A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
543 
crosswise on small branches, the seed-eating songsters, such as 
Sparrows, have similar feet, but short, stout, cone-shaped bills 
for cracking seeds and small nuts. 
So you can see that in spite of the fact that all birds wear 
feathers, and have wings, a tail, beak, and a pair of legs, they 
may still be very different from each other. 
A Turkey Gobbler doesn’t look much like a Robin, nor a 
Goose like a Swallow, yet they are all four birds ! They all 
four bring forth their young from eggs ; but the little Turkeys 
and Goslings are covered with feathers when they peep out of 
the shell and are able to walk, while the young Robins and 
Swallows are at first blind, naked, and helpless ; so you can see 
that there is something special to be learned about every bird 
that flies or swims. 
OUT OF THE SOUTH 
A migrant song-bird I, 
Out of the blue, between the sea and the sky, 
Landward blown on bright, untiring wings; 
Out of the South I fly, 
Urged by some vague, strange force of destiny, 
To where the young wheat springs, 
And the maize begins to grow, 
And the clover fields to blow. 
I have sought 
In far wild groves below the tropic line 
To lose old memories of this land of mine; 
I have fought 
This vague, mysterious power that flings me forth 
Into the North; 
But all in vain. When flutes of April blow, 
The immemorial longing lures me, and I go. 
— Maurice Thompson 
THE BIRD YEAR AND THE MIGRATION 
People who think of birds at all know that they are not 
equally plentiful at all times of the year, but that they have their 
seasons of coming and disappearing, as the flowers have, 
though not for exactly the same reason. 
We are accustomed to see the plants in the garden send up 
shoots through the bare ground every spring, unfold their 
leaves and blossoms, and, finally, after perfecting seed, wither 
away again at the touch of frost. 
Of these plants, as well as some large trees, a few are more 
Ed. —35 
