AN OCTOBER DIARY. 355 



But, to further determine the facts concerning this ex- 

 traordinary habit, I have killed numbers of female cow- 

 pen-birds even as late as September, and in several 

 found eggs nearly ready for extrusion. They were, to 

 all appearances, fertile. 



Last night's steady rain cleared the air and earth of 

 dust. The gorgeous tints of the autumn foliage now 

 show to perfection. Now is the one favorable time to 

 realize how grand a color is a bright green. Some of 

 the trees still retain it in various shades, and it shows 

 forth in all its beauty in the setting of contrasting tints 

 wrought by the frost. 



The promised cold wave has come. Even in the full 

 glare of the noonday sun it is cold, and the fitful west 

 wind shakes the trees with sudden shivering, and mill- 

 ions of bright leaves flutter through the air, and star 

 the grass with flakes of red and yellow. 



For exercise I climbed a chinkapin-tree after the few 

 nuts remaining on it, and brought down upon my head 

 the fury of indignant blue-jays. One slapped my hand 

 with its wing as I was reaching upward to a cluster of 

 burrs. These jays were as bold as though I was after 

 their nest. Had I, in their fearlessness, as shown this 

 morning, an evidence of quick-wittedness on their part ; 

 did they realize my comparative helplessness while in 

 the tree ? Probably so. No bird, I think, fears man 

 when in a tree as it does when he is standing on the 

 ground. They seem to know that, with his hands grasp- 

 ing the branches, it is highly improbable that he has a 



