BIRD PARADISE 57 



number of small birds that I knew from their 

 actions belonged to the warbler family. They 

 were the first I had seen of the migrants from the 

 North. I took my glass and looked them over 

 and I soon learned that the brown creeper was 

 there and the worm-eating warbler. The young 

 of two or three other species were present also, 

 but I did not see any of the old birds. The 

 warblers are all born acrobats. Of them it can be 

 truly said that as they pass through the trees their 

 movements are all of the go-as-you-please charac- 

 ter. Occasionally they tumble through the limbs, 

 as though they had lost their balance, but noth- 

 ing of that kind ever appears, I am sure. Even 

 as I write the little fellows are doing this very 

 thing and the show of pastime which accom- 

 panies it determines its meaning, I cannot with- 

 hold the questions: "Just where in the wide 

 North did you spend the summer? How far 

 north of the Arctic circle did you locate your 

 home? Did you in your farthest flight see just 

 where the Pole is, or just where it ought to be ! " 

 The answers I get very likely throw light some- 

 where, but not on the way of the inquirer. Not 

 yet does the vernacular of the birds find an in- 

 terpreter in the counsels of men. Eight here I 

 notice a larger bird among the warblers. I am 



