RED LEAF DAYS 191 



ing only of another insect. This minute is 

 to him no better than any other. And the 

 man's nerves are tingling with excitement. 



"You will hardly believe me," said my 

 companion, who had hastened forward to 

 look at the stranger, " but this is the second 

 one I have ever seen." 



But why should I not believe him ? It 

 was only my third one. Philadelphia vireos 

 do not feed in every bush. Be it added, 

 however, that I saw another before the week 

 was out. 



There were many more birds here now 

 than I had found six or seven weeks before ; 

 but there was much less music. In early 

 August hermit thrushes sang in sundry 

 places and at all hours ; now a faint clinch 

 was the most that we heard from them, and 

 that but once. And stiU our September va- 

 cation was far from being a silent one. 

 Song sparrows, vesper sparrows, white- 

 throats, goldfinches, robins, solitary vireos, 

 chickadees (whose whistle is among the 

 sweetest of wild music, I being judge), 

 phcebes, and a catbird, aU these sang more 

 or less frequently, and more or less well, 



