March 
about over the ground, and ina louder but 
simple and pleasing strain when perching on a 
branch. Actual contact with the earth seems 
to make it impossible for a bird to sing. Its 
heart is in an upper realm when in song, although 
the lowest edge of that realm may be a twig not 
a foot distant from the ground. 
Late in the month, outside the Park, was 
found a flock of those handsome, but villainous 
birds, the blue jays. Their blue wings gleam- 
ing among the trees suggested a heavenly tem- 
per ; but they were transformed quickly enough 
into spirits of evil by the malignant yell with 
which they disappeared. 
Near the jays in the adjoining swamps were 
the earliest red-winged blackbirds. One need 
never look for these in the Park, for their resort 
is the marsh, or low and wet open fields. This 
is a rather fine-looking bird, the male being 
about as large as a robin, and lustrous black, 
with the shoulder bright scarlet. 
Although these birds are sometimes very in- 
jurious to crops, they partially atone for the 
fault by being also insectivorous,*and are inno- 
cent of the murderous disposition of the blue jay. 
The great ornithologist, Wilson, championed 
their cause by estimating that in his day they 
gi 
