The Birds' Calendar 



max and anti -climax, as the sun annually 

 creeps up from its low southerly circuit to the 

 zenith and back again, making the coldness, 

 desolation, and stillness of January culminate in 

 the warmth, the exuberance of plant and ani- 

 mal life, and the full chorus of birds in June, 

 only to relapse again into the frozen and dreary 

 silence of mid-winter. It is the balmy breath 

 of spring that wafts hither the migrants from 

 the south — the sharp chill of autumn that sum- 

 mons them from the north. The fall-transit is 

 in the mood of the season ; only a faint re- 

 minder of the holiday procession in May ; and 

 the volume of life suddenly but faintly swelling 

 and disappearing at that time, is like the last 

 expiring brightness of the candle, except for 

 the few and welcome species that tide us over 

 the winter. 



The procession of returning migrants seems 

 to have been led this year by the black-throated 

 green warblers, which I found quite abundant 

 on the 17th, eagerly exploring the branches of 

 pine trees, and uttering their musical chirp that 

 is in such marked contrast to the common- 

 place note of the sparrow. The males are not 



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