The Birds' Calendar 



if not equally interesting and abundant, from 

 early spring till late in the fall. Yet its volume 

 of life, too, is fullest in June, after which the 

 current runs low till its last gorgeous ** com- 

 posite " outburst in autumn. In bird-Hfe the 

 summer season lies '' between the waves," and 

 has a less positive character, perhai)s we may 

 say, than even winter itself. But in passing 

 from the limited area and opportunity of city 

 life to the broad acres of the country, the mid- 

 summer stagnation signifies less, and gives op- 

 portunity for new research. The various birds 

 have such distinct tastes in regard to their sur- 

 roundings, that the conditions of the Ramble 

 must needs be uninviting to many of the most 

 familiar varieties in the country, and a brief di- 

 gression from city limits into open fields and 

 rural highways will bring a few of them into 

 view, and extend the acquaintance with some 

 that were only transiently in the Park. 



In an old historic town of New England, 

 whose early records deal with the Indians and 

 the Revolutionary War, and whose latter-day 

 fame rests upon the fact that it is in the very 

 depths of Nature, and signally exempt from all 

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