TRAVELS OF THE BIRDS. 14Y 



than others. I will refer first to the south- 

 ward-bound birds in the midsummer and au- 

 tumnal procession. In my neighborhood the 

 little redstarts and creeping warblers do not 

 breed, but hie farther north ; yet by the mid- 

 dle of August I find some of them in my wood- 

 land, evidently from some higher latitude, on 

 their way to their winter resorts in southern 

 climes. Thus the feathered '^ wave " from the 

 North begins quite early. It does not come 

 in earnest, however, until September, when it 

 often fairly floods the woods and fields with 

 warblers, vireos, sparrows, and grossbeaks, and 

 by the first week in November nearly all have 

 passed. 



Yet even here there are exceptions among 

 the summer residents, some of vrhich seem to 

 be determined to remain in their summeiins^ 

 places as long as the weather will permit. 

 Some years ago, w^hen the autumn and early 

 winter were especially mild, the meadow larks 

 were whistling on the 30th of December, 

 while a large number of song sparrows decided 

 to remain all winter. And there is the myrtle 

 warbler, hardiest of his family of brilliants 

 in plumes, which I sometimes find about the 

 woodland border durino; the first week in 

 November. 



