The Birds and Poets 173 



The true migrants, however, that pass this way 

 in September and October, have deserted the entire 

 region occupied by them as a summer home, and 

 are moving on to some distant district which has 

 been adopted by them solely as a winter home. 



Among our most common long-distance 

 migrants may be mentioned the bobolinks, that 

 nest in this latitude and northward, and winter in 

 southern Brazil; the scarlet tanager, which 

 migrates from Canada to Peru; purple martins, 

 swallows, and thrushes, which breed from this lati- 

 tude northward, and migrate to Central South 

 America, and the nighthawks, which nest as far 

 north as Yukon, and spend their winters in Argen- 

 tina, 7000 miles distant. Many species of shore 

 birds breeding north of the Arctic Circle, visit 

 South America over a migration route of about 

 8000 miles. 



The Arctic tern is called by the late Mr. Wells 

 W. Cooke, "the world's migration champion." 

 These little birds nest as far north as land has been 

 discovered, arriving there about June 15, where 

 they remain until about August 25, when they 

 leave for the south, and several months later they 

 are found in large numbers skirting the edge 

 of the Antarctic continent, 11,000 miles from the 

 nesting site. This bird thus covers a round trip 

 migration route of 22,000 miles every year with 

 scarcely twenty weeks for the round trip. This 

 means one hundred and fifty miles a day in a 

 straight line, but this distance is no doubt actually 



