THE AUTUMNAL FLIGHT. 117 



field as a symptom of autumn, and they too gather in 

 large flocks, sometimes associated with the other 

 blackbirds. The meadowlarks or "marsh quails," 

 are also flocking in fields and marshes. 



In August also begins quite a movement among 

 the warblers. Few of them raise two broods, unless 

 it be the yellow-throat ; they are prompt in beginning 

 and swift to finish. Before June is over, most of 

 their young are strong on wing. Forthwith they be- 

 gin to ramble, and even by early August individuals 

 of several species have begun to work their passage 

 south. The blue-winged and golden-winged are 

 among the first to leave or to appear in new localities, 

 likewise the Canadian and chestnut-sided warblers. 

 During the last half of August we may see almost 

 any of the warblers, though they seem few and hard 

 to find. But with September their numbers greatly 

 increase. Some days one can see hardly any, and 

 again they are abundant, though in a different way 

 from their appearance in spring. 



We need not now expect them in the orchard and 

 garden; the proper place is the woodland and swamp. 

 Shrubbery near water is a favorite resort, but they 

 also straggle through the woods, duller in plumage 

 than in the spring, and the young of many of them 

 are particularly hard to distinguish. Some of them 

 are gone by the very first part of September, but most 

 species are found till early October, and a number till 

 late in that month. Early September is often hot 

 and summer-like, and during the first half, under such 



