The Rose-breasted Grosbeak By WILLIAM DUTCHER President of the National Association of Audubon Societies Rational Association of Audubon Societies EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 20 After a long period of winter weather, with its bare and brown or snow - covered fields, its frozen streams, and its leafless trees, how the lover of out-of-doors watches for the first indication of the coming of spring! The vitality that has been dormant, but is commencing to awaken with the lengthening of the days, and the increasing power of the sun is watched with daily growing interest. Every new shade of green that the grassy car- pet of the earth assumes is a delight, the first dandelion blossom that shows itself on the lawn is a thing of beauty, the opening of the arbutus and the modest violet increases our joy, the arrival of the advance guard of winged hosts that we know will soon follow, thrills us with pleasure and a desire for the culmination, when every tree in orchard or forest is bursting forth with blossom and leaf and every place is vocal with music. Then it is, some morning early in May, we are greeted with a glory of song and the flash- ing beauty of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. During the winter months it has lived in the tropical regions of the West Indies, Mexico, Central America and northern South America; but with spring comes the longing for home, and it journeys, by night, through the trackless sky to its birthplace. This is anywhere in eastern United States and the more southern British provin- ces, from the Atlantic coast to eastern Kansas and Manitoba. During its semi-annual migrations it passes through the gulf states. One of the most wonderful and interesting subjects in Nature is migration. The cause of the migration of birds is still a puzzle to scientists, and, although theories have been advanced from time to time by learned students, yet none have been universally accepted. The changing seasons, from heat to cold, has been suggested as a cause; the lack of food as another. The latter cause might well explain the necessity for the southward movement of birds in the autumn, but it hardly seems a reason for the return of the birds in the spring from tropical countries where Nature is prolific with plant and insect -life. The most attractive theory is that birds return to their breeding-places from a passionate fondness for home, which even the dangers and fatigue of a long journey cannot overcome. Setting aside the reasons for migration, let us consider for a moment migration itself, and the more we think of it the more wonderful it seems. Take, for instance, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, that has spent the winter in Colombia. How ("3)
