BIRDS OF THE SNOW 



O fact of natural history 

 is more interesting, or 

 more significant of the 

 poetry of evolution, than the 

 distribution of birds over the 

 entire surface of the world. 

 They have overcome countless 

 obstacles, and adapted them- 

 selves to all conditions. The 

 last faltering glance which the 

 Arctic explorer sends toward his 

 coveted goal, ere he admits de- 

 feat, shows flocks of snow bunt- 

 ings active with warm life; the storm-tossed mariner in 

 the midst of the sea, is followed, encircled, by the 

 steady, tireless flight of the albatross; the fever-stricken 

 wanderer in tropical jungles listens to the sweet notes 

 of birds amid the stagnant pools; while the thirsty 



