Bird Life in July. 



In the bird world July is a month of transition, for, as 

 it runs its course, the feathered life of the woods 

 relapses into its summer quiet and comparative in- 

 activity. When the month comes in, many birds are 

 still breeding and the majority are still in song ; when 

 it goes out, the breeding season is practically over and 

 almost all voices are silent. In the third week of the 

 month there is usually a marked cessation of song. 

 Birds are no longer bubbling over with the nervous 

 energy which inspired the full chorus of May ; their 

 strains, few and fragmentary, are scarcely heard above 

 the drowsy hum of the bees in the limes. Fledglings 

 are everywhere calling for food, but, on account of the 

 full leanness of copse and thicket and the general 

 similarity of nestling language, something like intuition 

 is needed if we would credit each note to its unseen 

 author. 



Apart from their songs, the small birds, and especi- 

 ally the warblers, have a large variety of shorter 

 notes, some used to call their mates or young, while 

 another series is expressive of alarm or irritation as 

 when watched or spied upon by prying naturalists. 



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