rustling"wings 167 



beneath, but as they walk on the ground 

 and the light strikes on their backs, 

 purples, blues, and greens develop, 

 coming to a focus in the yellow circle 

 of the iris. Even in autumn, they are 

 not always the ravenous corn-destroyers 

 that they are reputed. I watched a 

 flock in a newly ploughed field, where 

 the ground was heavy and sour, full of 

 grubs and evil larvae, and the grackles 

 went to work and for a week poked and 

 gobbled, doing away with quantities 

 of injurious insects. 



The migratory range of birds appears 

 to be a largely unsettled question. Do 

 they go further north after nesting and 

 return for a time in the autumn, or do 

 the local birds merely retreat to the 

 deep woods and then reappear? For 

 myself, I think that here in south- 

 eastern Connecticut, many birds go 

 further north and east in August, re- 



