neighborhood since the beginning of the wet, boisterous weather; the
river too was filled with these new visitors, and I was told that most
of them were passengers driven from distant northern regions, which they
made their summer home, and were now flying south in search of a warmer
climate.

All this movement in the feathered world had, during my troubled days,
brought me as little pleasure as the other changes going on about me:
those winged armies ever hurrying by in broken detachments, wailing and
clanging by day and by night in the clouds, white with their own terror,
or black-plumed like messengers of doom, to my distempered fancy only
added a fresh element of fear to a nature racked with disorders, and
full of tremendous signs and omens.

The interest with which I now remarked these pilgrim storks seemed to me
a pleasant symptom of a return to a saner state of mind, and before
continuing my walk I wished that Yoletta had been there with me to see
them and tell me their history; for she was curious about such matters,
and had a most wonderful affection for the whole feathered race. She had
her favorites among the birds at different seasons, and the kind she
most esteemed now had been arriving for over a month, their numbers
increasing day by day until the woods and fields were alive with their
flocks.

This kind was named the cloud-bird, on account of its starling-like
habit of wheeling about over its feeding-ground, the birds throwing
themselves into masses, then scattering and gathering again many times,
so that when viewed at a distance a large flock had the appearance of a
cloud, growing dark and thin alternately, and continually changing its
form. It was somewhat larger than a starling, with a freer flight, and