THE MIGRATION OF INLAND BIRDS. 99 



the summer. The brown thrush, or " thrasher," comes 

 to us by twos and threes as early as April 20th, and not 

 until after the 1st of May can they be considered as 

 present in full force. The mocking-bird is very irregu- 

 lar, both as to years and dates, and the cat-bird, never 

 missing a year, wants the early May foliage developed 

 in which to skulk. Often in "single blessedness" he 

 comes to his last year's haunts, and is wonderfully in- 

 genious in his efforts to conceal himself in the leafless 

 thickets of early April, keeping ever close to the ground, 

 and never venturing upon the slightest attempt at a song. 



The many notes I have made with reference to the 

 warblers also indicate a great degree of irregularity and 

 uncertainty in their migratory movements. This applies 

 to these birds not only as a family, but to all of the vari- 

 ous species separately, of which a score or more generally 

 pass through the State. During certain seasons I have 

 noticed a marked preponderance of some one or two 

 warblers which in the following seasons were much less 

 common than many other kinds of birds. Thus, in 

 1860, 1864, 1867, and 1872 the common redstarts were 

 very abundant, not only about their natural haunts, but 

 within the city limits, and scores of them could be seen 

 climbing over and flitting through the branches of the 

 shade-trees of the less-frequented streets. Since 1872, 

 except in 1882, these birds have not been so numerous ; 

 indeed, they have been far less so than many other war- 

 blers, such as the yellow-rumped, the black-throated blue, 

 and the yellow summer warbler. 



Unlike the thrushes, the warblers seem to be largely con- 

 trolled by meteorological influences ; and sudden changes 

 of the weather, which, unlike some birds, they seem un- 

 able to foretell, greatly influence their movements, and 

 certainly delay their northward progress ; and yet, while 



