290 NATURE SKETCHES IX TEMPERATE AMERICA 



is August. All day this colony of swallows played about, 

 sometimes the members dispersing and again assembling; 

 but the next day, the storm having cleared, I discovered that 

 all these birds had left the locality. What a reminder this is 

 of the approaching fall. But only on a rainy day like the one 

 I have described have I had the good fortune to view some of 

 these habits of animal life, stimulated into activity by the 

 humid conditions of the atmosphere. 



Pasture and Meadow Insects in August 



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ilE middle of August finds the 

 nymphs of hordes of grass- 

 hoppers throwing off their last 

 skills. TiuMi tiie meadows and 

 abandoned pastures are alive witli atluit 

 katydids and other forms that enliven the 

 scene. Before us is a grassy pasture, ricii in bhie 

 lobcha, boneset, sedges, ragweeil, vervain, pearly everlasting, 

 and horseweed, to say nothing of the other less conspicuous 

 members of the flowering plants. Bees are ])usy visiting 

 the blue lobeha blos.soms, and the air is .scarcely silent for a 

 moment from the humming of their wings. The clattering 

 notes of the varied-winged locusts, Arpliia xanthopfera, indi- 

 cate almost in themselves the kind of ground one is visiting. 

 The flashes of red or yellow from this locust's wings when 

 flying are momentary delights. It is now between ten and 

 eleven o'clock in the forenoon, under a hot sun, yet one is 

 well repaid to wind his way leisurely acro.ss such a busy spot. 



