226 THE ANIMALS AND MAN 



the data gradually gathered; mark favorite nesting-places 

 of various species, roosting-places of crows and blackbirds, 

 feeding-places, and bathing- and drinking-places of certain 

 kinds, the exact spots of finding rare visitants, rare nests, etc. 

 As already mentioned, many of the birds of a locality are 

 "migrants," that is, they breed farther north, but spend the 

 winter in more southern latitudes. These migrants pass 

 through the locality twice each year, going North in the 

 spring, and South in the autumn. They are much more 

 likely to be observed during the spring migration than in 

 the fall, as the flight South is usually more hurried. The 

 observation of the migration of birds is very interest- 

 ing, and much can be done by beginning students. Notes 

 should be made recording the first time in the spring 

 a migrating species is seen, the time when it is most abun- 

 dant, and the last time it is seen the same spring. Similar 

 records should be made showing the movements of the birds 

 in the fall. A series of such records kept by the school, 

 covering a few years, will show which are the earliest to 

 appear, which the later, and which the last. Such records 

 of appearance and disappearance should also be kept for 

 the summer residents, those birds that come from the South 

 in the spring, breed in the locality, and then depart for the 

 South again in the autumn. Notes on the kinds of days, as 

 stormy, clear, cold, warm, on which the migration seems to 

 be most active; on the greater prevalence of migratory 

 flights by day or by night; on the height from the earth at 

 which the migrants fly, etc., are all worth while. 



For an excellent simple account of migration see Chapman's "Bird- 

 Life," Chapter IV. A book about migration, and one giving the 

 records for many species at many points in the Mississippi Valley, is 

 Cooke's "Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley." 



It must also be kept in mind in using bird-keys and de- 

 scriptions to determine species that the descriptions and 

 keys refer to adult birds, and in ordinary plumage. Among 



