THE PASSING OF THE BIRDS. 189 



ment northward or southward. We see the 

 stragglers, more or less numerous, that hap- 

 pen to have dropped out of the procession in 

 our immediate neighborhood, a flock of 

 sandpipers about the edge of the pond, some 

 sparrows by the roadside, a bevy of war- 

 blers in the wood, and from these signs 

 we infer the passing of the host. 



Unlike swallows, robins, bluebirds, black- 

 birds, and perhaps most of the sparrows, our 

 smaller wood birds, the warblers and vireos 

 especially, appear to move as a general thing 

 in mixed flocks. Whenever the woods are 

 full of them, as is the case now and then 

 every spring and fall, one of the most strik- 

 ing features of the show is the number 

 of species represented. For the benefit of 

 readers who may never have observed such 

 a "bird wave," or "rush," let me sketch has- 

 tily one which occurred a few years ago, on 

 the 22d of September. As I started out at 

 six o'clock in the morning, in a cool north- 

 west wind, birds were passing overhead in 

 an almost continuous stream, following a 

 westerly course. They were chiefly war- 

 blers, but I noted one fairly large flock of 

 purple finches. All were at a good height, 



