THE SPRING SONG. 



female for a bird of another species ; hence the importance 

 of describing the plumage of both sexes. 



The Scarlet Tanager has a green mate (there is great wis- 

 dom in this a brilliant brooding bird would betray the 

 location of the nest); the female Hummingbird lacks the 

 ruby throat of her spouse ; and the wife of the sleek black, 

 white, and buff Bobolink wears sober brown. When the 

 birds arrive in the spring, these colour distinctions are 

 marked ; but after the nesting time, which occurs mostly in 

 May and June, a fresh complication arises. The young 

 birds on leaving the nest, though fully grown perhaps and 

 capable of strong flight, often wear hybrid feathers in which 

 the characteristics of both parents are mingled. Soon after 

 this time the summer moulting takes place, for the majority 

 of birds moult twice a year. August is the time of this 

 moulting. The jubilant love-song ceases, and the birds, 

 dishevelled and moping, keep well in the shelter of the trees 

 or retreat to the woods, as they are weakened and their 

 power of flight is diminished. After the moulting comes 

 another disturbing element, not only for the novice, but for 

 those well versed in bird ways ; with many birds the colours 

 of the spring plumage are either wholly changed or greatly 

 modified, and though the song may be in a measure renewed 

 for a brief season, it is infrequent and not always true. The 

 young birds are now associating with the old and adding 

 their attempts at warbling, so that I think the snares that 

 lie in the way of beginning the study of Song-birds after 

 midsummer are quite evident. 



The male Bobolink, after moulting, becomes brown like 

 the female ; the American Goldfinch, a late moulter, turns a 

 dull olive ; but the Bluebird's new feathers are rusty ; many 

 Warblers lose their identifying bands and streaks while the 

 Baltimore Oriole keeps his flaming feathers. 



After this moulting the bird's life as an individual ceases 

 for a season ; he is no longer swayed by sex, but by the flock- 

 ing impulse of self-preservation, and in this case it is not 

 always birds of a feather that flock together. 



In the early spring, when the relaxing touch of the sun is 

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