The story of the birds;

Front matter

Moe

Eppletons’ home Reading Books

EDITED BY WILLIAM T.. HARRIS; A..M.,-EL. D:,

Introduction To The Home Reading Book Series By The Editor

THE new education takes two important directions—one of these is toward original observation, requiring the pupil to test and verify what is taught him at school by his own experiments. The information that he learns from books or hears from his teacher’s lips must be assimilated by incorporating it with his own experience.

The other direction pointed out by the new education is systematic home reading. It forms a part of school extension of all kinds. The so-called “ University Extension” that originated at Cambridge and Oxford has as its chief feature the aid of home reading by lectures and round-table discussions, led or conducted by experts who also lay out the course of reading. The Chautauquan movement in this country prescribes a series of excellent books and furnishes for a goodly number of its readers annual courses of lectures. The teachers’ reading circles that exist in many States prescribe the books to be read, and publish some analysis, commentary, or catechism to aid the members.

Home reading, it seems, furnishes the essential basis of this great movement to extend education

Vil viii EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION.

beyond the school and to make self-culture a habit of life.

Looking more carefully at the difference between the two directions of the new education we can see what each accomplishes. There is first an effort to train the original powers of the individual and make him self-active, quick at observation, and free in his thinking. Next, the new education endeavors, by the reading of books and the study of the wisdom of the race, to make the child or youth a participator in the results of experience of all mankind.

These two movements may be made antagonistic by poor teaching. The book knowledge, containing as it does the precious lesson of human experience, may be so taught as to bring with it only dead rules of conduct, only dead scraps of information, and no stimulant to original thinking. Its contents may be memorized without being understood. On the other hand, the self-activity of the child may be stimulated at the expense of his social well-being—his originality may be cultivated at the expense of his rationality. If he is taught persistently to have his own way, to trust only his own senses, to cling to his own opinions heedless of the experience of his fellows, he is preparing for an unsuccessful, misanthropic career, and is likely enough to end his life in a madhouse.

It is admitted that a too exclusive study of the knowledge found in books, the knowledge which is aggregated from the experience and thought of other people, may result in loading the mind of the pupil with material which he can not use to advantage.

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION. ix

Some minds are so full of lumber that there is no space left to set up a workshop. The necessity of uniting both of these directions of intellectual activity in the schools is therefore obvious, but we must not, in this place, fall into the error of supposing that it is the oral instruction in school and the personal influence of the teacher alone that excites the pupil to activity. Book instruction is not always dry and theoretical. The very persons who declaim against the book, and praise in such strong terms the self-activity of the pupil and original research, are mostly persons who have received their practical impulse from reading the writings of educational reformers. Very few persons have received an impulse from personal contact with inspiring teachers compared with the number that have received an impulse from such books as Herbert Spencer’s Treatise on Education, Rousseaw’s Emile, Pestalozzi’s Leonard and Gertrude, Francis W. Parker’s Talks about Teaching, G. Stanley Hall’s Pedagogical Seminary. Think in this connection, too, of the impulse to observation in natural science produced by such books as those of Hugh Miller, Faraday, Tyndall, Huxley, Agassiz, and Darwin.

The new scientific book is different from the old. The old style book of science gave dead results where the new one gives not only the results, but a minute account of the method employed in reaching those results. An insight into the method employed in discovery trains the reader into a naturalist, an historian, a sociologist. The books of the writers above named have done more to stimulate original research on the x EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION.

part of their readers than all other influences combined.

It is therefore much more a matter of importance to get the right kind of book than to get a living teacher. The book which teaches results, and at the same time gives in an intelligible manner the steps of discovery and the methods employed, is a book which will stimulate the student to repeat the experiments described and get beyond these into fields of original research himself. Every one remembers the published lectures of Faraday on chemistry, which exercised a wide influence in changing the style of books on natural science, causing them to deal with method more than results, and thus to train the reader’s power of conducting original research. Robinson Crusoe for nearly two hundred years has stimulated adventure and prompted young men to resort to the border lands of civilization. A library of home reading should contain books that stimulate to self-activity and arouse the spirit of inquiry. The books should treat of methods of discovery and evolution. All nature is unified by the discovery of the law of evolution. Each and every being in the world is now explained by the process of development to which it belongs. Every fact now throws light on all the others by illustrating the process of growth in which each has its end and aim.

