Sa . AnntaL REPORT. 
utmost to record them. About the middle of April, some of the earlier syl ‘ 
line birds, or Wood-Warblers, flit into our midst in considerable numbers, 
remain with us but a short time before they disappear as unobservedly as they Bn 
came. RS 
These are the Yellow-rump Warblers, and during their stay destroy as many 
of the eggs of imsects hidden away in the bark of trees as any other known 
species. Few prettier sights are to be seen than when these birds are flitting — 
from twig to twig, in the highest as well as the lowest branches of the trees in 
their critical search for food. He is a lively little industrious fellow with cols 
and patterns never to be forgotten after having boen known. 
The Butcherbirds or Shrikes are now here as becomes evident by the esti 
young inice, &c., found implanted on the thorns and bushes near where they are 
located, This at a very interesting species and will reward us for observing its 
distinctive habits. The Swallows immediately follow, and at once enter upon 
their ceaseless search for aenal insects upon which they feed while upon the wing. 
The two migrations of Swallows have been called the two beats of nature’s 
great pendulum that divides the year. We hail their return in prose and in 
poetry, as if they brought upon their wings the sweet and final assurance of in+ 
augurated spring. Who has not felt like welcoming them back warmly after 
the long wintry months of their abscence, and cheerfully paid them homage by 
watching their ceaseless wheeling and veering in graceful curves, upward and 
downward, hither and thither, in lines and circles which however varied always 
return the individual to us with unfailing certainty. 
On some fine summer evening let us seek some secluded spot along the shores 
of our beautiful river, where we can command a close and uninterrupted view in 
all directions, and, selecting a single swallow, follow it in patience through its 
circuitous, zigzag, labarynthine gyrations for a time, and while noting its unva- 
rying return, let us calculate as best we may the distances passed over as if in 
straight lines, and see if the figures do not surprise us. 
Allowing him only ten hours a day in which to fly—and he employs sixteen— 
and a minimum speed of one mile in one minute, which is much below his actual 
velocity, how far does he fly in a day, a week, a month, a year, and the ten years 
of his average life? Two millions one hundred and ninety thousand miles in a 
litetime—equal to over eighty-seven times around the globe! What. a life of 
motion! Who does not envy the Swallow his wings! 
We could spend a whole evening upon the life history of this meteor amongst 
the birds. But I must hasten to mention the Flycatchers, a group of about 
twenty species not reckoned among the songsters, notwithstanding several of 
them are the finest of singers, Many, like the King bird, have very plain plum- 
age and hence attract but little popular attention; but some of them, like the 
Green blackcap, are decorated in beautiful colors. ® 
Most of this quite naturalized group build highly architectural nests, and rear 
their young here, quitting us only as the approach of frosts threaten their supply 
of insectivorous food, which is mostly obtained on the wing. Of their specific 
habits of feeding I would be glad to speak, in the interests of horticulture, but 
time forbids. It is an assured fact that they are the truest of friends to the farm 
and the garden, the orchard and the flowers. The first species of this group to 
arrive about the tenth of April, is the familiar, plaintive Pewe or Phoch bird, 
that builds under the old bridge, or some open outhouse near to water. I pass 
from this interesting family, further represented, as the season advances into 
May, by the Great-crested, Yellow-billed, Black-cap, Blue, Grey, &c. 
