186 THE PASSING OF THE BIRDS. 
migrant in a certain spot he makes it a rule 
to visit the place again a year afterward on 
the same day, and, if possible, at the same 
hour of the day. Another friend sends me 
a very pretty story bearing upon the same 
point. The bird of which he speaks, Wil- 
son’s black-cap warbler, is one of the less 
common of our regular Massachusetts mi- 
grants. I count myself fortunate if I see 
two or three specimens during its spring or 
autumn passage. My correspondent shall 
tell the story for himself. 
“While I was making the drawings for 
the ‘Silva,’ at the old Dwight house, I was 
in the habit of taking a turn every pleasant 
day in the gardens after my scanty lunch. 
On the 18th of May, 1887, in my daily 
round I saw a Wilson’s black-cap for the 
first time in my life. He was ina bush of 
Spirea media, which grew in the midst of 
the rockery, and allowed me to examine him 
at near range with no appearance of fear. 
Naturally I made a note of the occurrence 
inmy diary, and talked about it with my 
family when I got home. The seeing of a 
new bird always makes a red-letter day. 
‘The next spring, as I was looking over 
