The Inspiring Sparrows. 47 



different in New England. Mr. Cram writes to me 

 from New Hampshire that "since October [1895] 

 pine-finches have been abundant everywhere. No 

 matter in what direction I happen to walk, I see 

 hundreds of them crawling over the evergreens and 

 never taking the slightest notice of any one. Just 

 before they fly they utter a peculiar screaming note, 

 and then, rising into the air, go whirling off in a 

 dense flock to other feeding-grounds. They are 

 usually accompanied by goldfinches." I have not 

 found them so tame and near at hand ordinarily, 

 but then I have few evergreens here to tempt them, 

 and the tall deciduous trees have, I suppose, little 

 or no attraction about their lower branches. After 

 a heavy snow-fall all this is changed, and then I 

 have seen them close to the ground and about fences, 

 tame as Mr. Cram has described ; but my note-books 

 mention veiy few such incidents. The notes of the 

 pine-finch are not harsh, not a "peculiar screaming," 

 as they have been described, but wholly pleasant to 

 the ear. Can it be that our milder climate has drawn 

 the harshness out ; given us in this lively bird a honey- 

 bee without its sting? Whether or not, its lisping 

 song reminds me of the summer thistle-finch, its 

 near cousin, that delights in the fierce sunshine of 

 an August afternoon, and seeks the company of 

 crickets in the hot harvest-fields or swings with the 

 bending thistle-stalk from which it gets its food. A 

 Januaiy pine-finch is the best of all reminders of 

 June sparrows and hot-weather birds that would 

 have all the world one tropical zone if they could. 



