HOW TO STUDY THE BIRDS 21 



On the upland prairies large flocks of golden plover are 

 feeding on wild berries, grasshoppers, and crickets. The 

 birds have lost the handsome black breasts and there is 

 nothing about their appearance to identify them, save their 

 clear mellow whistle, or call-note, which they use when mov- 

 iilg swiftly in compact flocks over our uncultivated land. 

 As Helen Hunt Jackson says: 



"October the month of carnival of all the year, 

 When Nature lets the wild earth go its way. 

 And spend whole seasons on a single day." 



With the fall or turning of the leaves in October we 

 lose our insectivorous birds. Belated warblers are hurrying 

 southward and occasionally a phoebe may be seen lingering 

 about the nesting place, loath to leave the little bridge or 

 old well with its past associations. As we walk through 

 the dead leaves of the woodlands, willow, olive-backed, and 

 hermit thrushes are startled from the ground and fly to the 

 nearest branch of some leafless tree. Small flocks of white- 

 throated, fox, or white-crowned sparrows are busilj' feeding 

 in the fence corners. The junco has returned from the Cana- 

 dian provinces and will remain with us until a mantle of 

 snow forces him to seek food elsewhere. 



Golden and ruby-crowned kinglets moving in company 

 with brown creepers comprise a fearless trio while inspect- 

 ing the trees on our lawns and in our parks. The little 

 kinglets look twice as large as they did last April, the 

 fluffed feathers offering more resistance to the October chill. 

 The frosted vegetation in sloughs and bayous now exposes 



