20 BIRDS 



which thej' are attached. The weather is still more or less 

 sultiy, l)ut we may venture into the damp or dark places 

 without the annoyance of mosquitoes, gnats, and other insects 

 which are so numerous during June and July. 



With the arrival of September we see manj^ new forms 

 about our shade trees, gardens, and groves. They are not 

 usually our summer residents in different plumage, but birds 

 from a more northerly latitude. The warblers have begun 

 their annual southward journey. Along the pebbly beaches 

 and sandy shores hundreds of little waders are moving about 

 in a systematic search for aquatic life. INIany of them are 

 marked diflFerently than they were five months ago. During 

 the interval they have visited the tundras and barrens about 

 the Arctic Ocean, deposited their four eggs, reared their 

 young, and are now feasting as they move by degrees to the 

 South. Three months from now some of them will be hun- 

 dreds of miles south of the equator. 



Owls seek more open situations at this time of the year. 

 They realize that the territory is populated by transients, and 

 the time is to be improved by hunting in the open, where 

 smaller forms of bird-life are so much in evidence. It is still 

 possible to find an occupied nest of the goldfinch or cedar 

 waxwing, though undoubtedly the birds have been accident- 

 ally delayed. The male goldfinch is losing his brilliant coat 

 of black and yellow and is assuming a covering of dull 

 greenish-black not unlike his mate. Great flocks of black- 

 birds, comprising red-wings, rusty blackbirds, and cowbirds, 

 forage in the marshes and descend upon the grain fields. 

 The graceful little terns called seagulls are moving leisurely 

 southward along water-courses. 



