AUTUMN VISITORS. 145 



be answered when birds shall know more of our lan- 

 guage, or when we shall better understand the birds. 



I only know that these cheerful good-by songs mean 

 glad tidings — they are the harbingers of pleasant, quiet 

 days, and leave one with feelings of serene peace and 

 joy — they are a sort of rounding out of the summer's 

 blessings, a fuller fruition of the glad promises of spring, 

 and help to shorten and bridge over the long period of 

 silence that winter brings. 



A short drive distant from the city is a broad though not 

 deep ravine, spreading out at the base into a low grassy 

 meadow ; through it a limpid stream of water runs, in 

 places rippling over pebbly rocks and again forming little 

 quiet pools, where the small fish lie and sun themselves 

 in the shallow edges. Many large trees are still left 

 standing on the sloping banks, Avhile in places are thick 

 clumps of bushes, tangled and thickened by running 

 vines. 'No heathen myths are needed to people this 

 fair and favored spot, for, as might be expected, it is a 

 great resort for the birds, which are our nymphs, naiads, 

 and sylvan deities. They come to this little valley early 

 in the spring and make it, indeed, a vale of song. Many 

 little structures of exquisite workmanship are fashioned 

 here in bush and tree, and in hollow stub, or hidden 

 away under tussocks of grass, and in them are deposited 

 treasures of blue and speckled eggs. In the latter part 

 of May, or in early June, if you look, with your heart 

 in your eyes, for such gems, you may find, within the 

 radius of half a mile, two or more score of these nests, 

 and, although you may look in upon them as often as 



