THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 45 
side of the entrance of their winter retreat on a sunny knoll. In this 
amorous procedure the snakes twist around each other like a piece of 
thick cord. In the present instance the ophidians were killed by 
the dog which attended the boy. Dogs need very little encourage- 
ment to kill common snakes. The first business of all the reptilia 
on their revival in spring, as well as that of the majority of the warm 
blooded quadrupeds that hibernate, is sex association, for the purpose 
of continuing their kind, and on the first. warm sunny days, even in 
the last days of March or the first week in April, it is a common 
incident here to find garter snakes as above indicated, even when large 
snowdrifts can be seen wasting away near the sheltering hole or log. 
In the warm nooks among dry fallen leaves in the woods the 
Hepatica flowers were by no means scarce previous to the five inches 
of snow-fall last Saturday, the 15th inst., but they have made very 
little progress since, as the weather has been chilly and uncongenial 
ever since, with the exception of, perhaps, one day, Tuesday last, 
18th inst. | : 
The little chestnut-headed Sparrow (f7zng7lla porszlla), who 
now have nests in the shrubberies, and also the Juncos, seem in 
consternation at the way the wind blows and the snow flakes fly this 
morning, yet the Meadow-larks sing lively in the intermittent glints 
of sunshine, and some of the Robins are working vigorously at the 
job of digging out angle worms from the sod or sward in the orchard. 
Thermometer 41°. © 
April 21st, 1893. 
Wile 
At the date of my epistle of the 2oth ult., I had not heard 
of the presence of Swallows, yet two or three were said to have been 
seen here next day (21st ult.) byan acquaintance, upon whose word 
I place reliance. A more numerous group of thirteen were noticed 
on the 25th of April by my son. They were perched close in a row 
on the railroad telegraph wire, in a shaded place between tall woods, 
and rested there for some time, seemingly fatigued, as if recent 
arrivals from a warmer latitude. The same species of birds have 
gradually become more numerous since that date, and are now 
hourly to be seen and _ heard twittering and flying in and out of our 
barn and outbuildings. 
The weather continues rather uncongenial, and the month of 
April, 1893, will longbe remembered as remarkable for its boisterous 
