Page:Bird-lore Vol 03.djvu/37

 Birds and Seasons SECOND SERIES FEBRUARY AND MARCH BIRD-LIFE NEAR BOSTON By Ralph Hoffmann EBRUARY seems to be the longest month of the year; so impa- tient have we become for the first migrant, whose arrival marks _^ for ornithologists the return of spring. Each year, when the '^^^A^ February thaw sets in, and the Song Sparrow that has wintered near us in some brush heap begins his somewhat husky song, we remember that there are fortunate people who, even in eastern Mas- sachusetts, have seen Bluebirds in February. Too often, however, the mild weather is followed by heavy snows or bitter winds; it is, therefore, safer to expect no arrivals before the second week of March. Mean- while some one reports a hardy Bluebird here and another there, and at last our own birds return to the warm hillside orchard. Then winter is over. Often the other birds return fully as early as the Bluebirds, and our first intimation of spring comes from a Bronze Grackle, creaking on his native pine tree, a silent Robin, or a distant flock of Red-wings, rising and falling as they fly. In all the ' back country ' Song Sparrows and Flickers act as heralds of spring. To my mind, however, there is something incomplete in the entry of the vernal season unless a male Bluebird in full song is the herald, let whoever will be the pursuivants. No other performs the ceremony so satisfactorily. By the middle of the month the hylas have thawed out, and then come those sunny mornings when the Flicker's shout hardly ceases for a moment; the air is filled with the songs of migrant Bluebirds, passing northward, with the clear whistle of the Meadowlark, and the chorus of Red-wings on the hill- sides. Migrant flocks of Song Sparrows and Snowbirds now appear; all are in high spirits and full of song. Even from the silent Creeper a sharp ear may now catch an occasional wiry, high-pitched song. Unless the season is very backward, we may now look for Rusty Crackles and Fox Sparrows, but the weather influences the arrival of the early birds very decidedly, so that in the dates given below the range between those of ■early and late seasons is much greater than in May. Sometimes great fields of snow lie to the north, and bitter northwest winds blow for das ; again there is unusual warmth and sunshine, and flying insects abound. In such years the hardy Phcrbe returns to the old shed or to the bridge, and the vigorous whistle of the Cowbird falls from some restless flock 'flying over.' The Robins, Red-wings and Cowbirds, which we see in March, are almost exclusively males. (22)