which
dapple the whitened edges of winter, both autumn and spring, with their
golden rumps and amber brooches. Evidently these birds are shyer of
the rigorous Ohio winters than of the more mild-mannered Kansas
weather. In the former state I never saw a myrtle warbler after the
first or second week in November, while in Kansas I came upon a flock
of them in a wooded hollow by the river on the eighth of December,
1897, and then after a severe snowstorm had swept over the region from
the western prairies. It seemed odd to find these dainty featherland
blossoms when the whole country was covered with an ermine of snow.

Then they disappeared, and I did not expect to see them again until the
next spring; but on the fourteenth of February, which was a warm,
vernal day thrust into the midst of winter, a flock of perhaps a dozen
were flitting and chirping among the trees in the suburbs of the city,
their hoarse little _chep_, always giving one the impression that the
birds have taken a cold which has affected their vocal cords, sounding
as familiar as of old. However, that very evening at dusk a black
cloud, charged with electricity and bellowing with anger, came up out
of the west like a young Lochinvar, and hurled a fierce storm across
the hills and valleys, and the next day not a myrtle warbler was to be
seen in all the countryside, though I tramped weary miles in search of
them. The tempest had doubtless frightened them away to the suaver
southland, from which they did not return until the following spring.

One of my most pleasing observations was made on December 19, 1902.
There had been a number of days of severe weather, accompanied by hard
storms. Six inches of snow lay on the ground. Now the storm had spent
its force, the sun was shining genially, and the snow was melting.
Warm as it was, I was greatly surprised to find a flock of myrtle
warblers in the woods so late in the season. They had braved the
storms of the preceding week, and were as chipper and active as myrtle
warblers could be. But their employment was a still greater surprise.
They were darting about in the air among the treetops, as well as amid
the bushes in the deep ravine, catching insects on the wing. That
insects should be flying after the wintry weather of the previous week
was still more surprising than that the warblers should be here to dine
upon them. Soon after that day, however, the little yellow-rumps must
have taken the wing rou