CHAPTER IX 



THE AUTUMNAL FLIGHT 



ALMOST before one can realize it, the season 

 of nesting has slipped away from us, and we 

 are confronted with the conditions of autumn, 

 when we may again greet the passing procession of 

 migrants and must say goodbye to them and to our 

 summer birds. It gives a sort of uncanny feeling to 

 realize that the birds which, seemingly, only a few 

 days ago were singing and nesting, have now reared 

 their young and silently departed, soon to be hun- 

 dreds or thousands of miles away. 



While we are still watching the late broods in their 

 nests, the autumnal flight has set in. The first symp- 

 tom of this, to be observed mostly along the sea-coast, 

 is the appearance of bands of shore-bird migrants 

 even in July. But the more universal sign is the 

 flocking of various land-birds. Even before they 

 migrate they gather into flocks. As we traverse the 

 country road in August, we note the straggling bands 

 of various sparrows that keep flying up along the 

 roadsides. They are mostly chipping, song, field 

 and vesper sparrows, with savanna sparrows where 

 these are common, and now and then some others. 

 Their plumages are now so juvenile or worn that it is 

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