SPRING AND SUMMER MEET 47 



of his wife, and these were the first females of 

 the spring. A spotted sandpiper disturbed on 

 shore went peep-peeping over the water to circle 

 in on another roost ; a lone cormorant came from 

 somewhere and whiffled off up the valley; and 

 just as we turned away from the water we en- 

 countered a small flock of swamp sparrows. 

 These little reddish fellows can run about 

 through the marsh grass with the alacrity of 

 mice ; and during the time that we watched them, 

 they showed us how well they are equipped for a 

 life in such places. The ease with which they 

 could disappear and appear again from nowhere 

 had in it something almost savoring of a sleight 

 of hand performance. Though most of the birds 

 have more or less of a protective color scheme in 

 their coats, few are so well endowed naturally 

 as this marsh-loving sparrow. 



It was during the return journey about mid- 

 day, that we came upon the real bird feature of 

 the day, when in a bend in a warm, wooded ra- 

 vine, we stumbled into a veritable bird rendez- 

 vous. It seemed that all the feathered folks of 

 the wood had collected in this one spot. Congre- 

 gations of this sort are a fairly common thing in 

 the spring, for there are many companionships, 



