Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-06-22
COMING OF BIRDS
THE SPRING PROCESSION OF BATTERED FOLK.
Led by Robin and Bluebird-Pretty Soon Comes Phoebe Bird and Barn Swallow-Wail of
 Upland Plover.

This spring my studies have been of such nature as to greatly curtaiI the usual number of my walks afield, and as for the spring migration of birds, have been obliged to make most of my notes from the study win dow or the broad plaza. AS my home is somewhat isolated, have not only the common birds of the farm yard and orchard, but many rare varieties of migrants stop in my trees, and hear the call of still wilder birds from the adjacent forest
 First of all came the robins, in twos and threes, and then in fiocks of 25 or more. piping in the fields and along the wood-edges. A day or two later the faintly homesick notes of bluebirds dropped out of gray sky, and they, too, added spots of brilliant color to the landscape. and second voice to lovers choir. The robins now have a nest in the lilac bush, directly in front of our door, a tall nest built in about four days, and worked on nearly alto gether by the female. An interval of a day elapsed between the completion of the home and the laying of the first greenish-blue egg. Ten feet from the robin, mother bluebird is breeding her six eggs in box of white birch bark at the end of the piazza.
 In middle April. we were wakened in the morning by the complaining call of little gray bird which sat upright on the twig, and now and again dart ed off after an early insect. His cry was Phoebe. Phoebe. and after much investigation he and his mate have built messy nest that sits on beam in the barn. Another builder which frequents our outbuildings is the barn. swallow. A trim and skilful bird is he-a perfect flying machine, calling in long curves. wheeling, darting. freaking on his long. pointed wings, airy and graceful. This is one of the few swallows which hunt low; while others seek their food in the upper air, the barn swallow skins over the grass tops and catches the low-fying insects. He Is a cheerful neighbor. twittering softly and confidingly on the roof-tops, or peeping sharply as he dashes in at the wide barn door. The barn swallow came. too, and began housekeeping in bird box set high up on a pole. We watched him gather ing straw in the road, and admired the steel-blue of his back. which con trasts sharply with the pure white of his under parts In the old days, this bird nestled in holes in trees, and some individuals still adhere to this ancestral habit. but gradually. like the barn and cliff swallow, he is taking advantage of the work of man. The elin swallows fasten their mud nests to buildings, but the tree swallow must have a hole to hide in; hence his use of convenient bird houses.
 They say in England that when the swallow arrives. spring has really come. Alas, 1t is not so with us, They came in latter April; but our May has been full of cold and cloudy doys. of east winds and driving mists. and rain. It was on such a cold. gray morning. when the clouds hung low on
 mountains, that we heard on the uplands across the road a low. wailing cry. as of the wind shrieking in the chimney on a winter night. It had none of the qualities of the human voice: it seemed more of a whistle. and yet 10 me 1t suggested a lost child vsiling on a moor. Later in the day we caught a glimpse of the crea- ture which had made this eerie sound. It was a lOng-Iegged. long-billed bird. of brown and white. and ve knew him for the Bertramian sandpiper or up- land blower. Beside his voice. an- other peculiarity of this blower is his habit of stretching his wings just af- ter he alights. extending them togeth- CT high above his bzek. and then slow ly closing them His markings. of mingled brown and black and white. harmonic well with the dried grass of the fields which hs frequsnts. and af- ford q good example of protective col- orfrr. In England. and indeed in many countries. plOvers are considered birds of bad omen
 .. contrast 10 this Is the cheerful ness of be spzrrOrs The chipping sparror is the most social. as his Latin name signifies
 Ofseu re hear the vhite-throat vhfssline s~estly and plaintivsly from the top o< . pine tree. It is . so4g that seee heard is aivayz renenbersd In