SONG SPARROW 121 



ushered in by southerly breezes on the pre- 

 ceding day. And unlike the grackles and 

 the robins, which come in small numbers 

 at first, a single bird or two, the Song Spar- 

 rows arrive in goodly numbers when first 

 they appear. So the places which have been 

 birdless become occupied with happy song- 

 sters all in a night, and the evidences of 

 their presence in the morning come to the 

 ear in song on every side. The Public 

 Garden receives a touch of such awakening 

 from every winter's sleep. Most of these 

 earliest visitants move quickly on, but they 

 are followed by others in succession, in larger 

 or smaller numbers, for several weeks. 



The earliest arrival of the Song Sparrow 

 in the Garden was on March 6, 1903. In 

 1908 they came on March 12, ten of them 

 to the Garden and five to the Common ; in 

 1902, on March 13, twenty or more arrived ; 

 on March 19, 1905, forty came. The latest 

 date of arrival was March 28, in 1906. 

 Song Sparrows usually continue to arrive 

 up to about the end of April ; although 

 after the middle of this month the num- 



