A Paradise of Birds 



berries, strawberries, huckleberries, juniper 

 berries, hackberries, buckwheat, rice, wheat, 

 oats, com — in fields and forests thousands of 

 miles apart. I have seen flocks streaming south 

 in the fall so large that they were flowing over 

 from horizon to horizon in an almost continuous 

 stream all day long, at the rate of forty or fifty 

 miles an hour, like a mighty river in the sky, 

 widening, contracting, descending like falls and 

 cataracts, and rising suddenly here and there in 

 huge ragged masses like high-plashing spray. 

 How wonderful the distances they flew in a 

 day — in a year — in a lifetime ! They arrived 

 in Wisconsin in the spring just after the sun 

 had cleared away the snow, and alighted in the 

 woods to feed on the fallen acorns that they 

 had missed the previous autumn. A compara- 

 tively small flock swept thousands of acres 

 perfectly clean of acorns in a few minutes, by 

 moving straight ahead with a broad front. All 

 got their share, for the rear constantly became 

 the van by flying over the flock and alighting 

 in front, the entire flock constantly changing 

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