82 IN BIRD LAND. 



the north for the breeding-season, while Monsieur 

 Thrasher comes up from the south and becomes 

 my all-summer intimate. 



Another matter of intense interest concerning bird 

 migration is that the migrants which winter farthest 

 north are, as a rule, the first to arrive in the spring 

 at their summer homes or vernal feeding-grounds. 

 For instance, in the latter part of March or the 

 beginning of April, while the thrashers, cat-birds, 

 and others which winter in our Southern States, are 

 arriving in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, 

 and Ohio, the warbler army, which spends the winter 

 in the West Indies, Yucatan, and Central America, 

 is just crossing over from those countries to the 

 southern borders of the United States. 



When autumn comes, experience has taught the 

 migrants that their only safety lies in making their 

 way to the south before cold weather sets in ; for 

 many of them certainly do start on this voyage 

 long before winter drives them from their northern 

 haunts. In my opinion, they are gifted with suf- 

 ficient reason — call it instinct, if you like — to do 

 this, and I do not think they are moved by an 

 uncontrollable impulse which acts upon them as 

 if they were mere automata. 



Portions of the migrating army often overlap. 

 For example, the juncos and tree-sparrows are 

 winter residents in my neighborhood, but very 

 frequently they remain here a month or more after 

 the earliest arrivals from the south. Presently, 

 however, they grow nervous, flit about uneasily, 



