Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-08-28

Not less full of wintry suggestion is the
sudden discovery that this flock of birds
perched upon a cedar and making break
fast upon the berries it has SO literally
provided for them, is deputation of pur-
pie finches, who have left their northern
homes and come to our more genial cli-
mate to roam the woods in varf-colored
bands throughout the winter. The word
purple" is made to cover a multitude of
shadese and the name bestowed upon these
finches is an instance of the way in which
1t is often stretched. The purple" in this
case is carmine. Each of the male MEM
bers of the rowing bands appears to have
received upon his head the contents of a
small bottle of carmine dye, which has
trickled down among the brownish feathers,
leaving its traces more particularly upon
the head and breast. But. to hold the fig
ure, different males have been baptized
with differentiated bottles. while the fe-
males have successfully lodged the pig
mentary bath, thus retaining their spar
row-like coloring.
Brown Crecpers and Nuthntches.
The white-throated sparrows and purple
flnches are more liable to be met with than
any other September arrivals of the winter
birds. but they are not the only ones that
may be encountered during the latter half
Of the month. And it is with the same
feeling of welcome with which, few
months ago. we greeted those newcomers
who brought us first news of the advent of
spring that we now greet these heralds of
the coming reign of the frost king. As then
the first note of the phoebe, or the first
twitter Of the darting chimney swift. was
an event. notable and full of pleasure. so
now when the eye falls upon the familiar
spotty coat of a brown creeper. who is
vending his zigzag course up the trunk of
a neighborng pine, or when the ear detects
a mellower nuthatch note than the white
breasted usually sounds, and following it
up perceives the dainty little figure of the
<H-- t. ottr xrtfh hn
thought that the time has nearly come to.
put by the dangerous delights of summer
and set the blood once more coursing Wig
orously with the ruggeder joys Of winter
Wasbterss
;, 1t seems strange: that; there should be a
warbler among these biz 6s. The warblers
are SO suggestive of the tropics In their
high colortng and their general habit OF
wintering below the gulf that any of their
number who Hnger in this latitude during
the cold weather seem entirely out of place.
Yet the myrtle warblers are with us only
in the wfntertime, thus reversing the rule
that holds for all the rest OF the family.
AS BETTING their harder constitutions and
more boreal habits, they are clad in rough
er, less striking costumes than most of
their relatives-shaggy suits of gray home
spun with a touch of dull yellow here and
there to remind us of their warblership.
These dingier garments and the heavier,
coarser call note modify the fncongruity of
their appearance in the midst of wintry
surroundings: but there is always a feeling
that W; rber has no business to be fitting
about among naked boughs and over a
sLow-carpeted earth.
Thrushcs and Robins.
The thrushes, however, seem Just suited
to our climate, and it is matter OF some
surprise that they pass on. The hermit
thrushes. who are late in coming, not
reaching us until the middle of October,
do, indeed, leave a few representatives of
their species to pass the winter in our
woods. But the. tawny thrush, or veery,
and the gray-cheeked and olive-backed
thrushes, who are with us in September,
end the wood thrush, who has been with US
all summer and leaves just October
opens, all spend the winter in Central
America. The roffn Is more of a cosmap-
olite. Perhaps he has imbibed from his
constant association with mankind an
adaptahility to circumstance and place
that his thrush nature had not given him.
He breeds from near the gulf to the arctic
circle, and winters from southern Canada
to Mexico.
Welcomed by the Pilgrims.
The manner in which this thrush came to
be called a robin is interesting. The pill
grims," landing at Plymouth Rock in the
midst of New England winter and ex-
posed to dangers from wild beasts and
Indians keenly felt the sharp contrast be-
tween the land they had left and that to
which they had come; and it required at
first, no doubt, great deal of reflection
upon the advantages of the freedom to
worship God" Tin their own peculiar way)
to reconcile them to the hardships and iso-
lation to which they had condemned them
selves. When, however, the long and try
ing winter was nearly over, and intfmations
Of spring were at hand. what was their joy
at seeing arriving from the south large
fiocks of birds that recalled to their minds
the robin redbreasts that had gladdened