WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



followers in the struggle for existence. The exer- 

 tion required, the time wasted, the perils encoun- 

 tered in these immense journeys, seem the reverse 

 of economical, and a logical view of the matter 

 seems to suggest that they should cease, and that 

 all birds should gradually become capable of living 

 all the year round in substantially the same place, 

 as the greater part of them now do. 



Such is the method of bird migration. You 

 may speculate upon the origin and meaning of 

 it to suit yourself, and have as good a chance as I, 

 perhaps, of finding the true explanation; and if 

 you do not arrive at a satisfactory answer to all 

 its problems you will be likely, at any rate, to 

 perceive much of the romance, poetry, and moral 

 suggestion that it contains, and so be largely re- 

 warded for your study. And if in failure you 

 need consolation, remember that it was the Wisest 

 of Men who remarked, that of the three things that 

 baffled him one was the way of an eagle in the air. 



