and I will make the pomp of Emperors ridiculous,” said 
Emerson. 
But you may say that though it does not take money to 
study the birds, it does take time and you can spare so little. 
To carry your studies far does take time, but much pleasure 
can be had without doing that. I began my observations 
16 years ago as I walked to market one morning in a small 
village, and this only took a few minutes a day. I ac- 
knowledge that I often spend more than that now, but even 
my most ardent bird days are not portioned out like those 
of good old Sir Edward Coke, of legal fame: 
“Six hours in sleep, in law’s grave study six, 
“Four spent in prayer, the rest on nature fix.” 
On the other hand there are not many days for about six 
weeks in spring when I do not get at least a few minutes with 
the birds. I said to a friend: “Don’t you feel sorry for a 
family that has a crank to live with for six weeks of the year?” 
“No,” she said, ‘Let them be thankful they haven’t one for 
twelve months.” 
My winter walks are enlivened by the antics and cheery 
chatterings of an occasional party of chickadees, a nut- 
hatch, or woodpecker darting across my path, or a crow flap- 
ping solemnly over my head, but the real excitement begins 
in March with the soft call of the bluebird, or the sweet trill 
of a song sparrow, and increases in intensity till the climax 
is reached about the 12th of May when the great spring 
migration wanes and ceases about the 2oth with the dolorous 
wailing of the wood pewee. 
Then comes the nest building and the following months are 
crammed with opportunities for studying the birds in their 
homes and rearing their young. But to my mind nothing is 
so fascinating as watching the oncoming rush of spring mi- 
grants. Do keep a record of their arrival. It takes but a 
moment of time and it adds so much to one’s pleasure to know 
when to expect each traveller. Some of these tiny voyagers 
spend their winters in South America and their summers 
in the Arctic regions. What a marvel it seems that so small a 
creature as a humming bird should travel such great dis- 
tances! Watchers of the heavens see through their telescopes 
the dark forms of birds pass across the disk of the moon in 
great numbers during the spring and fall migrations. They 
usually fly at a height of from 1 to 3 miles above the earth. 
What guides them? What instinct prompts them to take 
this mighty journey? What determines the moment of their 
starting, these are problems which are still puzzling the men 
of science. Some birds are influenced by the weather in their 
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