ii4 Bird -Lore does it know when to start for its home in the temperate clime where its offspring were reared the previous year? Can it calculate the days and hours that it will take to accomplish the distance? How can it retrace the path traversed the previous autumn? It reaches its old home about the same date each year, having traveled thousands of miles to do so. Most of this journey was made in the night, sometimes at an altitude of many thousand feet. The vision of all birds is very acute, and the Grosbeak may fly from one landmark to another, which, when it is reached, may disclose still another in the distance, and so on until home is reached. These journeys are not continuous; during the daytime the traveler descends to the earth for rest and food and at night resumes its journey again. During the height of the migratory period, the upper air must be filled with thou- sands of feathered wanderers, who are sometimes met by storms or thick weather when all landmarks must be blotted out. It is known that they then fly at a much lower altitude, for on such occasions they are attracted .by light-houses, and thousands of birds of numerous species are killed by flying against the glass of the lantern. This wonderful phenomenon of Nature, migration, is well worth extended study, and the scholar is advised to read the exhaustive treatment of the subject by Prof. Alfred Newton * and Mr. W. W. Cooke. t The Rose-breasted Grosbeak selects as its home, most frequently, second growths of oaks on the borders of large timber, but does not confine itself exclusively to such localities. It builds a rather bulky nest of weed -stalks, twigs, rootlets, etc., in bushes or trees from five to twenty feet from the ground. The eggs are usually four in number, of a pale green color pro- fusely speckled with brown. The song of this bird is the theme of every nature-writer, and all unite in pronouncing it of the highest type. In some respects it resembles that of the Robin, but it is thought to have a more refined and musical quality. The description of the song of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak by Audubon is such a delightful exhibition of the character of the man, showing so per- fectly his childlike faith in a Creator, and his absolute absorption in the beauties of Nature, that the passage is given in full: "One year, in the month of August, I was trudging along the shores of the Mohawk River, when night overtook me. Being little acquainted with that part of the country, I resolved to camp where I was. The evening was calm and beautiful, the sky sparkled with stars, which were reflected by the smooth waters, and the deep shade of the rocks and trees of the opposite shore fell on the bosom of the stream, while gently from afar came on the ear the muttering sound of the cataract. My little fire was soon
- ' Dictionary of Birds,' Part 2, pages 54.7-572, London, 189?.
t ' Reporton Bird Migration in the Mississippi Valley' in Bull'n. No. 2, United States Department of Agricul- ture. Division of Economic Ornithology, Washington, 1888.
