XII 



WHY BIRDS TRAVEL 



BUT while we may prove that birds possess 

 a sense of direction and may learn all there 

 is to know about when, where, and how they 

 make their great journeys, we still do not know 

 why they make them. That is quite another and 

 much more difficult question to answer. 



We can see the Wild Goose on its travels. 

 We know where it is going, where it came from, 

 and when it will arrive. We even think we know 

 how it finds the way. But we do not know why 

 it started. That it should leave the North at the 

 approach of winter is not strange. But why 

 should it leave the bays and lagoons of our south- 

 ern coasts, with their rich store of food, to follow 

 close upon the heels of retiring winter? So eager 

 is it to return to its summer home that it some- 

 times is caught by late cold storms and forced 

 to retreat southward. 



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