40 DAYS OUT OF BOOES. 



not be a hundred skulking near and likely to show them- 

 selves ? The chances are that no more would be found 

 should I search diligently for hours. What has become of 

 them ? This is a problem for our learned ornithologists to 

 solve, for the sudden coming and going of our resident 

 birds is a strange feature of bird life, and worthy of con- 

 sideration. There is no spot for miles around where birds 

 are more abundant than on this island, and yet practically 

 all were hidden to-day, so closely that no eyes, however 

 sharp, could have spied them out. Nor is it sufficient, as 

 has been dogmatically asserted, to say that they have 

 sought the better shelter afforded by the hill-sides across 

 the river. Have they, indeed ? These same hill-sides have 

 been searched, and not a bird was to be found. There are 

 two alternatives — they either hide or leave the neighbor- 

 hood. Both are possible ; the latter the more probable ; 

 but the mystery of the matter still remains. There are 

 winter days — ^few in number, I am glad to say — that, as 

 my record runs, are birdless ones ; and again, others — ^like 

 to-day — ^that are nearly so. At the dawn of such days, 

 weak-winged birds, as sparrows, tits, and kinglets, appear 

 to suddenly take flight and pass beyond the limits of an 

 inclement and depressing area, often miles away ; and 

 knowing, while at this distant point, when a change 

 has taken place, return as suddenly as they departed. 

 This seems very absurd, yet it is apparently true ; for, on 

 the other hand, to say that new birds take the place of 

 those that were here, is to assume what is certainly untrue, 

 so far as resident species are concerned. There are tits 

 and sparrows and Carolina wrens that have as well-defined 

 ranges as ever did a game-cock, and keep as closely to it. 

 One need but become familiar with the peculiarity of some 

 one sparrow's song to know that the same individual will 

 stay not only for a season, but year after year, in one lim- 

 ited locality. 



