MID WIN TER MINS TREL SY. \\ 



and then their united voices sounded sweetly in 

 the still air. Quickening my steps, the flock 

 finally rose in a body, and, so fitful and irregular 

 was their progress, had there been a stiff breeze 

 at the time they might have been mistaken for 

 drifting autumn leaves. I need not pursue this 

 feature of winter bird life further, so far as the 

 migratory species are concerned ; but a word 

 with reference to those birds which are here 

 throughout the year the resident species. The 

 robin, Carolina wren, song-sparrow, and thistle- 

 bird sing, I am sure, with unabated ardor, in 

 spite of the cold. A miserably damp, foggy, or 

 even windy day has a depressing effect, and at 

 such a time I usually find the woods, meadows, 

 and the river shore quite silent, unless, indeed, 

 there be crows in abundance. During the last 

 week in January, 1889, when much of the time 

 there was a chilly northwest wind and often a 

 clouded sky, the song-sparrows thronged the wil- 

 low hedges, and sang their May-day melodies. I 

 heard them soon after sunrise, at midday, and 

 once after the sun had gone down and it was 

 fast growing dark. 



There is yet another feature of bird music 

 which is characteristic of winter the singing of 

 passing flocks when high in the air. Day after 

 day, of late, soon after sunrise, a merry company 

 of bluebirds fly over the house, and each one 



