OUR HOME BIRDS. 
43 
ments of the box in the absence of the blue-birds, 
but were uniformly compelled to fly upon the return 
of the latter/ ” 
“ Good for the blue-birds l” said Malcolm, approv- 
ingly, while Clara and Edith expressed their satis- 
faction that those naughty little martins didn't turn 
them out. 
“ There is not very much more for me to tell you 
about them," continued Miss Harson. “ They spend 
the winter in a milder climate than ours, and in the 
autumn they utter a single plaintive note as they 
pass over the gorgeously-tinted woods, lingering 
sometimes after the trees are all stripped of their 
leaves, as if loath to depart from them. Wilson the 
ornithologist says that in the month of October, 
about an hour after sunrise, he has seen ten or fif- 
teen of them descend from a great height and settle 
on the top of a tall tree, appearing, from their silence 
and sedateness, to be strangers and fatigued. After a 
pause of a few minutes they began to dress and ar- 
range their plumage, and continued so employed for 
ten or fifteen minutes more ; then, on a few warning 
notes being given, perhaps by the leader of the 
party, the whole flock remounted to a vast height, 
steering in a direct line for the south-west. 
“ Here are some lines to the blue-bird that I think 
very pretty: 
