THE BIRD-LIFE OF A YEAR. 25 



ulous cries of immature Baltimore Orioles are char- 

 acteristic of the season. 



BIRDS OF THE MONTH. 



PERMANENT RESIDENTS (see page 6). 



SUMMER RESIDENTS (see page 10). 



AUGUST. 



With the majority of our nesting birds, family 

 cares are ended in August, and at this season they 

 completely renew their worn plumages by molting. 

 As every keeper of cage-birds well knows, this is a 

 trying period in a bird's life. Wild birds molt more 

 quickly than caged ones, and it is possible that the 

 physical strain to which the growth of new feathers 

 subjects them may be more severe. However this 

 may be, birds when molting are less in evidence than 

 at any other time. What becomes of many of our 

 birds in August, it is difficult to say. Baltimore 

 Orioles, for example, are rarely seen from August 1 

 to 20, but after the latter date they reappear clad 

 in new plumage and are then in nearly full song. 

 So apparently complete is the disappearance of 

 birds in August that before the fall migration daily 

 brings new arrivals from the north, one may spend 

 hours in the woods, and hear only the Red-eyed 

 Vireo and Wood Pewee, August's own songsters. 

 Late in the month, migrants from the north will be 

 found travelling through the woods in small com- 

 panies, but the characteristic bird-life of August 

 will be found in the marshes. There the Swallows 



