in a body, llicre must have been a hundred thousand of them. An old resident 

 there said they come every spring to the great chimney of the ruined furnaces, 

 hold high carnival for a week or so, and then separate for the summer. 



Sometimes when the weather is bad the migrating flocks fly low, and in 

 fogpy weather are often attracted by the shore lights. "The Bartholdi Statue at 

 the mouth of the Hudson River, is directly in the path of the great streams of 

 migrants," writes Frank M. Chapman. "On one occasion after a storm no less 

 than 1,400 birds were picked up at its base, having been killed by striking the 

 staute or the pedestal upon which it rests." 



•"The first arrivals from the South," says Ralph Hoffmann, "the crow black- 

 birds, bluebirds, etc., reach the lower Hudson \'allcy by the end of Feliruary, 

 and the latitude of Boston early in .March. These are birds that have wintered 

 within fairly easy reach, in the Carolinas, perhaps, or in Virginia. Stormy 

 weather delays them ; a warm spell with southwest winds brings them early. 

 All through March and early April other birds which have wintered in the 

 Southern States arrive. In the meantime, birds that have wintered in the tropics 

 have been pushing into the Gulf States or into Florida, and at each warm wave 

 they advance, till in May they flood New York and New England in a great 

 wave. The first warm, fair night following a hot day, or, better still, two suc- 

 cessive hot days, between the third and tenth of May. will generally bring the 

 first orioles; the next such spell of heat will bring all the northern warblers and 

 thrushes. H early May is cool and clear for days, the birds do not arrive in a 

 great body, but slip through in little flocks, almost unnoticed. A cold northeast 

 storm following suddenly on a hot wave makes the best conditions for observing 

 migrants ; they are held back in great numbers, and as they feed low in the 

 bushes in such weather, they can be easily studied. About the city of New York, 

 migration is practically over by E>ecoration Day." 



The migrating birds have many secrets. Why do solitary birds arrive some- 

 times several days in advance of the host? Why do the male redwings arrive 

 several weeks before the females? Why do the rusty blackbirds come straggling 

 along for two months? Why are the winter wrens, so abundant farther north, 

 so rarely seen cii route ' Why are some birds ]irominent in the fall migration 

 who are seldom seen in spring? The answer is they fly southward by one route 

 and northward by another. But why? Oh, the birds are fascinating friends! 



My own special "crush" is the ruby-crowned kinglet, one of the smallest of 

 birds, with one of the sweetest of songs. He is one of the most inconspicuously 

 dressed notwithstanding his flaming crown. Though I have never seen him fly 

 more than a few feet at a time, this atom of a bird winters around the (uilf of 

 Mexico and nests somewhere in Labrador. By the records penciled in the 

 margin of my bird book I find that he condescends to greet me from the big 

 cedar at the back door of my studio, not earlier than the 25th of .April and not 

 later than the 27th. year after year. Is it the same bird? How does he manage 

 to hold so closely to his time schedule ? He never seems to be in a hurry, although 



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