20 BIRD-LAND ECHOES. 



and went, but this was not the case. There was a 

 continual accession of individuals and a stream of 

 departing birds having a southward drift. There 

 was nothing of a migratory character in this, for, 

 though I write now of a mid-December day, it is as 

 likely to be witnessed a month or two months later 

 as now. These birds simply come and go. Here 

 to-day and gone to-morrow is the burden of the 

 rambler's field-notes, if not of the songs of the birds 

 as they flit by you. 



Finding a comfortable seat, I awaited their coming, 

 for pursuit is fruitless even when practicable ; but 

 here the briers were too thick-set for human progress. 

 That the birds were hungry seemed probable from 

 the fact that most of them were on the ground and 

 the scratching among dead leaves was clearly heard. 

 The vesper-sparrows that all summer long had en- 

 livened every upland field were now in friendly asso- 

 ciation with the white-throats and a few snow-birds, 

 seeking food in a thicket where they had never ven- 

 tured before. No foe was visible, yet at the call of 

 some bird in the open or tall tree above they would 

 rise at the same instant and gather in the bushes. 

 Then I could see what species had assembled there, 

 but before the task of enumeration was complete 

 not one of them would be seen. As quickly as they 

 came they returned. It might have proved mo- 

 notonous at last, but there came all the glow of 

 summer through this winter sunshine when a song- 

 sparrow, leaving the merry company, perched on a 

 little beech and sang that same sweet song that 



