OF WILD ANIMALS 



173 



and see what they reveal. After all else has been said, bird 

 migration is the one unfathomable wonder of the avian world. 

 Really, we know of it but little more than we know of the songs 

 of the morning stars. We have learned when the birds start; 

 we know that many of them fly far above the earth; we know 

 where some of them land, and the bird calendars show approx- 

 imately when they will return. And is not that really about 

 all that we do know? 



What courage it must take, to start on the long, tiresome 

 and dangerous journey! How do they know where to go, far 

 into the heart of the South, to find rest, food and security? 

 When and where do they stop on the way to feed? Vast areas 

 are passed over without alighting; for many species never are 

 seen in mid career. Why is it that the golden plover feels that 

 it is worth while to fly from the arctic coast to Argentina? 



Let any man — if one there be — who is not profoundly im- 

 pressed by the combined instinct and the reasoning of migratory 

 birds do himself the favor to procure and study the 47~page 

 pamphlet by Dr. Wells W. Cooke, of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, entitled "Bird Migration." I wish I could repro- 

 duce it entire; but since that is impossible, here are a few facts 

 and figures from it. 



The Bobolink summers in the northern United States and 

 southern Canada, and winters in Paraguay, making 5000 miles 

 of travel each way. 



The Scarlet Tanager summers in the northeastern quarter 

 of the United States and winters in Colombia, Equador and 

 northern Peru, a limit to limit flight of 3,880 miles. 



'The Golden Plover (Charadrius dominicus). — "In fall it 

 flies over the ocean from No via Scotia to South America, 2,400 

 miles — the longest known flight of any bird. In spring it returns 

 by way of the Mississippi Valley. Thus the migration routes 

 form an enormous ellipse, with a minor axis of 2,000 miles and 

 a major axis stretching 8,000 miles from arctic America to 

 Argentina." (Cooke.) 



