RED LEAF DAYS 189 



how came lie to describe the scarlet tanager 

 as having black wings and tail, and the 

 brown thrasher a streaked breast ? 



These are afterthoughts. At the moment 

 we were busy, eyes and ears, taking a census 

 of the swamp. Besides the waxwings, which 

 were much the most numerous, as well as the 

 most in sight — " tree-toppers," one of my 

 word-making friends calls them — there were 

 robins, song sparrows, white-tlrroats, field 

 sparrows, goldfinches, myrtle warblers, a 

 Maryland yellow-throat, a black-throated 

 green, a Nashville warbler, a Philadelphia 

 vireo, two or three solitary vireos, one or 

 more catbirds, as many olive-backed thrushes, 

 a white-breasted nuthatch, and a sapsucker. 

 Others, in all likelihood, escaped us. 



In and out among the bushes we made 

 our way, one calling to the other softly at 

 each new development. 



" What was that ? " said I. " Was n't 

 that a bobolink ? " 



" It sounded like it," answered the other 

 listener. 



" But it can't be. Hark ! " 



The quick, musical drop of sound — a 



