60 AUTUMN NOTES IN IOWA 



streams the brook trout are said to flash and rise 

 and strike ; here grow the balsam, the white pine, 

 the canoe birch. 



This is the time of year for the flocking of but- 

 terflies as well as birds. At Clear Lake hundreds 

 of the small white and yellow kinds were flutter- 

 ing, in intricate design, a few feet above the level 

 of the main business street. Here today twelve or 

 fifteen monarchs were sailing among the trees 

 along the summit of the bluff, as if searching com- 

 rades for the long trip southward. The writer 

 once saw the gathering of the hosts, in central 

 Iowa, in September if memory is correct. Thou- 

 sands of monarchs were clinging to the leaves and 

 branches of the large soft maples of a country 

 grove some distance from any road or house. They 

 seemed very restless, detachments of a few scores 

 or hundreds continually flying from the trees into 

 the air for a few rods, then returning, as if un- 

 certain whether to go or remain. The prepara- 

 tion for the southward flight of these butterflies 

 is so conspicuous and interesting that even the 

 large city dailies sometimes give a report of it. 

 Two years ago, about the fifth of September, the 

 Minneapolis Journal devoted perhaps a quarter of 

 a column to an article on the subject by Miss Flor- 

 ence E. Lilhe of St. Anthony Park. Miss Lillie 

 told the reader of the distant goals of the flight — 

 Florida, Central America, etc. She also stated 



