The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10
MIGRATION OF WARBLERS
Birds Leaving Their Winter Homes
for Summer Quarters.
From Now Until June the Procession
of Singers From the South Likely
TO Condinuc-Notes of the Robin
TO He Heard in Northern Chimes.

TO Cont inuc-sOtes OF inc MUM
to He Heard in Northern Chimes.
A frail mite of a warbler, which the
fingers of a babe could crush, Will Jour
ney for thousands of miles from its WIN
ter nome In south America, to rear Its
young near the Arctic Circle, with as
much certainty and regularity as the
coming of the seasons Whether this
fact is more wonderful than any
other fact in nature, l know not; but
that it is indescribably impressive, l
think no one will deny. Is there anyone
so Indifferent to birds. wonder, that on
hearing the wild "honk" of Canada geese
he would not raise his head to see that
glorious flying wedge of grey, or whose
heart would not beat faster if at night
he heard, far up among the stars, the
cry of the wild gander, leading his squad
rons northward through the pathways of
the skis?
To one who loves nature, the return
of the birds is one of the great events
of the year. How eagerly he listens, on
balmy morning toward the end of
February for that soft sweet song which
tells him that the bluebird has come
back, and how his heart leaps when he
sees fall to the brown earth that fiutter-
ing fragment, dropped from the blue
vault of heaven.
Even the noisy grackles which darken
the elm trees here and there are welcome,
for they are as certain signs of coming
spring as the first robin whose warm
red breast seems TO melt the lingering
snow as he skins above you.
Unless the weather is very mild, how
ever these birds will not arrive before
the early part of March. The male red
winged blackbird first appears about this
time, to await his more delicate mate,
who will Join him a few weeks later.
About the middle of the month the clear
whistle of the meadowlark will be heard,
and we shall see him, sometimes perched
on the bare tree-tops, sometimes walking
about the brown fields in company with
his fellows and sometimes scaling, quail
like, from one meadow to another. His
white outer tail-feathers, displayed when
he flies and when he nervously fits his
tail in walking. form an excellent marx
proach near enough to see the yellow
breast with its crescent Of black;
a few days later come the rusty
blackbird and the fox sparrow, both on
their way snorthward. The fox-coLored
sparrow is the largest of the sparrows,
and a glimpse of him as he scratches
vigorously among the dead leaves is
a slight characteristic of the season.
Toward the latter part of the month
the cowbird puts in an appearance, and
phoebe. the first of the fycdtcherS,
seeks her old haunts about the arch OF
bridge or near the ruins of an old
mill, perhaps.
About the first of April, a loud rat
Ting cry and a blue streak over the
water Will announce the arrival Of the
kingfisher, sand with him will come the
tree swallow. the Spanish swallow, and
the pine warbler, possibly. The great blue
heron arrives At this time, almost
month ahead of his little green cousin,
and we may see him along the streams
or wading about on the mud flats, in
search of fish or frogs.
In the middle of the month we usually
see the hermit thrush on his way north
ward. As he does not sing when he is
travelling. ii is often GifIicult for the nov
ice in bird study to Identify him, particu-
larly as ne only remains few days.
Besides the difference in plumage, how
ever. he has a characteristic little habit
of raising his reddish tail slowly in the
air until it is almost perpendicular, and
then slowly lowering ii again. II We see
a thrush do this we may be sure that We
are looking at a hermit.
Many other birds are coming in now,
and, if we would identify them, We
should be out with field-glass and take
them as fast as they come, as every new
arrival helps to still further confuse US.
The swamp sparrow and the purple nnch
arrive about the same time as the hermit
thrush but &c they will stay with US all
summer we may let them wait to be
studied later if we are pressed for time.
The same may be said Of all the rest
number of these we are sure OF, the
easier cue task of identifying the immi-
grants which pass through.
Toward the end of April the yellow
bellieG sap-sucKer is here for a Few
days. and occasionally we may see him
drilling holes around the trunk of an
apple tree a sugar maple, or an Aus
trian pine, and if we step up and ex-
anime them after he has gone, We shall
probably find each little hole filled with
fresh sap.
About this time the twittering of the
barn swallow is heard: the chewink calls
his name distinctly along the edges of the
woods, and the long, slim brown thrasheT
comes back to sing his marvellous song
from the top of the sapings in the hedge
row With them come the least fiycatch
er the bat-likc chimney swift and the
yellow ana black-throated green warb-
lers. The yellow warbler or summer yell
low bird, as il Is called, is one OF the
most persistent little songsters we have,
and his cheerful voice may be heard al
most every day from the time he arrives
until he leaves us in September.
But May is the great month OF the mi
grafton. Encouraged by the warm south
west winds. the birds come north in great
waves, and on some mornings we awake
to find the trees and bushes swarming
with bright -colored warblers, sombre-
hued sparrows, thrushes. and hycatchers
and on such a morning 1t Is no uncom-
mon thing for bird student to identify
sixty species or more. in a walk of an
hour or two.
Next day or the following they may
nearly all have disappeared as mysteri-
ously as they came; warm night having
induced them to press on toward their
breeding-grounds farther north. A day
or two later another wave may be here
and so on until the first Of June, by which
time the spring migration will be practi-
cally over, such birds as the black-pOll |
Canadian and morning warblers bringing
up the rear.
While the birds from the South are
passing through, our little winter visitors
the junco. yellOw-rumped warbler, brown
creeper, golden-crowned kinslet, and win
ter wren, all say good-by and return to
their homes In the north, so that by the
end OF May. the birds which we see about
us are, with few exceptions, those which
will remain here to breed.
Bird students who have not already
learned to know the permanent residents
and the winter visitants should make
haste to do so, for many of the migrants
are already speeding nOrthward and In "A
few days the first arrivals will be here to
begin new chapter In ornithology which
will be the easier to study If the last one
has been thoroughly mastered-Ernest
Harold Baynes in the Hartford Times