394 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



once told me that he was out near Cat-tail one Christ- 

 mas, and some Injuns came to the house where he was. 

 They got to banteriu' one another about shootin' and 

 hnntin', and one said he'd kill more turkeys before 

 mornin' tlian t'otlier Injun would, and so, about noon, 

 they went into the woods. About sunrise, next mornin', 

 one of the fellows came in with six old gobblers, and 

 the other Injun followed with only two. They sold 'em 

 then and there ; but it turned out the six gobblers be- 

 longed to one of the neighbors, and the Injun had picked 

 'em, 80 you couldn't tell they were tame." 



The moon fulled on the fourth ; the fifth was a warm 

 autumn day, and tliis, the sixth, is simply summer re- 

 turned. To be sure, the leaves are falling ; the poison- 

 ivy is crimson, the maples yellow, and gum-trees of every 

 hue — still, the great mass of foliage, as you look over 

 the country, is green. On such a day the autumn fliglit 

 of home-returning warblers arrived. Perhaps they trav- 

 elled wholly by moonlight, or were guided by some un- 

 recognized power, for there cannot be traced a posi- 

 tive connection between the phases of the moon and the 

 migration of birds. If bright, clear nights are followed 

 by a great accession of birds in the morning, it seems 

 very probable that the migrants travelled by night ; but 

 certainly birds do not always wait for the moon to suit 

 them, and often arrive when it is very cloudy ; or can 

 it be said that they flew above the clouds ? If so, how 

 could they know just when to drop beneath them ? 

 Yesterday not a warbler was to be seen along the hill- 

 side. I looked for them, morning and evening, but in 



