As the migrating birds are beginning to arrive in the Southern States, and will soon be North, let us consider the subject of migration. The reason why birds migrate North in the spring is not definitely-known. Of course they leave the North because cold and snow cut off their food supply; but why in the spring do they abandon a country where food is plentiful and make such long flights, apparently for no other object than to bring forth their young in the North? February Twentieth Is it not wonderful how birds find their way, over thousands of miles of land and water, to the same locality and often to the same nest, season after season? How do we know that this is true? The reappearance of a bird with a crippled foot or wing, or one that has been tamed to feed from one's hand, is unmistakable proof. February Twenty-first Ducks and geese make longest flights of any of the migrating birds. They have been known to cover three hundred miles without resting. The smaller birds advance as the season advances, the early arrivals being the ones that do not winter very far south. Storm-waves often check their progress and compel them to turn back a few hundred miles and wait for the weather to moderate. Notes February Twenty-second Most birds migrate at night; and a continued warm rain followed by a clear warm night is sure to bring a host of new arrivals. If you listen on moonlight nights, you can often hear their chirps and calls as they pass over. During foggy weather many meet with accidents by getting lost and being blown out to sea, or by flying against monuments, buildings, or lighthouses. February Twenty-third Mr. Chapman tells us that, when migrating, birds fly at a height of from one to three miles, and that our Eastern birds leave the United States by the way of the Florida peninsula. They are guided in their flight by the coast-line and the river valleys. February Twenty-fourth Some migrants fly in compact flocks of hundreds, like the ducks, for example, while others, like the swallows, spread out. Then, again, there are birds that arrive in pairs or singly. With still others, the male precedes his mate by a week or ten days. Not infrequently a flock of birds containing several different species will be seen. This is particularly true of the blackbirds and grackles. Notes February Twenty-fifth You will notice that the birds are usually in full song when they arrive from the South. Save for a few calls and scolding notes, most of them are silent during the winter, but as spring approaches they begin to find their voices and probably are as glad to sing as we are to hear them. February Twenty-sixth