BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN 43 



mated their numbers during their winter 

 sojourn in the south or on their way north- 

 ward. But if such be the case, it is very 

 reassuring to find that a year of abun- 

 dance again follows a year or two of scant 

 numbers, as the figures show, and that two 

 of the last four years have been seasons 

 of greatest abundance. If it be inquired 

 whether this does not indicate that the mi- 

 grating birds have been making fuller use 

 of the Garden as a way station, it will have 

 to be answered that the year 1900 was a 

 year of almost as great abundance as the 

 years 1905 and 1907 and may in reality 

 have been fully the equal of these moie 

 recent years, since it must be borne in mind 

 that the powers of observation of the re- 

 corder have become more keen by training, 

 and the search made day by day has been 

 more exhaustive than in that first year of 

 observation. So there is some basis for 

 an impression that the season of 1900 may 

 have equaled any subsequent season in 

 respect to the use the migrant birds made 

 of the Garden. How many years previous 



