THE OOLOGIST. 



249 



guard the cross-roads; and, as I wheeled 

 quietly by, he gave utterance to a sub- 

 dued croak, as if to demand of me, the 

 countersign. 



Tonawanda Swamp is a large and 

 extensive tract of some fifteen or 

 twenty thousand acres of low, wet, 

 marshy, swampy, boggy, peat-bot- 

 tomed, mucky, wooded land, extending 

 in an easterly and westerly direction 

 for about twenty miles, and lying along 

 the boundary line between Orleans and 

 "Genesee counties. 



Its width varies at different points 

 from one to thi'ee miles. This immense 

 Avilderness is six miles from Medina, 

 lying due south, — six miles as the crow 

 flies, or eleven miles as the wild dnck 

 flies, — for the wild duck follows the 

 creek, which flows in letter S fashion 

 from the swamp to Medina. 



The main road leading into Medina 

 from the south runs through- this 

 swamp at a point where its width is 

 nearly two miles, and this stretch of 

 road, Ijordered on either side by vast, 

 unbroken forests, furnishes not only a 

 pleasant ride, but, to anyone at all in- 

 terested in natural history, an overflow- 

 ing store-house of Avonders. 



I don't remember the time when I 

 have passed over this two miles of road 

 .and through these two miles of wilder- 

 ness without seeing something new in 

 the bird line 



But I was going to say that my path 

 homeward on this afore-mentioned 

 morning lay through this swamp and 

 ■over this identical strip of road spoken 

 of. 



As I entered the confines of the 

 sw"amp, — what was that? 



I never had seen one before, but I 

 knew the parly at sight, and a great 

 achievement it v.^as to record a Blue 

 Jay in these parts, — for, although 

 abundant almost everyv\^here in the 

 United States, in this particular section 

 of Western New York the Blue Jay is a 

 negative quantity. 



The next thing noticed after the sen- 

 sation caused by the appearance of the 

 Blue Jay had passed by (as had the Jay 

 himself) was a rustle in the bushes, — 

 and \o,—here were Rusty Blackbirds. 



If there were flocks flying overhead 

 in the open country, here in the swam]> 

 were whole droves of them, — if hun- 

 dreds of them had been flying south- 

 ward high in air outside the woods, 

 here were thousands lingering within 

 its swampy recesses. 



The underbrush was thronged with 

 them, and the sombre hue of their rusty 

 plumage harmonized well with the 

 dying leaves and tinted foliage on 

 every hand, — fit symbols of the dying 

 year. How appropriate these rusty 

 markings at this season of the year. 



I had thought, when I saw the num- 

 berless flocks of blackbirds flying over- 

 head that morning, that their number 

 was beyond estimation; but when I en- 

 countered this vast host in the swamp, 

 what numbers could approximate the 

 blackbirds that were southward-bound 

 that day? 



Surely, of all that year, October 21st. 

 was the day for Rusty Blackbirds. 



But I will desist, and gi^-e my readers 

 no further pain. 



I have led them in a round about way 

 over the country, — through swamps 

 and elsewhere. I have told them about 

 a morning ride, a lieavj^ frost, a great 

 big swamp, and a muliein-stalk, and 

 all this under the title of ''Bu.^ty Black- 

 birdfi" while a small ])ortion of my 

 article only has been in relation to my 

 su])jeet. 



What a wandering, soaring- article, 

 and what a wandering, Soiiriiig ^vriterl 

 I fancy I hear the reader saying. All 

 very well, but if we call the \vriter 

 foolish, what shall v/e say of h\v,\ who 

 has been so imposed upon as lo ivaste 

 his time in reading this? 



That's all. Good-by. 



Scolecophagns carolhius is advertised. 

 Neil Fkanklin Possok, 



Medina, N. Y. 



P. S. Having severed my (ulitorial 

 connection with the Oologist, I feel 

 ])err'octly free to impose upon its 

 readers with the foregoing mannscri)>t 



N. F. P. 



