64 IN BIRD LAND. 



V. 



ARRIVAL OF THE BIRDS. 



HAVE any of my readers kept a record of the 

 arrival of the birds during the spring ? The 

 northward procession of the battahons in feathers is 

 an interesting study. Why do some birds begin 

 their pilgrimage from the south so much earlier than 

 others? What is there in their physical and mental 

 make-up that gives them the northward impulse even 

 before fair weather has come? Do they become 

 homesick for their summer haunts sooner than their 

 fellows? These are questions that are much more 

 easily asked than answered. The size of the bird 

 furnishes no clew to the solution, for some small 

 birds are better able to resist the cold than many 

 larger ones. There is the little black-capped tit- 

 mouse — a mere mite of a bird — which generally 

 remains in my neighborhood all winter, cheerfully 

 braving the stormiest weather ; while the brown 

 thrasher, fully five times as large, is carefully warm- 

 ing his shins in the sunny south, and will not ven- 

 ture north until the spring has come to stay. Here, 

 too, is Bewick's wren on the first day of April, — 

 with no thought of making an April fool of any 

 one, — while the Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted 



