In August, the whole brood, old and young, set off for the south, where they spend the winter, gathering the wild rice of Delaware as they proceed, and offering great sport to the gunner. They swarm in the rice fields of Carolina and Georgia, and are much disliked by the planters for their voracity. They are excellent eating, being so fat when they reach the West Indies, as to be called Butter birds. Here they spend the winter, but never fail to return in the spring to their native meadows, where they feed on insects, worms, crickets, beetles, and also on grass seeds. Boys are very fond of catching the Bob-o-link, which they sell for cages; but, although he is tolerably lively in captivity, yet no one who has seen and heard him at liberty, can take any pleasure in his deadened music and dulled plumage. In a state of nature all birds moult, that is, change their plumage, and after a time generally reappear in their former gay attire; but we have been told that the Bob-o-link, in captivity, after moulting once, never resumes the dress he wore in freedom; as if, absent from his mate, for whom alone he sung and plumed himself, it were of no consequence what his appearance might be. Let those of my little readers who have an opportunity of observing, see if this story be true. [Illustration] The White or Polar Bear. This formidable animal is generally found within the polar circle. It is a land animal, yet it depends upon the sea for its subsistence. It preys principally upon seals, young walruses and whales, and upon those foxes and wolves which sometimes seek their food among the ice. Its size varies, being from eight to twelve feet long, and weighing from 900 to 1600 pounds. His fur is thick and very long, and, like the feathers of water birds, cannot be wet by almost any exposure to water. He swims at the rate of three miles an hour. He cannot climb trees like other bears, nor does he need so to do, as his habitation is among the icebergs. He is a very formidable and powerful animal, and when attacked, makes desperate resistance. From the nature of their food, the flesh of the polar bear is rank and fishy, though not unwholesome. The fat resembles tallow, and melts into a transparent oil, which has no offensive smell. The skin is very serviceable, as well as handsome, for a variety of domestic purposes, and it is an article of considerable value to the people of the cold northern regions. The Greenlanders pull it off whole, and make a sack of it, into which they creep, and find a warm and comfortable bed. The natives of Hudson’s Bay make very handsome and pliable garments of these skins.