THE TRAVELS OF BIRDS 



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learn. But if we cannot go to foreign countries 

 ourselves, sometimes the next best thing we can 

 do is to read about the travels of others. So far 

 as I know, there is no way by which we could 

 go with the birds on their travels. Even a tiny 

 Hummingbird could laugh at the efforts of the 

 best aviator, if he should attempt to follow him 

 in an aeroplane from Canada to Central Amer- 

 ica. 



Of course the birds cannot write books about 

 themselves. If, therefore, we cannot either go 

 with them or read their own accounts of their 

 long journeys, how shall we learn anything about 

 these great bird travelers? We must ask a natu- 

 ralist who studies birds. 



In the dictionary we will find him defined 

 under the name "ornithologist," which means a 

 person who studies and writes or talks about 

 birds. It is a long name, but, like hippopotamus 

 or rhinoceros, not so strange when you become 

 familiar with it. 



Then we shall discover that there are various 

 kinds of bird students, or ornithologists. Some 

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