178 Bird - Lore 



There are two classes of birds whose flocking is of special moment, and, 

 when we see them assemble, we know that summer is over, no matter how 

 green the trees or fresh the herbage, — these are the Blackbirds, including 

 Crackles, Redwings and Cowbirds, and the Swallows. 



The Purple Crackle makes himself ludicrous in April and May by tak- 

 ing a conspicuous position in a tree-top, and standing on tip-toe, with extended 

 wings, going through a series of ludicrous contortions and gasps and squeaks 

 that he evidently considers highly dramatic love-making. But, when they 

 have at last settled down to domestic life, they become almost as furtive as 

 the Crows in their comings and goings, and we forget them. 



Comes a day in late August and there is a noise in the open between 

 garden and orchard like the rustling of fallen leaves under the tread of many 

 feet, mingled with strange creakings as if the doors of autumn were 

 turning on rusty hinges, and there far and wide, walking through the 

 stubbly grass or cloaking the bushes and trees upon which they perch in 

 sable, are the Crackles. 



At a signal from the leader, they will rise and drift away like a storm- 

 cloud ; but tomorrow they will return, and the next day, and the next, staying 

 with us until Thanksgiving, and many injurious insects will they glean from 

 the land plowed for fall sowing. The Crackle flocks haunt stubble-fields and 

 wood edges, while the Cowbird flocks keep to the open pasture, and the 

 Redwings claim the marsh -lands. 



The flocking manceuvers of Barn and Bank Swallows are interesting in 

 the extreme, and worthy of patient observation, for there are many things 

 not yet understood. It seems to me that they engage in flying drills, with 

 distinct right- and left-wheels, and various other tactics. 



Whether this practice is merely for the pleasure of motion, or whether 

 it is to accustom the young of the year to the fatigue of travel, who can say? 

 But one thing is a fact, that while both Bank and Barn Swallows flock in the 

 middle or late August, they keep up this flying practice for a full month, 

 during which period they may be seen in vast numbers resting on the tele- 

 graph wires by the wayside, or on the fence-rails of wide-open commons 

 along the shore. 



One day we think that they have swept ofi for good, but the next sees 

 them back at their posts, and a Barn Swallow flock has often remained in 

 this latitude until the first week of October. Then, when other flocks 

 fail, except in the absolute breeding season, we have the Crow always with 

 us ; and mendicant, thief, or whatever else we choose to call him, the watch - 

 ing of a flock of Crows, from August, when the corn is in the milk, until 

 the next mating season is a sufficiently interesting proposition for any bird 

 student. — M. O. W. 



