INTRODUCTORY. I I 



Loniifellow says : 



" Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air fr(Mii the ice- 

 l)oiind, 

 Desolate northern bays to the shores of the tropical islands,'' 



Tennyson calls them, 



" Wild birds that change 

 Their season in the night, and wail their way 



From cloud to cloud." 



Our birds move southward on the approach 

 of autumn. vSome, like the swallows and the male 

 warblers, retreat when sunnuer luis just passed its 

 climax ; others tarr\- till the snows and frosts of 

 winter compel th.eir departure. Some, like the 

 robin and sj)arr()ws, merely go to the Northern 

 or Middle States ; while others, as the swallows, 

 the redstart, and some other warblers, fmd a winter 

 home on the sunny shores of the Mexican (iiilf, 

 or even in South America. Their line of miLira- 

 tion is down the Atlantic coast. 'I'hey cross the 

 Gulf of Mexico by ])assing from P'lorida to Cuba, 

 and thence to Yucatan. 



Some of our birds, as the sparrows, thrushes, 

 and warblers, move leisurely in their migrations, 

 feeding their way from post to post, and occupy 



