THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 143 



They come from the same direction each time, 

 find a toothsome lunch and partake daintily; 

 tarry long they will not and are soon a-wing 

 with their cheery "thank you, sir." All through 

 May they are too happy to think of home and 

 its cares, they only eat and fly and sing and 

 sleep. About the middle of June they mate 

 and nest, and raise at least two broods. 



The Yellow bird is a warbler, but this is a 

 family name, like swallow or sparrow, and does 

 not imply that they are fine singers; in fact, 

 most of them are not; their voices are thin and 

 sharp, and there is a short, quick measure with 

 little of the smoothness that the word warbler 

 would lead us to expect. The Goldfinch is 

 seen by more people than any member of the 

 yellow family. They are not fond of the woods, 

 the old, open and weedy pastures and roadsides 

 and along old rail fences, where grows the 

 mullein and thistle and asters and tall stalky 

 weeds, this is their paradise. The study of 

 the warblers, is at once delightful and exasper- 

 ating, fatiguing and satisfying: — exasperating 

 because they skip away so quickly to another 

 tree or field warbling most enchantingly on the 

 way; and delightful because of their gayety and 

 song variety and beauty of coloring and jaunty 

 elegance of form. They have the happy facul- 



