SONGS OUT OF SEASON. 117 



crossing the bridge that spans the creek on the 

 other side of the town — presto! I was ahnost 

 lifted from my feet by the loud, clear ring of my 

 songster's trill coming up from the bushes that 

 fringed the cliff. Feathery flakes of snow were 

 flying in the cold, gusty wind, though at intervals 

 the sun broke through a rift in the clouds. It was 

 thrilling to an ornithologist to hear a bird song on 

 a raw, midwinter day like that. Thus the song 

 sparrow clasped the circlet of the months with his 

 silvery trills. 



[Note. —This paper was published in the Februar}' number of Outing, 

 1891, and presents some of the results of m}' studies during the year 1889-90. 

 A few of my conclusions have been slightly modified by subsequent re- 

 searches, and during the last season, 1890-91, I have discovered many more 

 interesting facts about bird-life in winter, many of which have been de- 

 scribed in other chapters. My study of the minstrelsy of that peerless triller, 

 the song sparrow, has been especially satisfactory to myself since "Songs 

 out of Season " was written.] 



