S26 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



made their northern migration too early. For 

 ten days immediately following their arrival there 

 was snow a foot deep, unabated cold, and zero 

 weather, so that the birds became so sickened from 

 hunger that they starved and froze in large num- 

 bers. They can endure extreme cold; it is lack 

 of food that kills them. There were very few 

 bluebirds and doves that season. The larks came 

 into the barnyards and asked the farmers for food. 

 A number of friends of mine fed larks with their 

 chickens, while for those two weeks I daily carried 

 corn, chop, and table scraps to the Valley of the 

 Wood Robin for the cardinals and other early ar- 

 rivals more tender than they. One night flight 

 to the south would have saved the lives of thou- 

 sands of the birds in my immediate vicinity, but 

 once they had migrated they remained to starve 

 and freeze rather than to make the short return 

 trip, which would have saved them. It appeals 

 to me that one could not find clearer proof than 

 this that the birds do migrate at the dictates of a 

 subconscious command. When they receive this 

 command, they change locations, but nothing sug- 

 gests to them that they could make a return trip 

 for a few days and save themselves. This is a very 

 wonderful thing, when you comprehend it, and it 

 can be carried even further than this. Take, for 

 example, the members of the grebe family. Grebes 

 are migratory birds. They are capable of flight, 

 which carries them in the neighbourhood of a 



