£be Warbler 39 



The Woodcock (Scolopax minor) wheels around him uttering notes like the 

 loud ticking of a watch so rapidly repeated that they cannot be counted. 

 He ascends higher and still higher in the air like the Lark of Europe till 

 he seems to have risen above the clouds, when suddenly his voice is hushed 



* 



and in zigzag lines he descends rapidly to the earth and alights near the 

 same spot from which he arose. This is repeated for several successive eve- 

 nings and at early dawn, till suddenly he commences his annual migration 

 and is seen no more. The Yellow-crowned and the Night Herons uttering 

 their hoarse croak as they pass high and rapidly on, and at a still greater 

 distance, like unearthly sounds, are heard the not unmusical cry of the Can- 

 ada Goose. In the meantime, the Rails, the Owls, Thrushes, Warblers and 

 many other birds glide silently by him like spirits of the air; and without 

 being superstitious there comes over him a sensation of mingled admiration 

 and fear, and he feels the truth of the language of inspiration : great and 

 marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty ! 



The arrival and departure of birds affords a pretty sure indication of the 

 state of the weather, and the advance of the seasons. Living constantly in 

 the air, and exposed to all its variations, they become either from instinct or 

 habit acquainted with the changes of the atmosphere, with the winds, the 

 weather and the seasons. Captain Parry and Dr. Richardson inform us of 

 the anxiety with which the northern Indians watched the approach of the 

 first bird — the harbinger of spring. On the 12th of April, says Dr. Rich- 

 ardson, the arrival of the Swans, Geese and Ducks gave certain indications 

 of the return of spring. On the 14th a Robin appeared. This bird is con- 

 sidered by the natives as an infallible percursor of warm weather ; and Capt. 

 Parry says " the Snow Bunting was the first percursor of spring that ap- 

 peared. When the well-known notes of the Whip-poor-will is heard, the 

 farmer is reminded that the time for the planting of corn is at hand. The 

 Fish Hawk's return to the rivers of the North is hailed by the fishermen as 

 a proof that the season for the taking of shad has arrived. When the Swal- 

 low appears the danger of frost is believed to be over, and the Cuckoo of 

 Europe is hailed by the old and 'the young as an evidence of the return of 

 spring. And if we have ever admired the beautiful sentiment of the Poet 



"Sweet bird, thy bower is ever green 

 Thy sky is ever clear ; 

 Thou hast no sorrow in thy song 

 No winter in thy year;" 



the inhabitants of the middle and northern states of our country feel equally 

 interested and pleased when they hear the soft and melodious notes of the 

 Bluebird, the Robin and the Wood Thrush {Turdus mustalinus) reminding them 

 that ' The winter it past and gone, and that the time of the singing of birds 

 has come.' " 



