WINTER BIRDS ABOUT BOSTON. 201 



site was selected. The lot is small, with no 

 woods or bushy thicket near, while it has build- 

 ings in one corner, and is bounded on its three 

 sides by the streets and the railway ; but it is 

 full of a rank growth of weeds, especially a 

 sturdy species of aster and the evergreen gold- 

 en-rod, and I suspect that the plank walk, which 

 on one side is raised some distance from the 

 ground, is found serviceable for shelter in severe 

 weather, as it is certainly made to take the place 

 of shrubber}^ for purposes of concealment. 



Fortunately, birds, even those of the same 

 species, are not all exactly alike in their tastes 

 and manner of life. So, while by far the greater 

 part of our song sparrows leave us in the fall, 

 there are always some who prefer to stay. They 

 have strong local attachments, perhaps ; or they 

 dread the fatigue and peril of the journey ; or 

 they were once incapacitated for flight when 

 their companions went away, and, having found 

 a Northern winter not so unendurable as they 

 had expected, have since done from choice what 

 at first they did of necessity. Whatever their 

 reasons, — and we cannot be presumed to have 

 guessed half of them, — at all events a goodly 

 number of song sparrows do winter in Massachu- 

 setts, where they open the musical season before 

 the first of the migrants make their appearance. 

 I doubt, however, whether manv of them choose 