The Home Reading Books are to be classed as follows:

First Division. Natural history, including popular scientific treatises on plants and animals, and also de-

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION. x1 scriptions of geographical localities. The branch of study in the district school course which corresponds to this is geography. Travels and sojourns in distant lands; special writings which treat of this or that animal or plant, or family of animals or plants; anything that relates to organic nature or to meteorology, or descriptive astronomy may be placed in this class.

Second Division. Whatever relates to physics or natural philosophy, to the statics or dynamics of air or water or light or electricity, or to the properties of matter; whatever relates to chemistry, either organic or inorganic—books on these subjects belong to the class that relates to what is morganic. Even the so-called organic chemistry relates to the analysis of organic bodies into their inorganic compounds.

Third Division. History and biography and ethnology. Books relating to the lives of individuals, and especially to the social life of the nation, and to the collisions of nations in war, as well as to the aid that one gives to another through commerce in times of peace; books on ethnology relating to the manners and customs of savage or civilized peoples; books on the primitive manners and customs which belong to the earliest human beings—books on these subjects belong to the third class, relating particularly to the human will, not merely the individual will but the social will, the will of the tribe or nation; and to this third class belong also books on ethics and morals, and on forms of government and laws, and what is included under the term civics or the duties of citizenship.

xii EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION.

Fourth Division. The fourth class of books includes more especially literature and works that make known the beautiful in such departments as sculpture, painting, architecture and music. Literature and art show human nature in the form of feelings, emotions, and aspirations, and they show how these feelings lead over to deeds and to clear thoughts. This department of books is perhaps more important than any other in our home reading, inasmuch as it teaches a knowledge of human nature and enables us to understand the motives that lead our fellow-men to action.

To each book is added an analysis in order to aid the reader in separating the essential points from the unessential, and give each its proper share of attention.

W. T: Hargis:

WasuHINeToN, D. C., November 16, 1896.

Preface

Want of space precludes, either in the text or preface of this little work, the proper acknowledgment of the specific sources from which many of the facts and conclusions have been drawn. The obligations are confessed, however, and the result is just the author’s presentation of bits of his own experience and deduction, along with much that is well known to all modern ornithologists.

The little book, therefore, has its limitations, and does not pretend to tell the whoie story of the birds, even if could be told. Its aim is simply to present in a rather unusual yet popular way the more striking scientific features of their probable development.

From this standpoint the predominance of the anthropomorphic element in the discussions may be criticised, but the author is assured from his experience as a lecturer before the students of all grades from grammar schools to universities, and even before popular audiences, that this is the best form for provoking interest.

If it be thought that too much effort has been expended in trying to account for so many facts, it may

xXlll

X1V THE STORY OF THE BIRDS.

be replied that a phenomenon to-day is of little use, or at least has little significance, till it is classified or placed under some theory or hypothesis. If the hypotheses advanced here should not always meet the critic’s approval, or seem not always to be wholly justified from every point of view, they are still better than no setting whatever. There is more stimulation to thought, more assistance to memory, more rousing of attention in an imperfect or even an incorrect hypothesis than in none at all.

In interesting rather than instructing, in guiding the observation of the inexperienced into proper channels, in suggesting slightly to the student what to look for among the birds, and what to do with a fact when found, the author hopes that this little volume may find a mission.

JIN ie Mexico, Mo., September, 1896.

ANALYSIS OF PoE SPORY OF. THE BERDS.

WITH ‘STUDY HAN Bs.

THE following brief analysis of the chapters is made with the hope of better enabling the reader to recall or review the essential facts and principles mentioned.

The suggestions for study are intended only as stimuli in the observation of such simple examples as may fall in the average reader's way without special excursions, slaughter, and dissections.

CuaptER I.—The early ancestry of the birds lies in the primitive vertebrates, but within the reptiles and lizards, shown chiefly through skeleton and methods of multiplication; the large egg not found elsewhere. A bird is characterized by wearing feathers.

Suggestions for Study.—Read in encyclopedias about Dinosaurs, Pterodactyls, and the Archwopteryx. Consult any work on zodlogy for characteristics of the five groups of vertebrates.

CHAPTER II.—How birds first flew. First use of feathers and tail

For Study.—Examine a bat’s wing, and compare with Pterodactyl; note how insects fly; parachutes of the flying rodents, lemurs, etc. Observe action of a bird’s tail in alighting or suddenly rising.

