TIMES OF MIGRATION. 53 one may tramp the woods for miles without seeing a dozen birds. September is the month of Warblers. They come in myriads during the latter half of the month, and on favorable nights we may sometimes hear their fine-voiced tseeps as they fly by overhead. About the 25th of the month our winter residents, the Junco, AVinter Wren, Golden Kinglet, and Brown Creeper, will arrive. The summer residents are now rapidly leaving us. In a general way it may be said that the last birds to arrive in the spring are the first to leave in the fall, while the earliest spring migrants remain the longest. October and November are the months of Sparrows. They rise in loose flocks from every stubble or weed field, and seek shelter in the bordering bushy growth. Should the season prove warm, many of these hardy seed-eaters will stay with us well into December, but at the first really cold weather they retreat southward. This completes the merest outline of the move- ments of our migratory birds. It will be seen that in reality there are but few periods during the year when some event is not occurring in the bird world. As we accumulate records for comparison, and learn to appre- ciate their meaning, our interest in the study of migra- tion will increase and be renewed with the changing seasons. We have found, in this brief review, that our birds may be placed in four classes, as follows : 1. Permanent Residents. — Birds that are represented in the same locality throughout the year. 2. Summer Residents. — Birds that come to us in the spring, rear their young, and depart in the fall. 3. Winter Residents. — Birds that come from the north in the fall, pass the winter with us, and return to their more northern homes in the spring.
