BIRD TRAVELERS 5 



winter. It returns north by a different route, pass- 

 ing along the western part of South America and 

 through the United States by the Mississippi Val- 

 ley, and thence to the northern coast of North 

 America, its nesting-site, a distance of eight thou- 

 sand miles from its winter home. 



Arctic tern. The Arctic tern has even a longer 

 range of travel than the golden plover. Some of 

 these birds breed along the Arctic coast of Xorth 

 America, a nest having been found within seven 

 and a half degrees of the North Pole. Its winter 

 home is eleven thousand miles away, within the 

 Antarctic Circle, within sixteen degrees of the 

 South Pole. Thus the bird flies almost from pole to 

 pole, twice a year, a journey of twenty-two thou- 

 sand miles, a distance nearly equal to the earth's 

 circumference. Mr. W. W. Cooke points out that, 

 as a result of being near the poles for so much of the 

 year, it lives for about eight months in regions of 

 perpetual sunshine, and during the rest of the year 

 its days are much longer than its nights. It might 

 well be called the bird of sunshine. 



Winter homes. As one watches the birds in their 

 flight, it is interesting to think of the countries from 

 which they have come, and of the varied scenery 

 which their keen eyes have looked upon. The hum- 

 mingbird that visits our garden flowers has seen 

 the Panama Canal; the Baltimore oriole that swings 

 its nest from our elm trees has seen the Andes in 