CuaptTer II].—Use of wings in climbing. Claws on modern birds noted. Skeleton and muscles of fore leg much modified in wing. Wings did not grow out as wings. Birds may have walked

if XV

XVl THE STORY OF THE BIRDS.

before flying, perhaps crawled. Had birds more than one origin among the reptiles?

For Study.—Examine the skeleton of the wing of table fowl in connection with figure on page 138. Notice the separation and ~ superposition of the breast muscles of a cooked bird. Dissect an English sparrow for further study.

CuapTeR IV.—Plumage was acquired by birds for warmth, not lightness; quickly modified for flight. Skin pores suppressed to preserve heat also. Hollow bones and various air spaces used as reservoirs of air on account of scant lungs,

For Study.—Note heavy downs on a duck’s body, and the hook vanes on its flight quills. Observe the hollow, marrowless bones of table fowls. Cut windpipe of dead bird, insert tube and blow, noting inflation of body.

CHAPTER V.—Plumage grows in symmetrical tracts with bare spaces between. Diagnostic value of this arrangement. Did plumage originate in patches? The pattern much subject to environment and habit and much modified since the beginning.

For Study.—Examine picked poultry in market and note the clustering of the papille. Look at any nestling of song bird (canary or sparrow) and, if possible, a woodpecker or chimney swift.

Cuapter VI.—Downs are of two kinds—nestling and adult. The first grow in the pockets (papillw) of the latter and of the large feathers, and are pushed out. Downs may be degenerate feathers; often ornamental; sometimes powdery in_ tracts. Downs not usually present in bare tracts except in aquatic birds. Aftershafts formerly prevailed more gencrally. Jfoas had strictly double-stemmed feathers. Downs developed as needed. All nestlings of early birds hatched downy. Naked nestling a later development (see Chapter XX).

For Study.—Note difference im downs and their arrangement in ducks and chickens, and the nakedness of any little bird’s nestling. See the aftershaft on some of the body feathers of common hen. Examine some down under a magnifier.

CuaprerR VII.—The plumage is a product of the skin purely originating beneath the epidermis. Scales were changed to feathers. Barrel of feathers evidently once flat. The necessities of flight doubtless made them tubular and caused the vanes to

ANALYSIS OF THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. xyij become hooked together and air-resisting. Solid vanes also protecting to body. Plumage modified much in Nature in keeping with the bird’s comfort, safety, and beauty.

For Study.—Examine any ordinary wing or tail feather, Note the infolding of edges of shaft; run a fine wire or bristle along the groove into the barrel. Observe that the end is closed by a membrane. See the tendency to flossiness near the body. Note ornamental degeneration of other feathers, as cocks’ tail feathers, peacock and lyre-bird plumes, and ostrich tips.

CuapTrerR VIII.—Molt occurs with all birds in the fall. Some have various molts, according to needs. Molt necessary for repair and change of ornament and color; affected strongly by environment; now probably a much hurried-up process. Old feather usually falls out now, but perhaps was formerly pushed out. New colors are also produced by wearing away or shedding the feather’s tips.

For Study.—Note molt of young chicken. See dead center or * pith ” of cast-off feather. Note in English sparrow the difference in color of the plumage beneath and on the surface. Observe the young males’ acquisition of black throat patch, etc. Observe nestling down on tips of large feathers of a fully fledged young bird yet in nest.

CuaprerR [X.—Ornament may be incidental, but usually has purpose; may prevail anywhere on the body or extremities; is often displayed and appreciated ; may be a matter of shape, but usually of color, or both combined. Brilliancy a special feature of the birds; rarely lost or subdued, but intensified by progress. Both form and color ornamentation may at times harmonize well with surroundings and become protection.

Origin of choice discussed. Ornament may be only a sign of vigor or conjugal capacity. Instances of appreciation. Males usually have more ornament. Some females pretty and males plain. Relations between ornament and style of nest and nesting. Color of female more nearly the primitive color of species.

For Study.—Note wattles, hackles, and tail plumes of roosters, “specnlum ” on wing of drakes, etc. See the duskiness of female cardinal, indigo bird, bluebird, rose-breasted grosbeak, etc.

