BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN ii 



very unconcerned, even when quite close 

 approach to them is made, and show no 

 fear. 



It was not until May of 1900 that the 

 author of this little compendium of obser- 

 vation turned his steps toward the Public 

 Garden to see what migrant bird-life there 

 might be within. Two years previous he 

 had taken up the pastime of becoming ac- 

 quainted with the birds, and during that 

 time he had sought the suburbs and the 

 country by almost daily excursions from 

 the city, and had made use of the very full 

 advantages in summer of residence among 

 the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

 It was known to him that Mr. Bradford 

 Torrey had gathered into the initial chap- 

 ter of his dehghtful little book entitled 

 ** Birds in the Bush," published fifteen years 

 earlier, the results of his several years' ob- 

 servation on the Common and in the Gar- 

 den reaching back into the seventies; but 

 it had been assumed that such results be- 

 longed to bygone days on account of the 

 growth of the city, and it had not been 



