. St. Nicholas [serial]. rly array. All the birds in it havecome from their winter quarters in the southernUnited States, but about April 15 the barn-swal-low appears. He is the first bird to reach us fromtropical America. Like an aerial scout he dashesahead of the slower columns. A little later he is 460 NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS [Mar., joined by the cliff- and bank-swallows. Then, ifwe are so fortunate as to have purple martins astenants, we may expect to hear them chatteringhappily about the houses we have offered them ashomes. Some morning, about April 25, when we openour windows
. St. Nicholas [serial]. rly array. All the birds in it havecome from their winter quarters in the southernUnited States, but about April 15 the barn-swal-low appears. He is the first bird to reach us fromtropical America. Like an aerial scout he dashesahead of the slower columns. A little later he is 460 NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS [Mar., joined by the cliff- and bank-swallows. Then, ifwe are so fortunate as to have purple martins astenants, we may expect to hear them chatteringhappily about the houses we have offered them ashomes. Some morning, about April 25, when we openour windows to the warm sun-rays, the house-wren will greet us with his merry little trill. Heis bobbing in and out of a bird-house—perhapsthe very one he nested in last year. A catbird sings from the heart of a lilac-bush,while from the topmost branch of some tall treethe brown thrasher, in loud, ringing notes, tells usthat he is home again. That evening we may hear the twittering ofchimney-swifts, just back from Central America,. BOBOLINKS IN THEIR SPRING DRESS. and see their bow-and-arrow-like forms sailingabout overhead. The army now is moving rapidly and withclosed ranks. Company after company hurriesby; others stop to camp with us. It is an excitingtime for us on the lookout. Sharp indeed are theeyes and keen the ears that see and hear all thatis to be seen and heard. Between May 7 and 12,when the migration is at its height, as many as140 different kinds of birds have been seen by oneperson on one day. This was at Oberlin, Ohio,a place through which many birds pass. For welearned in the last number of St. Nicholas thatthere are certain lines of flight, or highways,which are followed by birds in their travels. Onthe Atlantic coast it is rare to see more than onehundred different kinds of birds in a single dayduring migration. The first days of May will bring the rose-breasted grosbeak, Baltimore oriole, and scarlettanager, all famous color-bearers. Then we maylook for the great warb
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