GRAY LADY AT SCHOOL 29 
The Bird Year and the Migration 
“People who think of birds at all know that they are 
not equally plentiful at all times of the year, but that 
they have their seasons of coming and disappearing, as 
the flowers have, though not for exactly the same reason. 
‘““We are accustomed to see the plants send up shoots 
through the bare ground every spring, unfold their leaves 
and blossoms, and, finally, after perfecting seed, wither 
away again at the touch of frost. 
“Of these plants, as well as some large trees, a few are 
more hardy than others, like the ground-pine, laurel, and 
wintergreen, and are able to hold their leaves through very 
cold weather, and we call them evergreens. 
“You notice that the birds appear in spring even before 
the pussy-willows bud out, and that every morning when 
you wake, the music outside the window and down among 
the alders on the meadow border is growing louder, until 
by the time the apple trees are in bloom there seems to be 
a bird for every tree, bush, and tuft of sedgegrass. 
“By the time the timothy is cut and rye harvested, you 
do not hear so great a variety of song. The Robin, Song 
Sparrow, House Wren, and Meadowlark are still in good 
voice, and an occasional Catbird, but the Bobolink has 
dropped out, and the Brown Thrasher no longer tells the 
farmer how to plant his corn: ‘Drop it, drop it, cover it 
up, hoe it, hoe it;’ and very wise he is, too, for the corn 
is all planted. 
“Later still, when the stacked cornstalks fill the fields 
with their wigwams, like Indian encampments, the pump- 
kins are gathered in golden heaps, and the smoke of 
