192 THE PASSING OF THE BIRDS. 
of observation. A few years of note-taking 
will put one in possession of the approx- 
imate dates of arrival of all our common 
vernal migrants. Every local observer will 
tell you when to look for each of the famil- 
iar birds of his neighborhood; but he will 
not be half so ready with information as to 
the time of the same birds’ departure. Ask 
him about a few of the commonest, — the 
least flycatcher and the oven-bird, or the 
golden warbler and the Maryland yellow- 
throat. He will answer, perhaps, that he 
has seen Maryland yellow-throats in early 
October, and golden warblers in early Sep- 
tember; but he will very likely add that 
these were probably voyagers from the North, 
and that he has never made out just when 
his own summer birds take their leave. 
After the work of nidification is over, 
birds as a rule wander more or less from 
their breeding haunts; and even if they do 
not wander they are likely to become silent. 
If we miss them, therefore, we are not to 
conclude as a matter of course that they 
have gone south. Last year, during the 
early part of the season, cuckoos were unu- 
sually plentiful, as it seemed to me. Then I 
