CHAPTER V. 



MAY. 



NOTHING could more neatly and truthfully express 

 the conditions of the outdoor world in early May than 

 the name given to the month by the Delaware Indians 

 Tauiuinipen gischucli, the moon of the beginning of sum- 

 mer. And dearest of all the moons should this one be to 

 him who loves an outing, if it be, as has been said, that 

 by its waxing light many a long-absent migratory bird is 

 guided to its haunts of a year ago. 



I have often wondered if an Indian ever said to him- 

 self, " To-morrow will be the first of May," and retired in 

 blissful expectation of being aroused by a grand chorus of 

 newly arrived songsters. Probably not ; nor can I, much 

 as I would love to have it so, for the reason that many a 

 summer bird persists in dropping in upon us before that 

 magic date. 



So far as my own observations extend, the moon influ- 

 ences migration, if it does at all, in some such way as this : 

 If it fulls between April 20 and 30, then the birds that 

 are latest to arrive, as a rule, will be earlier by nearly a 

 week than if the nights are dark, as when there is no moon 

 or a waning one. But this may be all a mere coincidence, 

 and of but one fact I can speak positively that regularity 

 is not so important a factor of the habit as is persistently 

 claimed. 



But May is a month to be enjoyed, not coldly discussed, 



