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Show HK Lack The Bird Instinct H -, ERTAIN species of birds have two annual H migrations. They fly south when the win- HB ter Is approaching and north when the warm K weather is near. H( That Is not all, they lcnow when to fly. In Hf spring and autumn their journeys are sometimes HR. a month earlier than at other times. Their in- HK stinct is a knowledge beyond the ken of mortals. Bm It was given them at the beginning for self pro fr tection. In the same way the trees give out cor- B I tain signs which aboriginal man has learned to H ' take cognizance of. Thus when the nut pine fl trees are loaded with nuts, the crafty Pluto M j shrugs his shoulders and says, "Heap cold wln- fl J (or coming." And he is always right. It is na- m l ture's foresight to provide food for her animals. H t Out on the alkali desert, after a few days, the M j one thing the traveler longs for more than any- m tiling else is something sour. And If he can find m a spring the chances are that he will find border- m i ing the stream that flows away from the spring a m row of currant bushes. Wise old mother nature Mmi know in advance that if any of her birds were 1 'on that desert in August the thing they would 1 most need would be some sour fruit and so plant- m ed the currant bushes. The woodsmen and. plains- M men know all these things and the man succeeds M best who follows the rules set down for tho m birds. Miners and prospectors come nearer suc- fl ceeding in this than any other class of men. B They have their migrations In their regular sea- M , sons. Only It Is spring for them when they are M flush and its late in the autumn with them when m they go broke. So we see them come Into town M and if it is mid-summer, swallow-like, their first i idea is to get a rest, and they live on the choicest B bugs and grasshoppers to be had. But they are 1 not wise like tho birds. When it begins to be- B como cloudy and cold for them, they begin to M talk about going back, but they never do until the Bl cabin is cold and the larder is empty. Then there is a struggle for a "grub-stake," and that secured they start on another migration. The birds come back In the spring, the men do not always al-ways come. The hills have hidden away many a one of them, and will continue to, for they lack the bird instinct to know whether the mine is going to be spring or autumn to them. The wild gooso and swallow are wiser than the prospector. |