a resemblance to the form of the liver. 

 Of the four known species of Hepati- 

 cas but one other is found in North 

 America. This species has the lobes of 

 the leaves pointed instead of round. In 

 some localities it is quite as common as 

 the plant of our illustration, and by many 



it is considered merely a variety of that 

 form. 



Bishop Coxe has said: 



Flowers are words 

 , Which even a babe may understand. 



The word expressed by the beautiful 

 and hardy Hepatica is confidence. 



THE SPRING MIGRATION. 



I. THE WARBLERS. 



In two former papers I told you of 

 some of the birds that spend their winters 

 in the Gulf States. It is my purpose in 

 the present article to tell some of the 

 features of the great spring migration as 

 viewed from a Mississippi standpoint; 

 how myriads of the little fellows in yel- 

 low, black, white, and olive-green stop in 

 these forests to rest and feed for a day 

 or two, then under the impulse of a little- 

 understood instinct continue their jour- 

 ney to the region of their birth. The mi- 

 gration takes place in successive waves, 

 till the last one breaks upon us and spring 

 is over. 



In early March the first wave rolls in 

 upon us ; happy little creatures hop about 

 and chatter among the opening buds and 

 feast on the insect life awakened by the 

 returning sun. On successive days or, 

 perhaps, at intervals of a few days other 

 waves roll in from the far lands of the 

 Gulf and the Caribbean Sea, till the final 

 one beats against these hills and we 

 awake about the first of May to realize 

 that summer, fervid, tropical, is here. For 

 the months of March and April all is bus- 

 tle among the feathered traveling public ; 

 after that the summer residents have 

 things all their own way till the fall mi- 

 gration begins. 



As the sun draws near the line you no- 

 tice that up in the tops of the gum trees 

 are little birds about the size of a savan- 

 na sparrow, and, viewed hastily, of much 

 the same coloring. You know they are 

 not savannas, because the savanna never 

 frequents such places. Some of them 

 have probably spent their winter in this 

 latitude; but just now by their restless 

 activity they tell us that the sap has be- 



gun to stir and that the great migration 

 is about to begin. Closer inspection with 

 a good glass will show four spots or 

 patches of yellow, one on the crown, one 

 under each wing, and another, on the 

 rump, hence the bird's name, the yellow 

 rumped warbler, sometimes known as the 

 myrtle warbler. A month later you will 

 scarcely recognize the males of this spe- 

 cies, the dull brown of the winter coat 

 being replaced by the shiny black of his 

 bridegroom's suit. 



When the beech buds swell and the jes- 

 samine puts forth its little yellow trum- 

 pets to announce that spring has actually 

 come, the first great wave comes flooding 

 into the awakening woods. Here come 

 the first arrivals, both sexes in coats of 

 grayish blue, with shirtwaists of brilliant 

 yellow, the male distinguished by a patch 

 of rufous of an irregular crescent shape 

 across the lower part of the throat and 

 upper part of the breast. On fine sun- 

 shiny days the parula warbler, for that 

 is his name, loves the topmost branches 

 of the tallest trees ; if the day is gloomy 

 he comes down to the lower branches, 

 affording a better opportunity to study 

 him. His only note at these times is an 

 insect-like buzz much in keeping with 

 his diminutive size. 



In the lowlands the Halesia or silver 

 bell is putting out its graceful pendulous 

 racemes of purest white, and it is time to 

 look for the next migrant, the hooded 

 warbler, one of the largest and finest of 

 his race. A V of brilliant yellow coming 

 down to the bill, covering the forehead 

 and running backwards past the eye, bor- 

 dered by a well defined band of intense 

 1)lack,and a back and tail of green slightly 



138 



