286 Birds of the Heavens [FIRST WEEK 



coated, low-voiced birds easily attract our attention, the 

 more now that the great host of brilliant warblers has 

 passed, just as our hearts warm toward the humble poly- 

 pody fronds (passing them by unnoticed when flowers are 

 abundant) which now hold up their bright greenness amid 

 all the cold. 



But all the migrants have not left us yet by any means, 

 and we had better leave our boreal visitors until mid- 

 winter's blasts show us these hardiest of the hardy at their 

 best. 



We know little of the ways of the gaunt herons on 

 their southward journey, but day after day, in the marshes 

 and along the streams, we may see the great blues as they 

 stop in their flight to rest for a time. 



The cold draws all the birds of a species together. 

 Dark hordes of clacking grackles pass by, scores of red- 

 winged blackbirds and cowbirds mingle amicably together, 

 both of dark hue but of such unlike matrimonial habits. 

 A single male red-wing, as we have seen, may assume the 

 cares of a harem of three, four, or five females, each of 

 which rears her brown-streaked offspring in her own par- 

 ticular nest, while the valiant guardian keeps faithful watch 

 over his small colony among the reeds and cat-tails. But 

 little thought or care does mother cowbird waste upon her 

 offspring. No home life is hers merely a stealthy approach 

 to the nest of some unsuspecting yellow warbler, or other 

 small bird, a hastily deposited egg, and the unnatural parent 

 goes on her way, having shouldered all her household cares 

 on another. Her young may be hatched and carefully 

 reared by the patient little warbler mother, or the egg 



