320 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



much the same as others ; but the birds may none the 

 less have some reasons of their own. And as certain 

 localities, as previously observed, are great favourites 

 with them and others are deserted, possibly Feng- 

 shui may have something to do with that also. 



The nomadic tribes that live in tents, and wander 

 over thousands of miles in the East, at first sight seem 

 to roam aimlessly, or to be determined simply by 

 considerations of water and pasture. But those who 

 have lived with and studied them say that, though 

 they have no maps, each tribe, and even each par- 

 ticular family, has its own special route and special 

 camping-ground. Could these routes be mapped out, 

 they would present an interlaced pattern of lines 

 crossing and recrossing without any appreciable order ; 

 yet one family never interferes with another family. 

 This statement seems to me to be most interesting if 

 compared with the habits of birds that roam hither and 

 thither apparently without order or method, that come 

 back in the spring to particular places, and depart 

 again after their young are reared. Though to us they 

 wander aimlessly, it is possible that from their point of 

 view they may be following strictly prescribed routes 

 sanctioned by immemorial custom. 



And so itinerant labourers move about. In the 

 particular district which has been described their 

 motions are roughly these : In the early spring they 

 go up on the uplands, where there are many thousand 

 acres of arable land, for the hoeing. Then comes a 

 short space of employment haymaking in the water- 



