104 AUTUMN NOTES IN IOWA 



explained by variations of locality and nature's 

 caprice in the chronology of color development at 

 this season/^ 



Grinnell, October 22, 1906. 

 Walking through the sleeping town a little past 

 midnight, one heard from the tree-tops low, elusive 

 bird notes, apparently of sparrow quality. Very 

 possibly they came from white-throated sparrows, 

 which were very numerous here a few days ago. 

 These delicate nocturnal calls of migratory birds 

 in the autumn, heard from the branches or often 

 from wanderers in misty weather above the elec- 

 tric lights, have a strange fascination — that of 

 the unknown, the transitory, the intangible. Night 

 songs may be heard from various species in sum- 

 mer, but these dim call notes of passing travelers 

 make a different appeal. Quite different in effect 

 also were the bluebird's warble coming in at the 

 window this morning, before one arose, the later 

 prosaic labor-song of the nuthatch, and the loud, 

 resolute if melancholy cry of the flicker borne 

 along the afternoon wind. The myrtle warblers 

 and the kinglets have been abundant here of late, 

 but we saw none today. The autumnal migration 

 of the warblers, partly because of the confusing 

 condition of plumage in adults and young, is a 

 branch of bird-lore in which the mere amateur is 

 seldom proficient. 



1" See xA.ppendix, Note 15. 



