May 
so faded out that the species is almost unrecog- 
nizable so far as the color is concerned; and 
perhaps, after all, the bare verbal description, 
infused with the imagination of the reader, is 
the best substitute for the living colors. 
On the same day that the oven-bird walked 
in, another warbler appeared—the redstart, and 
also the great crested flycatcher, the largest of 
that family in this region. Female ruby-crowned 
kinglets, minus the ruby flame, are abundant, 
and sandpipers are scudding about. ‘The white- 
throated sparrows on the eve of departure for 
their summer home are now looking their pret- 
tiest, for the black, white, and yellow decora- 
tions of the head are of the purest shade. It 
seems a little incongruous to findso handsome a 
head on so plain a body, very much like the 
combination of a stylish bonnet and a coarse 
gown. ‘They are now very numerous, and their 
‘¢ peabody ’’ song is to be heard everywhere ; 
but the snow-birds and red-polls have almost 
entirely disappeared, their places being taken by 
the quantities of yellow-rumps, whose character- 
istic note sounds from every bush and tree. 
Skimming over the Lake, one can often see a 
bevy of barn swallows apparently in the playful 
chase of ‘‘ cross-tag,’’ but having an eye also on 
145 
