In Defence of Desolation. 181 



ridden and more observant, the question would 

 have been settled before this. In such a case, 

 the opinion of the farmer is worth more than 

 that of the professional ornithologist 



A crow, black as night, might seem a fitting 

 accompaniment of a dreary day and desolate 

 outlook ; but what of the great flocks of rusty 

 grakles and of cow-birds ? Neither is really 

 black, but both appear so as they rise from the 

 marsh and drift like dead leaves before the 

 wind, perhaps to sink out of sight in the dead 

 grass, or, gathering in the near-by trees, chirp, 

 splutter, and gurgle in a strange yet not un- 

 musical way. These are northern grakles that 

 are now southward bound, and quite different 

 from their purple, boat-tailed cousins that were 

 here all summer. The cow-birds are not migra- 

 tory, strictly speaking, but will come and go all 

 through the winter; curious birds, uncertain 

 in all their ways, and fitting into no scheme of 

 well-regulated communities. Building no nests 

 and never mating, what can we expect of them ? 

 Yet their presence to-day is more than welcome. 

 However desolate in appearance, the world is 

 not deserted. 



