In many parts of Europe storks build their nests on the roofs.
Swallows, martins, sparrows and wrens often make their nests under
our roofs. They confide in us, and trust in our friendship and care.
Let us never, my boys, betray or abuse their confidence.
There is a kind of birds who travel all over the United States. They
go from South to North, from North to South. They have not, like the
martins, the bob-o'-links, and some others, regular times for going
and coming; but travel more to obtain food than to escape the
winter, and, when once settled in a place with enough suitable food
and water, remain there till it is exhausted, and then take flight
to some other place.
"Are you telling us a made-up story, Mother?" said Harry.
"No, Harry, it is really and truly the wild pigeon of America of
which I am speaking. Indeed, if it were not for their great power of
flight, they must, many of them, starve to death. A proof of their
swiftness is the fact that a pigeon has been killed in the
neighborhood of New York, with rice in his crop that he must have
swallowed in the fields of Georgia or Carolina."
"How could any one know that?" asked Harry.
"By remembering the fact that in one of those states is the nearest
spot at which the bird could have found rice growing.
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