CHapTeR X.-—Signal or recognition colors prevail largely among birds. Nature’s care about the race makes altruism auto-

XVI THE STORY OF THE BIRDS.

matic. Color calls usually white and mostly visible from the rear; often concealed except in flight, depending on motion for display ; often ornamental. Doubtless brilliant colors and ornaments may answer the same purpose. Whirring flight, wing strokes, and vocal cries as substitutes. Brotherly affection among birds.

For Study.—Note white wing bars of English sparrows, jays, ete., and the whirring flight of many flocking birds. Observe the little by-talks of small chickens as they run and feed.

CuaprerR XI.—The weapons of the primitive birds were preeminently their teeth, which were lost, perhaps, because of changed habits induced by flight. Early weapons useful more especially in prey taking. Special weapons were developed in fighting rivals. Wing spur the earliest of these, perhaps; leg spur later, and confined mostly to one group. Birds’ weapons not ornamented, but probably have given way to other forms of emulation, as song, antics, etc. Battle is often mere bluff, chasing, inflation, etc. Birds have no shields. Weapons a means of advancing the race.

For Study.—Note armament of chickens, turkeys, and various birds of prey. Compare pictures of the sheep and antelopes, and see the curved and lyrated forms full of the curves of beauty.

Note—There is no such thing as a poison beak or gland among the birds, newspaper paragraphs to the contrary notwithstanding.

Cuaprer XII.—The play of birds sometimes seems humorous purely, but it usually has the purpose of charming or displaying pretty parts. Instances noted. Females often play back, not always. Some antics take the form of ecstasies.

Odor has no special glands among birds as among mammals and reptiles, with one exception; but odors are evidently quite distinctive, and doubtless have purpose in them in some cases. Some birds smell keenly, but vultures hunt largely by sight. Mud probers use smell in searching, but some other forms have no nostrils.

For Study.—Note little chickens’ mock fights, crows tumbling in flight, turkeys strutting, pigeons pouting, house sparrows whirling, ete. Note incidental odors of fish eaters. Put the hand in a laying Guinea-hen’s nest and see if she abandons it.

ANALYSIS OF THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. xix

Cuaprer XIII.—Song primarily a call or cry, but now a charming factor. It is the latest acquisition, the song bird haying a special throat for it. Song still has rivalry in it. Various tones for various emotions in many birds. Song as a calling or advertising, as a serenading, a cheering, a rejoicing, a warning, a threatening, an exasperating, and a subduing factor.

For Study.—Note the spring songs and incubating songs of birds; also their revival at the second nesting period and their absence usually in late summer. Note answering crow of cocks, gobble of turkeys, coo of doves, whistle of quails, ete.

CHAPTER XIV.—The mating time of our middle-latitude birds extends from January to July. Pairing of resident birds often a matter of association. Perhaps many migrants stay from year to year paired, and, though separated in migration, return to same spot. There is always a charming procedure, however, each year, which may be short or long.

Polygamy largely prevails among the low birds. Males of higher birds very devoted to mate in brooding season. Some similar instances among low birds, but many males of these desert their families. Birds of prey long noted as pairing for life.

Lor Study.—N ote early “ hooting” of owls. Note thistle bird or goldfinch in flocks late in June. Watch birds of orchard and yard for love antics, especially jays, blackbirds, and flickers.

CuarteR XV.—Lost mate is soon replaced by either sex. Doubtless many unmated birds extant. Experiments noted. The widowed call. Darwin’s note of incompatibility of temper, Polygamous tendencies in high birds. Results of environment and opportunity on all this.

or Study.—Among English sparrows if either parent be killed the other soon finds a helper. Even if both are destroyed others will feed the crying young, or birds of a different species will sometimes care for each other’s orphan nestlings. Is the acquisition of a new partner as much parental as conjugal?

Cuapter XVI.—Incubation found among a few reptiles only. It is probably an acquired habit in birds, the lowest showing least of it. Perhaps began in the time necessary to the act of depositing eggs subsequent to the first. Harliest birds may have covered eggs with sand or hotbed stuff as reptiles and megapodes do yet. Change of place and climate may have necessitated

Xx THE STORY OF THE BIRDS.

incubation, Style of nest likely also a factor of the amount needed.

For Study.—Note the duration of incubation of various domestic and wild birds near. Observe the relations between size of parent, of egg, of nestling, and of time incubated; also relation of style of nest to number of young and the time they stay in nest. Observe also duration of laying period and time used in depositing each egg. Report to some ornithological journal.

