216 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



fly west, wheel again, careening so that the after- 

 noon sunlight flashed on every scarlet epaulet, 

 and then fly southward and downward into the 

 grass. If they had been held equidistant by wires 

 and guided by one mind, they could not have 

 moved with any greater regularity. At the time, 

 and since, they have reminded me of crack com- 

 panies of infantry wheeling at the word of com- 

 mand. I remember once, on a March morning, 

 counting a flock of cedar birds, which alighted 

 in an ash-tree by my window. They all faced 

 in one direction, and numbered one hundred 

 and forty. As I finished my count, it seemed 

 as though every bird in the tree was moved by 

 a single spring, for they went off so nearly to- 

 gether that I was unable to note the slightest 

 difference in their start. 



There are also birds which act the part of 

 border pickets and sentries. The tyrant flycatch- 

 ers, especially the pugnacious and keen -eyed 

 kingbirds, are noted for their readiness to warn 

 their neighborhood of danger and to engage an 

 intruder in single combat, no matter what his 

 size or strength. 



I have named farming sparrows, artisan wood- 

 peckers, preaching vireos, seafaring terns, music- 

 loving thrushes, frivolous warblers, martial cedar 

 birds, swallows, and blackbirds, and the criminal 

 owls, crows, jays, and cowbirds. It would be 



