lo BIRD PARADISE 



the bird to refuse the winter outing in the South. 

 It does not, however, have the character of a 

 holiday outing as much as I should think it 

 would. The romping and the playing are in it, 

 and the feasting also, as well as entire freedom 

 from care, but the singing, cheery and bright, is 

 unknown. "Why they should drop the song en- 

 tirely goes unexplained. There they are silent, 

 save a sort of monotonous chirp. Happier fel- 

 lows, however, are not to be met with anywhere. 

 To and fro they go, eating and drinking, careless, 

 almost entirely, of everything else. 



The migration of birds, common as the years 

 are common, is crowded with mysteries and won- 

 ders. We know something of them, here and 

 there an item, but most of it is a sealed book to 

 us. Why they migrate is a question with a va- 

 riety of answers and perhaps most of them have 

 «ome place in the reply. Some birds change 

 location doubtless in order to secure their neces- 

 sary food. Others make the long journey as in- 

 stinct prompts, knowing nothing of the reason 

 for the impulse. Still others journey, I believe, 

 as people travel, for the enjoyment of the thing. 

 Some journey slowly and are weeks in making 

 the passage. Others accomplish the flight in a 

 single journey, like the Labrador plover, which 



