FIELD AND STUDY 



old cedar lane, I found a mourning dove's nest on 

 the top of an old stone wall, — the only one I ever 

 found in such a position, — I wondered how many 

 mourning doves throughout the breadth and length 

 of the land had built or were then building their 

 nests on stone walls or on rocks. 



Considering the enormous number of birds of all 

 species that flood the continent at this season, as if 

 some dike or barrier south of us had suddenly given 

 way, one wonders where they could all have been 

 pent up during the winter. Mexico and Central and 

 South America have their own bird populations 

 the seasons through; and with the addition of the 

 hosts from this country, it seems as if those lands 

 must have literally swarmed with birds, and that 

 the food question (as wath us) must have been 

 pressing. Of course, a great many of our birds — 

 such as sparrows, robins, blackbirds, meadowlarks, 

 jays, and chewinks — spend the winter in the 

 Southern States, but many more — warblers, 

 swallows, swifts, hummers, orioles, tanagers, 

 cuckoos, flycatchers, vireos, and others — seek out 

 the equatorial region. 



Ill 



The ever-memorable war spring of 1917 was very 

 backward, — about two weeks later than the aver- 

 age, — very cold, and very wet. Few fruit-trees 

 bloomed before the 20th of May; then they all 



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