APRIL. 77 
America has made to the domestic ornithology of the old 
world. Its form and colour are handsome^ and its flesh of 
approved flavour. 
C — It does not seem much alarmed at the sight of us^ 
for it does not take to flight. 
— It is a heavy bird^ and rises awkwardly ; and al- 
though when fairly launched on its course^ a bird of power- 
ful wing, its first flight is low, and appears heavy and labo- 
rious^ as you may yourself observe ; for now it rises. 
C, — He is gone ; probably to join the first flock he 
meets with^ where he may sound his trumpet in concert. 
—-Where do they spend the winter ? 
F, — The flocks that pass over us in autumn in a souther- 
ly direction^ probably scatter themselves over the estuaries 
and inlets of the deeply indented coast of the United States^ 
particularly Chesapeake Bay, that paradise of water-fowl^ 
the resort of uncounted myriads of aquatic birds of almost all 
species. In spring, the birds collect again in flocks^, and their 
migrations northward are an unfailing indication that win- 
ter is over and gone." 
" When cloud-cleaving geese to the lakes are a-steering 
as Wilson has it ; though their destination seems far beyond 
the lakes. 
(7. — Why is the ground bare for a considerable distance 
around trees and stumps, when the snow still lies on the 
surrounding ground ? 
F, — Partly because the earth is always more elevated in 
such situations by the roots beneath^ and therefore becomes 
sooner exposed ; but the principal reason is, the radiation of 
heat from the central object ; as we find that even when the 
snow has fallen to the depth of one or two feet, every weed 
or stalk of grass which rises above the surface of the snow^ 
V 
