"The first week in August the Starlings suddenly disappeared entirely"

Helen Isham Halsey | September 5, 1915 | Southampton, Long Island

Sept. 5 The first week in August the Starlings suddenly disappeared entirely and not one have I seen since.

“Early in springtime, on raw and wintry mornings,

Beneath the freezing house-eaves I heard the starlings sing—

‘Ah dreary March month, is this then a time for building wearily?

Sad, sad, to think that the year is but begun!

Late in the autumn, on still and cloudless evenings,

Among the golden reed-beds I heard the starlings sing—

‘Ah that sweet March month, when we and our mates were courting merrily;

Sad, sad, to think that the year is all but done.”

(“The Starlings” by Charles Kingsley)

Sept. 5. The Gold Finch and their young birds are very much in evidence these days. They are such pretty little things—their sweet flight song fills the air che-cher-cher— the [second note] accented strongly—like this “Put SEED into it, put SEED into it.” Flying in dips. They like the stalks along the road where they find so full of seeds— The tree swallows seem to make early preparations for southern travel and congregate on the trees by our little pond and along the fences by the thousands to hold some sort of silent communion about it for they make little noise as they cavort in the air in circles.