CuapteR XVII.—The style of a nest affected both by inherited tendencies and present surroundings. Centers of origin thus hinted. Different building seasons (early or late) affect the structure. No fossil nest, no embryology of nesting, but present elements hint past development. Platform, cup, and lining likely represent three different stages of progress. The “natural-selection” element of structure and location mentioned. The lining the most recent and constant feature. Intricate nests made for comfort of nestling or sitting parent. Tree building a great nest-developing element. Nests often ornamented or at least concealed by mimicry of surroundings in form and color ; shaped also by color of sitter.

For Study.—Note that nests of hens, geese, turkeys, ete., are mere hollows, showing little structure. Note just above them pigeons moving the material, but making poor nest. Separate platform, cup, and lining of old robin’s nest. Note chipping sparrow’s tendency to emphasize the lining and omit the platform. Note frequent simple cups (not purses) of Baltimore oriole. Make notes of variations in all nests examined.

CuarpreR XVIII.—A few birds seem quite fastidious about nesting material and location. The sham nests of wrens and gallinules mentioned and purpose discussed. The trades of birds. Old nests not usually used a second time except in holes, ete. Frequent theft of each other’s material and nesting sites. Nest repairing by owls, eagles, and ospreys.

For Study.—Watch blackbirds and any old nests that are in the yard. Nail up gourds, cans, and boxes anywhere that they can be observed, with holes too small for sparrows, and thus attract house wrens, tits, and chickadees for study.

CHapTeR XIX.—AIl colors and markings of birds’ eggs once likely had purpose in them. LEarliest birds’ eggs probably pure

ANALYSIS OF THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. xxi white, as are reptiles. Harmony with the place of deposit (after nests became open) the origin of color and spottings. Primitive hole builders all had white eggs likely. Some colored eggs now © tend to blanching. Eggs hint relationships slightly by color, markings, and shapes. Various modifying factors noted (page 119).

For Study.—Note ellipsoidal shape of pigeon’s egg, and how globular and smooth are those of woodpeckers. In any broken marked egg view spots if possible from inside. Wash any colored egg with weak acid (even a brownish hen’s egg) and note how superficial is the color. Note that some hen eggs are spotted and see the great variations, even in same clutch, of the eggs of the English sparrow.

CuapreR XX.—AII primitive birds likely had precocial nestlings, the altricial being a recent degeneration brought abont likely by tree building. Other causes conjectured. Some remarks on relations of size of egg to parent and nestling and on size of yolk to “white.” The hint from dormant eggs in oviduct that birds once laid more eggs at once than they do now. Nakedness of nestling may be the result of hole building and parental brooding. Herons, hawks, pigeons, etc., now in the transition state, perhaps.

For Study.—Note the ease with which the “egg tooth” slips on newly hatched duck or chicken, and how it is scarcely separable on a nestling sparrow or pigeoneven. Note that the pigeon, while naked and helpless, is much less so than the sparrow. Observe how very naked is a young chimney swift or woodpecker.

Cuaprer XXI.—Precocial birds do not carry food to or put it _in the mouths of their young generally. Nature’s provision for the precocial’s sustenance till it can eat well. Altricials thrust food upon their young. Regurgitation practiced by many parents, especially low birds. Peculiarities of hornbills, pigeons, and flickers. Parental devotion instanced.

Por Study.—Observe the canary regurgitating to her young for the first few days. If a flicker’s nest is near, after the young come to the orifice (in a few days after hatching), note the parents’ pumping process. Watch the swifts and swallows after the young are on the wing and they are circling around.

Cuaprer XXII.—Birds’ food primitively was evidently largely

XXll THE STORY OF THE BIRDS.

animal, as shown by their teeth. Subsequent loss of teeth necessitated gizzard in grain eaters. Flesh eaters now do not need it. Various feeding habits noted. Peculiarities of Apteryz, snipe, and woodcock’s beak, rail form’s feet, penguin’s wings, geese form’s bill fringes, pelican’s sac, heron’s spear, and birds of prey’s talons, terribly hooked upper mandible, ete.

For Study.—Note elevated rear toe out of the way in the scratching fowls and (in the market) the soft sensitive beaks of snipes and plovers. Note that birds with strongly decurved beaks are usually ground or water feeders.

