A BIRD MEDLEY 75 



instinct prompts them to creep away in some hole 



or under some cover, where they would be least 



liable to fall a prey to their natural enemies. It is 



doubtful if any of the game-birds, like the pigeon 



and grouse, ever die of old age, or the semi-game 



birds, like the bobolink, or the "century living-" 



crow; but in what other form can death overtake 



the hummingbird, or even the swift and the barn 



swallow ? Such are true birds of the air ; they may 



be occasionally lost at sea during their migrations, 



but, so far as I know, they are not preyed upon by 



any other species. 



The valley of the Hudson, I find, forms a great 



natural highway for the birds, as do doubtless the 



Connecticut, the Susquehanna, the Delaware, and 



all other large watercourses running north and 



south. The birds love an easy way, and in the 



valleys of the rivers they find a road already graded 



for them; and they abound more in such places 



throughout the season than they do farther inland. 



The swarms of robins that come to us in early 



spring are a delight to behold. In one of his 



poems Emerson speaks of 



" April's bird, 

 Blue-coated, flying before from tree to tree; " 



but April's bird with me is the robin, brisk, vocif- 

 erous, musical, dotting every field, and larking it in 

 every grove; he is as easily atop at this season as 

 the bobolink is a month or two later. The tints of 

 April are ruddy and brown, — the new furrow and 

 the leafless trees, — and these are the tints of its 

 dominant bird. 



