INTRODUCTION. XXI 
excels by the peculiarly beneficial warmth and softness of the calm and peaceful air. 
Everywhere the gentians, the asters, and golden-rods are now in bloom, farther south 
the blazing-stars (Liatris) and other late summer and autumn flowers. The leaves of 
the sumach, the maple, and the Virginia creeper are perfecting their rich red hue. We 
feel the full charm of Indian summer. The soul is touched by a feeling half pleasing, 
half sad. Secretly the low notes of birds, singing in bush and tree, seem to awaken a 
gentle echo within us. Toward the end of August we notice the Swallows congregating 
and departing. It seems as though our heart would wish to go with them far, far 
away. The Red-winged Blackbirds and the Grackles colleé&t, large swarms of them 
also depart toward the South. This general exodus strongly and strangely touches 
the human heart. The gentle twittering, the low toned singing in bush and tree denote 
the desire for departure. We hear the gentle voices, we divine their intent and meaning, 
they are so cozy, they are so gentle; the voices sing what the migration means: 
‘Farewell, we go to the far distant realm of the warming sun, and shall return to our 
old haunts with his enlivening rays!’ Two causes may be given for these wanderings 
to the far South: scarcity of food and an unbounded impulse to move onward. With 
most birds migration is a necessity, a condition of life. But it does not originate in 
the experience of the bird when food and warmth are missed, it is simply what we 
term an instinct, belonging to the nature of the bird. Food is still plentiful at home, 
and yet they move away, irresistibly into the far-off land. Young and old, wild or 
brought up in cages, they all feel this wonderfully strong impulse. The caged birds at 
this time become restless and wild. They eat little and have hardly any rest by day or 
night, occasionally they call and sing in unsatisfied longing, and this restlessness con- 
tinues till the end of the time of migration and is renewed at the time of the return. 
Generally our small birds migrate at night, and then we can observe in our little 
prisoners very frequent fluttering in the cage. As soon as the time of migration of the 
wild birds is over, our caged pets become quiet, easy, and happy again. I have observed 
this in my caged Catbirds, Thrashers, Warblers, Bluebirds, Orioles, Mockingbirds, Red- 
winged Blackbirds, Wood Thrushes, Veerys, Fox-colored Sparrows, Juncos, Chewinks, 
White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, and many others. This plainly shows 
that the migratory impulse or instinct has become an inextirpable peculiarity of the 
bird with its birth. But not all our birds migrate. Many of them are resident. They 
are hardy enough to stand severe cold, and are able to find an abundant supply of 
food at all seasons. Jays, Titmice, several Hawks, most of the Owls, Gulls, etc. do not 
leave their home. The Cardinal Redbird can be found in its haunts at all seasons 
of the year. Many birds roam over a large portion of the country in search of 
food, caring little for the inclemency of the weather. To these we may count several 
Woodpeckers, Titmice, Sparrows, Goldfinches, Cedarbirds, etc. But most of our 
happy summer sojourners are true migrants. Many of them find congenial winter- 
quarters in our Southern States, especially in the Gulf region. I found the dense thickets 
near water-courses, the bushy ravines, the borders of swamps, and the dense wreath 
of thickets on the woodland’s edge in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, and other southern 
States fairly swarming with northern birds from October to April. Even the grasses 
jn corn and cotton fields and the weeds had their peculiar winter visitants. Among 
