OFF FOR THE SOUTHLAND. 



The first frosts of autumn are a warn- 

 ing to the summer songsters that it is 

 time to prepare for their long trip to the 

 southland. From pine and beech and 

 shrub they come, lingering to catch a 

 stray insect or to feast on the seeds so 

 plentiful at this season of the year, stead- 

 ily collecting until dozens and fifties and 

 hundreds of a kind are grouped together. 



Whether the smaller birds, such as the 

 robins, blue birds and ground birds, se- 

 lect a leader for the trip south, it is diffi- 

 cult to say. Some birds do so, and fol- 

 low their leaders, as the sheep of olden 

 time followed their shepherd. However 

 this may be, these fine-feathered travelers 

 are careful to remain in a squad as com- 

 pact as possible, and a note of alarm from 

 one puts the whole legion to flight. 



All birds of short flight travel by night 

 only, perhaps because it is a time less be- 

 set with dangers from the enemy; per- 

 haps instinct is more in control at night, 

 when there is naught but dreams of the 

 southland to claim their attention. Some 

 authorities have surmised that the birds, 

 like the mariner, are familiar with the 

 heavens and, taking some star, or con- 

 stellation as their guide, fiy straight to 

 the summerland of the world. But this 

 last is not a safe conclusion, for the blue 

 birds and robins have been known to err 

 in their choice of a wintering place, some 

 stopping in northern Georgia and perish- 

 ing there because of their blunder. Others 

 have remained in the Middle States 

 throughout the winter, which grave er- 

 ror the best students of bird-nature have 

 been unable to explain. 



^ But we must not infer from this that 

 birds, as a rule, travel at random and 

 trust to what man calls *'luck." These 

 little perching birds are the ones most 



liable to mistakes, and a sudden change 

 in the weather or an unsually tempting 

 food supply may lure them to pause too 

 long in these more northern regions, de- 

 laying them until it is impossible for 

 them to finish their trip. They have a 

 very short flight, compared to other 

 birds, and it is no slight task for them 

 to accomplish a journey of a thousand 

 miles or more. Yet they go and come 

 with remarkable precision, and there are 

 many instances of a pair nesting in the 

 same tree or crevice or broken limb for 

 several years in successsion. When spring 

 returns, some happy experience of the 

 year before brings them back to the 

 loved spot, and there they linger till time 

 for the fall migration. 



The birds which are most unerring in 

 their time and course of flight are the 

 water birds. The wild geese are first in 

 this particular, flying high in the air and 

 with the leader ever in full view of the 

 flock, remaining on the wing for from 

 twenty-four to forty-eight hours. To be 

 classed next to these are the herons, the 

 wild ducks and the bittern, the lons:- 

 legged waders, and the little sand-pipers. 

 All these follow the water courses, the 

 Mississippi and its tributaries being their 

 principal highways. 



The ground birds usually follow the 

 prairie countries, though the clearing 

 away of forests has induced them to fre- 

 quent eastern Indiana and Ohio in re- 

 cent years. But the western prairie states 

 are their acknowledged summer homes, 

 from whence they gather in companies 

 when autumn comes and, like their fel- 

 lows, flee to a warmer clime till their fa- 

 vorite dunes and marshes are again habi- 

 table. Claudia May Ferrin. 



16') 



