THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 841 
crows; and very rarely did I fail to notice it within those dates. 
But other species show the very reverse of this regularity. The 
` snipe and the ducks are notoriously uncertain in their movements, | 
in some seasons coming weeks earlier than in others. The blue- 
bird may be seen, in some years, every winter month; and in 
others, not one may be found till late in February. The bluebird, 
however, is a homesick little fellow away from his native orchards, 
and two or three fine warm days are apt to lure him back, even in 
the middle of January. 
That many birds return, year after year,” to the same localities 
is well established ; but it may be doubted if this is the case with? 
all, or even the majority. Spallanyane’s experiment is well known ; 
he tied bits of red silk to the legs of several swallows that haunted 
the house in which he dwelt; and spring after spring, observed 
the same birds return to their native place. A pair of bluebirds 
that had taken up their abode in a little bird- house, put up for 
their especial benefit, returned for several seasons to the same fa- 
vorite nesting-place—at least I always fancied that I could recog- 
nize the same pair—and, as if to obtain undisputed possession of 
their snug quarters, invariably appeared a few days in advance of 
the other bluebirds. A pair of night herons took up their res- 
idence for three successive seasons, in a little, secluded swamp, 
where neither before or subsequently, for several years, were they 
ever seen. Similar instantes doubtless occur to every ornithol- 
ogist. 
Of many species the males and females travel together ; of’: some, 
the former precede the latter; but I know of none where the 
females migrate in advance of their mates. The robin isa familiar 
instance of the first case; and probably all the thrushes follow his 
example. The bluebird, in spring, almost always travels in pairs, 
except very early in the season when a solitary male sometimes 
appears. With the Fringillide, or most of the species, at least, 
the sexes migrate together. The redstart and some of the warblers 
appear a little before their less gayly-colored mates ; and I suspect 
that this is the case with nearly all the Sylvicolide. The bobolink 
is a conspicuous example of the same nature; on the prairies of 
Towa, flocks of hundreds of males may be seen, several days before 
a Single female arrives. The rose-breasted grosbeak is still another 
stance, and many others might be mentioned. As a general rule 
when the males are brighter colored than the females, the former 
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