AUGUST. 193 



of plant life, and the weather. There can be no doubt but 

 that the birds were stirred to renewed activity by the 

 unusual abundance of insects available for food, and 

 these again had scarcely any struggle for existence, be- 

 cause of undiminished vigor of plant life due to the unu- 

 sual rainfall. The interrelationship was clearly evident 

 to any thoughtful observer, and yet it would be impossible 

 to follow the chain link by link. One feature of the con- 

 ditions described was unmistakable every form of life 

 common to a given locality was exceedingly abundant, and 

 I well remember how, late in the evening, as I noted 

 down the occurrences of the day, the noise of the katy- 

 dids, the crickets, and nocturnal insect-life generally, far 

 exceeded that of any preceding summer that I remem- 

 bered ; but while our birds very generally sing long after 

 their nesting labors are over, nevertheless, it was some- 

 thing of a novelty as August closed to hear the rose- 

 breasted grosbeak singing at sunset, with the full measure 

 of his springtide ardor ; to hear the thrushes in the lane 

 recall the evenings when the apple blossoms made my 

 yard a garden of roses ; to hear, mingled with the crickets' 

 autumn cries, the many voices that mark early May morn- 

 ings as red-letter days. 



The summer of 1887, as we have seen, was a remarkable 

 one in many ways, and in nothing more pronouncedly so 

 than in its influence upon animal life. It showed us the 

 most familiar forms in new roles, and demonstrated be- 

 yond all question that no bird, and probably no animal of 

 any class, is so fixed in its habits that sudden and radical 

 changes may not occur. 



A word in conclusion. I have spoken of the excessive 

 rainfall in the Middle States ; perhaps it was not uniform, 

 and in the valley of the Delaware more excessive than 

 east or west of it ; and I would have my readers bear in 



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