THE MIGRATION- OF INLAND BIRDS. 109 



the first gray streaks of light, in the hazy east, herald the 

 on-coming day, suddenly a cheerful warble from some 

 tall cedar, or tangled brier-patch, breaks the dead silence, 

 and we mark the arrival of the first spring songster of 

 its kind. Did it reach us at sunset, and, having rested a 

 few hours, did it then announce its presence by its cheery 

 song? 



It may be that they come both by day and by night, 

 but why at all by night, if indeed so they come, must ever 

 be a great mystery in the strange habit of migration. 



I let the above sentences stand unaltered, but the 

 years since they were written have added to our knowl- 

 edge of the migratory movements of our smaller, weak- 

 flying inland birds. Not long since, many of these birds 

 of several species were seen, by the aid of a telescope, 

 moving southward, in large numbers, on a bright, moon- 

 light night, flying at an estimated height of about two and 

 one half miles. Straightway on reading this, I compared 

 my dates of arrivals of all our birds, and then made com- 

 parison with the almanacs for those years. Twenty-three 

 years of these notes should give us something worthy of 

 acceptance, I think; and it was found that the nearer 

 the full of the moon comes to the 1st of May, the earlier 

 collectively arrives the full complement of our summer 

 migrants. Of course, a storm may make a difference, 

 and I think the prevalence of cold northerly winds does 

 also ; but still it may be accepted as a fact that very 

 many of our birds take advantage of moonlight, and see- 

 ing where they are going, and knowing where they wish 

 to go, they travel by night. This, of course, necessitates 

 long journeys, and I am puzzled to know how those birds 

 of apparently weak flight-power can cover such long dis- 

 tances. It can not be wholly due to their powers of 

 endurance, but may be owing to some advantage taken, 



