218 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



which we occasionally come across in mid-winter, 

 of species which generally migrate to Brazil? It 

 is not the cold which deprives us of our summer 

 friends, or at least the great majority of them; 

 it is the decrease in food Supply. Insects dis- 

 appear, and only those birds which feed on seeds 

 and buds, or are able to glean an insect diet from 

 the crevices of fence and tree-trunk, can abide. 



This is the month to climb out on the roof of 

 your house, lie on your back and listen. He is a 

 stolid person indeed who is not moved by the 

 chirps and twitters which come down through the 

 darkness. There is no better ^vay to show what 

 a wonderful power sound has upon our memories. 

 There sounds a robin's note, and spring seems 

 here again; through the night comes a white- 

 throat's chirp, and we see again the fog-dimmed 

 fields of a Nova Scotian upland; a sandpiper 

 "peets" and the scene in our mind's eye as in- 

 stantly changes, and so on. What a revelation 

 if we could see as in daylight for a few moments! 

 The sky would be pitted with thousands and 

 thousands of birds flying from a few himdred 

 yards to as high as one or two miles above the 

 earth. 



It only adds to the interest of this phenomenon 

 >vhen we turn to our learned books on birds for 

 an explanation of the origin of migration, the 

 whence and whither of the long journeys by day 

 and night, and find — ^no certain answer I This is 



