BIRDS OF AUTUMN AND WINTER.
Purple Finch, and the Chicadee; there are individuals of every species who do a little autumn singing, but it is heard only from solitary voices.
Meanwhile, the tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and the Myrtle, Palm, and Bay-breasted Warblers make us a visit, and the Brown Creeper, Black and White Warblers, and White breasted Nuthatches circle the trees.
By the first of October, the Blue Jays have returned from the deep woods where they nested, and are in full scream, as is their wont. Hermit Thrushes come and go, together with the Thrashers. The Tanagers disappear, and the Vireos one and all are packing their belongings. The lively Red-eyed Vireo, who has preached and laughed at you all summer from the maples, is taking a farewell peep under every bit of loose bark, determined not to leave one insect behind. You miss the Catbirds also, and in looking for them you will find an occasional Pine Finch or Winter Wren. Quail and Ruffed Grouse (Partridge) scramble furtively along roadsides and through the stubble fields, and the Osprey fishes more boldly.
All the while the various Warblers are trooping by, young and old together; if you have not recognized them in spring, you will be sadly puzzled now. The White-throated Sparrows hop along the paths, giving a few sweet notes, — "Pé-peabody-peabody-peabody," — but without the springtime fervour, and the rarer White-crowned Sparrows show themselves warily. In fact, the greater part of this family are on the move, and even the ranks of Song Sparrows are thinning. The Black-throated Green and the Black-throated Blue Warblers come about the spruces again; the Phœbes vanish and the trim Towhee no longer hops jauntily among the briars. If there is an early frost the flocks go quickly, but otherwise all the birds linger. We have Hummingbirds here in the garden through October, unless the weather is very gusty; for I think that all birds dread wind more than cold.
The third week of October sees the last of the Golden-crowned Thrushes and Maryland Yellow-throats, the Fox
