A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



stray specimens are now and then to be met 

 with in the colder months. As spring ap- 

 proached, the one I refer to took his depart- 

 ure. 



I must bring my account of my neighbor 

 in the tree down to the latest date ; so after 

 the lapse of a year I add the following notes. 

 The last day of February was bright and 

 spring-like. I heard the first sparrow sing 

 that morning and the first screaming of the 

 circling hawks, and about seven o'clock the 

 first drumming of my little friend. His 

 first notes were uncertain and at long inter- 

 vals, but by and by he warmed up and beat 

 a lively tattoo. As the season advanced he 

 ceased to lodge in his old quarters. I would 

 rap and find nobody at home. Was he out 

 on a lark, I said, the spring fever working 

 in his blood ? After a time his drumming 

 grew less frequent, and finally, in the middle 

 of April, ceased entirely. Had some acci- 

 dent befallen him, or had he wandered away 

 to fresh fields, following some siren of his 

 species ? Probably the latter. Another 

 bird that I had under observation also left 

 his winter-quarters in the spring. This, 

 then, appears to be the usual custom. The 

 wrens and the nuthatches and chickadees 

 38 



