feces Oe BNF BWI Leese AN 15 
tity as they circled about. Pioneers who live on the edge of this 
forest preserve (Mr. and Mrs. Trebass of Maywood) who knew the 
passenger pigeon migrations compared this spectacle to that. 
By 7:50 the last one had disappeared. A whole flock nose-dived 
from 20 feet above the shrubs and found perches. Contented twitters 
accompanied the descent. The starlings and grackles retired earlier 
this evening and kept up a garrulous chatter. The robins assembled 
on the green and as darkness descended they too retired to the pop- 
ular roost. 
A few martins still remained during the first week of September. 
Vacation days in late August and September interrupted my final 
observation. 
Riverside, Ill. 
Character Sketches 
By EDWARD R. Forp 
You scek the highest station you can find 
And sing like one inspired. To my mind 
You voice the very essence of the time— 
Soft skies, young buds, clouds moving in sublime 
Detachment. Oh, forever I could list, 
Brown Thrasher, to so rare a rhapsodist! 
ak “4 “ ¥ 
7 ¥ Ww v 
Strange! that the trick of your disguise, 
A black mask worn before the eyes, 
Should be the very thing by which, 
There lurking in the weedy ditch, 
You are discovered. From your moat 
Come forth. I know you, Yellow-throat. 
An Amateur's Thrill 
By C. O. DECKER 
ONE of the most fascinating moments in the life of the amateur 
“bird fan” is that in which he re-discovers from his personal observa- 
tion some unusual action or habit of which, perhaps, he has read in 
his reference books or of which he has heard from some of his more 
experienced friends. Such a one came to Mrs. Decker and me one day 
last fall. 
We were driving along a side road where we had previously 
noticed a growth of wild cherry trees and heard the “curious wheez- 
ing, lisping notes” of a flock of Cedar Waxwings. Several small birds 
were flying in and out of this growth and we stopped beside a tree 
