CHAPTER V. 



MAY. 



JfoTHiNG could more neatly and truthfully express 

 the conditions of the outdoor world in early May than 

 the name given to the month by the Delaware Indians — 

 Tauwinipen gischuch, the moon of the beginning of sum- 

 mer. And dearest of all the moons should this one be to 

 him who loves an outing, if it be, as has been said, that 

 by its waxing light many a long-absent migratory bird is 

 guided to it;s haunts of a year ago. 



I have often wondered if an Indian ever said to him- 

 self, " To-morrow will be the fii'st of May," and retired in 

 blissful expectation of being aroused by a grand chorus of 

 newly arrived songsters. Probably not ; nor can I, much 

 as I would love to have it so, for the reason that many a 

 summer bird persists in dropping in upon us before that 

 magic date. 



So far as my own observations extend, the moon influ- 

 ences migration, if it does at all, in some such way as this : 

 If it fulls between April 30 and 30, then the birds that 

 are latest to arrive, as a rule, will be earlier by nearly a 

 week than if the nights are dark, as when there is no moon 

 or a waning one. But this may be all a mere coincidence, 

 and of but one fact I can speak positively — that regularity 

 is not so important a factor of the habit as is persistently 

 claimed. 



But May is a month to be enjoyed, not coldly discussed, 



