Correspondents and Critics. 285 



summer. So warm are many nooks and shel- 

 tered ravines that the Maryland yellow-throat 

 forgets to consult the almanac, and seems to 

 mistake November's Indian summer for Sep- 

 tember sunshine. Not always, not often, but 

 then not rarely. Will it become a fixed habit 

 in time ? It is such with the catbird, the che- 

 wink, and to less extent the brown thrasher. 

 They can almost always be found in the pine 

 woods or dense oak-growths curtained with 

 usnea ; places where they are not apt to be in 

 summer. Are these pointers in the direction 

 of migratorial change of habit ? And what of 

 the southward flight of swallows of several 

 species that occurs in November, weeks after 

 our residents have taken their departure. This 

 occurs two, perhaps three, years in every five. 

 These are matters that any one can study, and 

 the untrained observer is as well fitted to the 

 task as many a theory-crushed professional orni- 

 thologist. The facts gathered, the little at- 

 tendant circumstances that may mean so much, 

 are less likely to be overlooked by those curious 

 as to such matters and who have not their senses 

 taken away because the birds are out of place, 



