A COLONY OF GRAKLES. 113 



strength, the birds, both old and young, mount to the 

 topmost branches of the pines, and, as though at a given 

 signal, wing their way, in a compact flock of six or seven 

 individuals, to the meadows. So superlatively noisy are 

 these birds when they are about to leave their nest that 

 the fact is published as unmistakably as the undue ex- 

 citement among bees shows they are about to leave the 

 hive. And once the last grakle's nest is vacant, and for 

 weeks after, each gloomy pine seems silent as the tomb. 