CuHapTeR XXIII.—A bird’s implements are related to its habits ; instance the bill of the Apteryx, Hxamples of habit preceding structure and of structure inducing habit. Parrots, cuckoos, and woodpeckers as illustrations. Habits noted as compensating for defective structure. Interesting and striking variation between swifts and humming birds. Various feeding habits. Habit away ahead of structure in the water ousels.

for Study.—Note with a glass the outspread outer rear toe of woodpecker on atree trunk. Observe that a nuthatch head downward stretches a leg far back up the tree as a squirrel. Observe nutcrackerlike bill of parrot, and crushing and cutting form of cardinal’s bill—an extreme example of the seed-eating finch forms.

CuapTteR XXIV.—Roosting with the breast on the perch or support is usual with most birds. Waders stand and hawk forms never squat. Some midocean haunters may sleep on the wing. Some aquatic birds sleep floating. Picarian birds sleep in holes often. Woodpeckers and swifts roost in an upright position, usually in cavities. All birds using a perch strain the toe tendons in squatting till automatic clasping is effected. There are different methods of accomplishing this in different birds.

Some parrots hang (head down) by one foot, some by both, and others hang by the beak.

For Study.—Place the finger in the grasp of any freshly slain bird and bend the leg up to the body. Note the automatic clasp as the bird appears to squat. In such birds as sleep with head under the wing note if the right wing is used, since this is the position in the shell before hatching.

CuaprerR XXV.—Toe arrangement and peculiarities very helpful in diagnosing, but do not always indicate kinship. Various

ANALYSIS OF THE STORY OF THE BIRDS. xxiii styles defined. Swimming membranes are, perhaps, rather recent developments. They are transient (or seasonal) now in some amphibians. They speak confidently of habits. The bird’s foot is based on the lizard’s. Prestige of the middle front (third) toe discussed. Peculiarity of leg bones—the fusion and stiffening of parts for better running. Loss of rear toe and the various tendon arrangements mentioned.

For Study.—Notice feet of ducks and chickens. Dissect out tendons and note their uses. Observe that the very tendons are bony in the turkey. What does this mean? Note in the ostrich (at the menagerie) that for speed afoot purely almost no toes are needed, and that bird’s toes now are preserved for clasping and swimming.

CuapreR XX VI.—The wing, after fluttering-up flight came, was variously modified. Hach new need made a new shape. Ground haunters have usually broad, short, round, concave wings. Penguins’ wings not long used as such, perhaps. Long wings mean long flight. Chest muscles (quality and quantity) are compensating factors, however. Instances in ducks and plovers. The soaring wing noted. Soaring largely a matter of skill. Flight by flapping largely a matter of propelling rather than lifting after the bird once starts. The number, shape, length, set of the wing quills. .

For Study.—Make a collection of, and label such wings as fall in your way without special slaughter, and note shape in connection with the bird’s flight habits. Observe difference between those of duck and hen, hawk and plovers, sparrow and quails. Place no confidence in the collection on the hats of any feminine assembly. They are usually trimmed to suit the esthetics of the milliner,

Cuaprer XXVII.—Birds have a definite home region and love it, and, in the extreme north, are driven from it by stress of weather and scarcity of food. They return to it in the spring. View of glacial theory of migration and the probability that the tendency to conceal nests and get apart send southern birds north. Some migrate afoot partly. but flight is the great factor of the seasonal movements. Some migrations very direct, others straggling, many day birds moving at night high up. Migration may change social habits. Coast lines, rivers, mountains, act as guiding factors,

XXIV THE STORY OF THE BIRDS.

Islands thronged and special routes often adhered to. Instinct of direction discussed. Leadership of old ones not always present to guide young. Birds often get lost. Curious instances of hunters “crossings” and “ fiy lines.”

For Study.—Keep a record of coming and going of migrants, as noted from window or walk. Get a correspondent north and south of you to warn you to “look out.” Learn the migrating haunts of various birds in your region, such as certain bushy -swales, wood borders, ete. Keep your ears open at night (when out) for a migrant’s call.

Cuaprer XXVIII.—A bird’s ideas of geography, climatology, direction, ete., oft inherited from its ancestors, but much comes by experience. The distribution of the birds hints much of geology. Instance our great plains and the meeting of Hudson’s Bay and the Gulf of Mexico formerly.