Ill 



FIRST FLIGHTS 



ONE of the best ways to prepare for a long 

 journey is to make a short one. So we 

 find that before many birds embark on their great 

 air voyage which is to take them from their sum- 

 mer to their winter home, they first make daily 

 trips between their sleeping quarters and their 

 feeding grounds. 



This is the habit of our Robin. Robins raise 

 two and sometimes three families in one season. 

 When the first family leaves the nest, early in 

 June, it is taken by the father Robin to some 

 dense, leafy growth of young trees to pass the 

 night. To this place they return every night. 

 Many other Robins, sometimes thousands of 

 them, come to the same woods. Such resorts are 

 known as Robin roosts. In flying to and from 

 them the young birds learn how to find their 

 way. 



19 



