third yc;ir. I he chaiij^i- oi color in lh(j>e who do not moult in spriu;; is due 

 to the brcakiu^ olT or wrarinj^ oft of the feather ends where they are saw- 

 toothed to the main feather; (jr to a real chan;^e of color hy fading which 

 begins at the outer edges ant! gradually extends in toward the (|uill. 



Some morning in the early i>art of September you may see your hrown 

 Thrasher in his new coat preening himself on a dead limb of a pear tree. — 

 and dead liml).s are convenient things to have for bird study, fie takes a long 

 time for his toilet, spending a half hour in getting the new feathers arranged 

 to suit him; and when it is done he makes crazy flights into the air and back 

 to see if he can fly as well as in the old suit. 



.\ few days later if you go about cautiously, you may hear a low (Jiiirt, 

 Quirt, in the little cherry tree. It is not the defiant note of the summer when 

 you ventured near his haunts, but a low sound as if he were speaking to himself. 

 And presently you may hear a strange thing: a Thrasher's whole song, note 

 for note, whispered sotto voce, with bill closed, as if he didn't want any 

 one, — not even his nearest and dearest, — to hear him. I ie is trying to find out 

 if his voice as well as his plumage has come back to him. It makes y<ju feel 

 queer to witness this private rehearsal. When you sj)ied upon his young in 

 the nest you never felt so much like a conscienceless intruder: and yet yoii 

 are glad to the marrow to have heard and seen it. 



.\nd that is about the last you will see of him until he returns to yt)U in 

 the spring. Hut where will he and the other birds si)end the winter." And 

 v.hat will become of the Bronze Grackle with the leg broken and standing at 

 right angles to his body? He can fly and can jicrch ; but will he be able to 

 keep up in that tiresome journey of the multitudes? 



Manv of the birds slip away unnoticed; but everyone observes the migra- 

 tion of the Canadian Cicesc because they fly low and keep up a loud honking, 

 and because the sharply defined form of the flock impresses itself on your 

 mind. The farmer says they shape themselves into a "drag" as they follow 

 the patriarch of the flock ; and their lines are as straight as those of soldiers 

 on parade. Once only, have we known them to break ranks in disorder, and 

 that was one night wdicn they were terrified and confused by an oncoming 

 storm which flashed blinding lightnings in their i)atli whichexer way they 

 wheeled. 



In our childhood an(»ther migration forced itself upon the attention of 

 all. Every autumn the skies were darkened and the newly sown wdieat fields 

 were covered by immense flocks of wild Pigeons; but that spectacle is a thing 

 of the past and no one seems to know w hat has become of the Pigeons. 



927 



