FAR AND NEAR 



misciiods bands, and many of them start on their 

 southern journey. From my woods along the Hud- 

 son the warblers all disappear before the middle of 

 the month. Some of them are probably in hiding 

 during the moulting season. The orioles begin to 

 move south about the middle of the month, and by 

 the first of September the last of them have passed. 

 They occasionally sing in a suppressed tone during 

 this migration, probably the young males trying their 

 instruments. It is at this time, when full of froUc 

 and mischief, like any other emigrants with faces 

 set to new lands, that they make such havoc in the 

 Hudson River vineyards. They seem to puncture 

 the grapes in the spirit of pure wantonness, or as if 

 on a wager as to who can puncture the most. The 

 swallows — the cliff and the barn — all leave in 

 August, usually Dy the 20th, though the swift may 

 be seen as late as October. I notice that our poets 

 often detain the swallows much beyond the proper 

 date. One makes them perch upon the barn in Oc- 

 tober. Another makes them noisy about the eaves 

 in Indian summer. An English poet makes the swal- 

 low go at November's bidding. The tree swallow may 

 often be seen migrating in countless numbers along 

 the coast in early October, but long ere this date the 

 barn and the cliif swallows are in tropical climes. 

 They begin to flock, and apparently rehearse the 

 migrating programme, in July. 



The boboHnks go in early August with the red- 



206 



