SIGNS OF SPRING 29 



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brief but energetic song. The nuthatch begins to 

 utter those simple, single, loud, full notes which dis- 

 tinguish him throughout the spring. Finches are 

 more garrulous than ever, and even the wagtails, 

 though perchance solitary, utter their call-notes as 

 if to make of these a song. The lark, when on 

 the wing, is continually employing a short purring 

 call, repeating it so that sometimes a short snatch 

 of song is produced ; and, in addition, his fulf 

 song is often given. 



In the night other bird-voices proclaim the 

 advent of spring, for the larger migrants, ducks 

 and other water-fowl, are continually calling to 

 each other as they traverse the dark landscape. 

 Much smaller, but more frequent, the redwing may 

 be heard uttering its soft and plaintive whisper, 

 "syou," as it drifts across the sky. But the 

 numbers of all the spring migrants are much less 

 than those of the autumnal passengers, for man 

 has taken toll of them in half a dozen countries. 

 Traps, decoys in which multitudes wereengulphed, 

 springes, birdlime, sulphur fumes, and other means 

 of death, have been employed, not only for man to 

 obtain tasty morsels of food, but in order that 



