SEPTEMBER SUNSHINE, 263 



worm-fence, they seemed to be carried by the breeze 

 rather than to be flying, and each, as it floated, bubbled 

 over with music. Dear as the warbling bluebird is in 

 spring, cheery as is his presence in midwinter, it is in 

 the hazy September mornings that we see him at his 

 best. A score of his kind associate to bid farewell to 

 summer, and sing their regrets with touching eloquence; 

 or is it that they are welcoming the coming season, 

 sounding its praises with becoming unction ? Be this 

 as it may, the bluebird is an all-important feature of 

 our early autumn, and chimes well with the snappy 

 flavor of golden pippins and the mellow richness of 

 the yellow peach. 



As I look hack on the past four weeks, what a beg- 

 garly array of birds for sweet, sunny September ! Not 

 half a dozen warblers ! This, the month that should 

 have brought the birds that nested even in Labrador — 

 that has brought them by the hundreds, every other 

 year for the past twenty — this month, none ! 



In the pale moonlight have they passed by, or, know- 

 ing how the summer sunshine has lingered, have they 

 delayed their coming? I can scarcely think the latter 

 to be true; and so sad and silent has been the month, I 

 trust none like it will come again. 



Animate nature, here, has not yet wholly accustomed 

 itself to droughts; a^nd the glory of this month is surely 

 not maintained, when it proves to be nothing more than 

 a desiccated August. 



