardinal, nuthatch, woodpeckers, 

 chickadee, goldfinch, and certain of the sparrows. 

 The casual observer seldom sees any of them in 

 winter, but to eyes that see and hearts that listen, 

 they frequently bring a message of gladness into 

 the dreary wastes of winter. I have several times 

 seen the robin in midwinter, and the other birds 

 mentioned are not infrequent winter residents or 

 transient visitants. A bird lover friend of mine 

 whose home is adjacent to a dense wood adjoining 

 a river, where the cardinals nest every summer has 

 induced one of these beautiful birds to winter with 

 him, by feeding him all summer and late into the 



