208 SOME TENNESSEE BIBB NOTES. 



it was near the end of April, instead of early 

 in February, so that migrants had been arriv- 

 ing in Massachusetts for six or seven weeks 

 before my departure ; and Tennessee has no- 

 thing of the foreign, half -tropical look which 

 Florida presents to Yankee eyes ; but even 

 so, it was no small pleasure to step sud- 

 denly into a world full of summer music. 

 Such multitudes of birds as were singing 

 on Missionary Kidge on that first bright 

 forenoon ! The number of species was not 

 great, when it came to counting them, — 

 morning and afternoon together yielded but 

 forty-two; but the whole country seemed 

 alive with wings. And of the forty-two 

 species, thirty-two were such as summer in 

 Massachusetts or pass through it to their 

 homes beyond. Here were already (April 

 27) the olive-backed thrush, and northern 

 warblers like the black-poll, the bay-breast, 

 and the Cape May, none of which would be 

 due in Massachusetts for at least a fortnight. 

 Here, too, were yellow-rumps and white- 

 throated sparrows, though the advance 

 guard of both species had reached New Eng- 

 land before I left home. The white-throats 

 lingered on Walden's Ridge on the 13th of 



