34 THE AUDUBON BODE ieee 

Birds Notes of a Circle Tour 
By Era Buiiss Mover 


O season of the year 
affords greater 
pleasuresto the 
nature-lover and_ bird- 
student than the delightful 
days of late May or early 
June. Woods and fields are 
resplendent in varying 
shades of green and yellow 
and pink; and every thick- 
et, swale and marsh 1s popu- 
lous with our little feath- 
ered friends, and vocal with 
their exhuberant songs. 
Many of our transient bird 
visitors, it is true, have al- 
ready pressed on toward 
their summer homes in the 
far north; but a goodly 
number—notably the war- 
blers, thrushes, and fly- 
catchers—still linger well 
A SwALLow CLIFF ON THE Rock RIver into June in our latitude, 
especially since the season 
has been somewhat cold or backward. Blossom-time, when the orchards, 
hawthorns, and wild crab thickets are masses of glorious color; when 
woodlands are carpeted with violets, cress, and wild geranium; when 
fields glow with phlox, dandelions, yellow mustard, and Swamp saxi- 
frage: blossom time is the gala. season for our whole bird-population; 
and their very joy of living in a world so beautiful bubbles over and 
bursts forth in choruses of overflowing song. He whose good fortune 
permits spending an occasional day in the woods or open fields at this 
season, if he goes with eyes and ears alert and heart receptive, cannot 
fail of a rich reward, and will return to take up daily duties refreshed 
and renewed in mind and body, with something new added to the 
gallery of memory-pictures which forms a treasure-house for the natural- 
ist and lover of the out-of-doors. | 
With keen anticipation of the pleasure of a two days’ outing, en- 
hanced by the memory of many pleasant jaunts afield together in former 




