The Birds and Poets 127 



time, and, the courtship over, the serious domestic 

 life begins, and in most cases this family life, with 

 all its cares, ends only with the ripened fruit and 

 the golden leaves of autumn. The careless observer 

 is accustomed to think of birds as wild, care-free 

 creatures of the air, with little to do but soar and 

 sing, but he who has looked carefully into their 

 habits and followed them through the seasons 

 knows full well that when the frosts come, the 

 little feathered creatures have earned their winter 

 rest in the feeding grounds of the south. Many 

 birds rear two, three and sometimes four broods 

 of little ones in a season. When the United States 

 Bureau of Biological Survey estimates that one 

 brood of young chipping sparrows will consume 

 238 insects every day,* and it requires on an average 

 of three weeks for young altrices to reach the self- 

 supporting state, one may get some idea of the 

 amount of actual labor involved for the parents 

 during our comparatively brief summer. Is it 

 any wonder that by the first of August many of 

 them lay aside their feathers and forget their 

 songs? 



The birds in this latitude come north for a home, 

 and go south for food. August marks the begin- 

 ning of the movement southward, and by this time 

 the young of most migrants are ready for the long 

 journey. 



As early as the first days of July a number of 

 the common varieties of our birds gather in flocks 



*Biol. Survey, Bui. 15, pp. 76-78. 



