When I was a child, I read that swallows, cuckoos, corn-crakes, and other birds, would lie torpid all winter. The book I read told me that the birds would cluster in great masses, silent, nearly frozen, eating nothing, and in the spring would wake up fresh and gay. That is not at all true. They do not lie torpid. They fly away. Birds gather in great numbers, with much noise and flurry, to get ready for a trip. Crows, storks, cranes, swallows, and others, fly in great flocks. By the sea-side you may hear a far-off cry and a rush of wings, and looking up, you may see a flock of wild geese, or ducks, on their journey, flying far out over the water. When a vast flock moves in this way, they seem to have some few wise old birds for guides, in advance, and some for guards on each side of the band. Geese fly in a =V=-shaped line, for hours at a time. When they need to stop for food, they break the =V= line and fly in disorder. They seem to search the ground for a feeding place. A cornfield suits them best, and they settle for a feast. If they cannot find a cornfield they will try a swamp. Hawks travel over half the world. The hawk, which summers on the Scotch hills, may go to Egypt for winter, and perch on the pyramids. The stork, which the little Dutch children in Holland feed and love, may go to Africa for Christmas. The birds which you feed in July will be singing in Hayti or Brazil in January. What is very strange is, that birds will, year after year, come back to the very place and nest that they left. The oriole, catbird, bluebird, jay, titmouse, and others, will each summer return to the same vine or tree, to build a new nest or repair the old one. They come singing back, and we are glad to see them. But from their songs we get no news of the fair tropic lands where they have been happy amid rich fruits and flowers. LESSON XXXII. NEST BUILDING. [Illustration: ON THE TREE TOP.] I think nothing about birds is more interesting than their way of building their nests. In this lesson we will look at a few curious nest-builders. First, let me tell you that that largest of birds, the ostrich, builds no nest. She puts her eggs in the sand. The sun-heat is all they need during the day, and the father-bird cares for them at night. A few birds lay their eggs in heaps of dead leaves, and let the leaves keep them warm. The cuckoo,[26] and the cow-bird[27] lay their eggs in the nest of some other bird. They choose a bird smaller than themselves, and put one egg in its nest. Then they go to another nest, and so on, until their eggs are laid. A few birds lay their eggs right on the earth, or sand, and make no nest at all. But they sit on the eggs, and brood them. Most birds make nice, careful nests. They seem to take pride in building good homes.