INTRODUCTION 



HE Valley of the Hudson is one of the 

 greatest highways for bird migration on 

 the continent. It is the natural roadway 

 to the breeding grounds in the Adirondacks, 

 northern New England, and Canada for the 

 majority of the species that come up from the South along the 

 Atlantic sea coast, or those that pass over the Alleghanian range 

 in Virginia, Maryland or Pennsylvania and take to the eastern 

 route. A number of birds remain in the lower Hudson Valley 

 to build their nests and rear their young, but after all available 

 records have been gone over, it appears that one hundred and 

 ninety-five birds reach Albany County, to which may be added 

 a hypothetical list of fourteen County visitants. Many of these 

 pause here but a short time and then respond to the irresistible 

 Call, but a considerable number remain with us through the 

 better part of the Summer, and breed. 



The homing of the birds begins early in the Spring. Then, 

 when March or April winds are singing plaintive melodies 

 through the bare branches of the elms and maples, and in the 

 dark hill recesses and on whitened uplands we seem almost to 

 hear the mystical sounds of green buds swelling and the 

 upward gush of hidden springs, listening ears can catch the 

 welcome notes of Bluebird, Robin, Song Sparrow, Red-winged 



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