BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN 49 



of any species be seen on an especially early 

 date, it is almost without exception a male 

 bird which has pushed ahead and perhaps 

 broken the local record. 



In the annotated list which follows it 

 will be found that occasional reference is 

 made to the continuance of stay of individ- 

 uals in the Garden. In the case of the 

 rarer migrants this can be determined with 

 little liability of error; as, when a Cape 

 May warbler is present during four days, 

 it is reasonably certain that it is one and 

 the same bird, if the bird present each day 

 differs in no discernible particular from the 

 bird first seen. Usually in these cases ad- 

 ditional credibility to the testimony is fur- 

 nished by the fact that quite commonly 

 migrants remain in the section of the 

 grounds where they were discovered or to 

 which they soon by choice move, or, if 

 departing therefrom, show a strong dispo- 

 sition to return to it and spend much of 

 their time within it, feeling wonted therein, 

 much as when they have chosen a spot on 

 their breeding-grounds for their nest and 



