THE STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITIES OF BIRDS 



351 



the bottom of lakes and ponds. This is now known to be in- 

 correct, and when birds disappear in the fall, they depart to spend 

 the winter in a more congenial southern climate. 



Migration means moving from one place to another, and the 

 idea of distance is emphasized. Birds are the most famous of 

 all animals from the standpoint of their migrations. As winter 

 approaches in the north temperate zone, they gather together 

 in flocks and move southward, returning on the advent of the 

 following spring. 

 Birds that breed 

 farther north spend 

 the winter in parts 

 of the temperate zone. 



One of the most 

 remarkable of all 

 migratory birds is the 

 golden plover. These 

 plovers arrive in the 

 " barren grounds " 

 above the Arctic Cir- 

 cle the first week in 

 June (Fig. 218). In 

 August they fly to 

 Labrador, where they 

 feast on the crowberry 



and become very fat. After a few weeks, they reach the coast 

 of Nova Scotia, and then set out for South America, over twenty- 

 four hundred miles of ocean. They may or may not visit the 

 Bermuda Islands and the West Indies. After a rest of three or 

 four weeks in the West Indies or northern South America 

 the birds depart and are next heard from on their arrival in 

 southern Brazil and Argentine. Here they spend the summer, 

 from September to March, and then disappear. Apparently 

 they fly over northern South America and Central America, 

 and over the central portion of North America, reaching their 



Fig. 230. — Nest and eggs of Florida galinule. 

 When disturbed the sitting bird slid down the 

 rushes in the foreground into the waters of the 

 marsh. (Photo, by Hegner.) 



