116 PURPLE MARTIN. 



They reach Boston about the 25th, and continue their migration much 

 farther north, as the spring continues to open. 



On their return to the Southern States, they do not require to wait 

 for warmer days, as in spring, to enable them to proceed, and they all 

 leave the above-mentioned districts and places about the 20th of August. 

 They assemble in parties of from fifty to a hundred and fifty, about the 

 spires of churches in the cities, or on the branches of some large dead tree 

 about the farms, for several days before their final departure. From 

 these places they are seen making occasional sorties, uttering a general 

 cry, and inclining their course towards the west, flying swiftly for several 

 hundred yards, when suddenly checking themselves in their career, they 

 return in easy sailings to the same tree or steeple. They seem to act thus 

 for the purpose of exercising themselves, as well as to ascertain the course 

 they are to take, and to form the necessary arrangements for enabling the 

 party to encounter the fatigvies of their long journey. Whilst alighted, 

 during these days of preparation, they spend the greater part of the time 

 jn dressing and oiling their feathers, cleaning their skins, and clearing, as 

 it were, every part of their dress and body from the numerous insects 

 which infest them. They remain on their roosts exposed to the night air, 

 a few only resorting to the boxes where they have been reared, and do not 

 leave them until the sun has travelled an hour or two from the horizon, 

 but continue, during the fore part of the morning, to plume themselves 

 with great assiduity. At length, on the dawn of a calm morning, they 

 start with one accord, and are seen moving due west or south-west, join- 

 ing other parties as they proceed, until there is formed a flock similar to 

 that which I have described above. Their progress is now much more 

 rapid than in spring, and they keep closer together. 



It is during these migrations, reader, that the power of flight possess- 

 ed by these birds can be best ascertained, and more especially when they 

 encounter a violent storm of wind. They meet the gust, and appear to 

 slide along the edges of it, as if determined not to lose one inch of what 

 they have gained. The foremost front the storm with pertinacity, as- 

 cending or plunging along the skirts of the opposing currents, and enter- 

 ing their imdulating recesses, as if determined to force their way through, 

 while the rest follow close behind, all huddled together into such compact 

 masses as to appear like a black spot. Not a twitter is then to be heard 

 from them by the spectator below ; but the instant the farther edge of 

 the current is doubled, they relax their efforts, to refresh themselves, and 



