826 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



the two was whipped. However this may have been, 

 the Carolina wren soon recovered from the contest, and 

 sang as usual, as though the world was his, and made 

 for him alone. 



Until this morning I have seen no cardinal red-birds 

 for several weeks. To-day a half-dozen were in the 

 garden, seed -hunting and chirping, but none sang. 

 These birds have probably been summering to the north 

 of us, and are now on their way to more temperate win- 

 ter-quarters. The more strictly migratory are they as 

 they spread northward in spring, but here, thank fort- 

 une I they are resident. 



One might suppose these birds to be very conspicuous 

 objects, from their color; yet they are not always so. 

 To-day they glistened in the clear sunshine and w6re 

 not readily recognized as birds. I tested this in many 

 ways, and found it was really diflficult to get a view of 

 them that enabled me to be sure of their identity. They 

 were always in motion, and seemed to keep themselves 

 60 exposed to the sunlight that lurking foes miglit be 

 blinded by their brilliancy. Often they appeared to 

 be fragments of glass in the bushes, and not beautiful 

 crested red-birds. But at other times, as I have else- 

 where shown, they study to conceal themselves. 



From the " Overlook," as I call a favorable point on 

 the brow of the terrace, where the river and meadows 

 are in fullest view, I noticed this morning an unusual 

 number of hawks, all flying in the same direction, south- 

 southwest. It can hardly be said that they were migra- 

 ting — there were too few of them ; and very likely they 

 changed their direction before long, and sought only 



