424 



AUDUBON 



is scarcely any difference in the appearance of the adult 

 and the young. The Alauda alpestris of this season has 

 now made such progress in its growth that the first 

 moulting is so forward that the small wing-coverts and 

 secondaries are already come, and have assumed the beau- 

 tiful rosy tints of the adults in patches at these parts ; a 

 most interesting state of their plumage, probably never 

 seen by any naturalist before. It is quite surprising to 

 see how quickly the growth is attained of every living 

 thing in this country, either animal or vegetable. In 

 six weeks I have seen the eggs laid, the birds hatched, 

 their first moult half over, their association in flocks, 

 and preparations begun for their leaving the country. 

 That the Creator should have commanded millions of 

 delicate, diminutive, tender creatures to cross immense 

 spaces of country to all appearance a thousand times more 

 congenial to them than this, to cause them to people, as 

 it were, this desolate land for a time, to enliven it by the 

 songs of the sweet feathered musicians for two months at 

 most, and by the same command induce them to abandon 

 it almost suddenly, is as wonderful as it is beautiful. 

 The fruits are now ripe, yet six weeks ago the whole 

 country was a sheet of snow, the bays locked in ice, the 

 air a constant storm. Now the grass is rich in growth, 

 at every step flowers are met with, insects fill the air, the 

 snow-banks are melting ; now and then an appearance as 

 of summer does exist, but in thirty days all is over; the 

 dark northern clouds will enwrap the mountain summits; 

 the rivulets, the ponds, the rivers, the bays themselves 

 will begin to freeze; heavy snowfalls will cover all these 

 shores, and nature will resume her sleeping state, nay, 

 more than that, one of desolation and death. Wonderful! 

 Wonderful! But this marvellous country must be left to 

 an abler pen than mine to describe. The Tringa maritma^ 



1 The Purple or Rock Sandpiper, Tringa {ArqtMtdla) maritima. — E.C. 



