ON BOSTON COMMON. 8) 
the custom,of his family, and paid no attention 
to the children playing about, or to the men 
who sat under his tree, with the back of their 
seat resting against the trunk. As for the 
children’s noise, he likely enough enjoyed it; 
for he is a noisy fellow himself and famous as 
adrummer. An aged clergyman in Washing- 
ton told me — in accents half pathetic, half re- 
vengeful —that at a certain time of the year 
he could scarcely read his Bible on Sunday 
mornings, because of the racket which this 
woodpecker made hammering on the tin roof 
overhead. 
Another of my acquaintances was of a very 
different type, a female Maryland yellow-throat. 
This lovely creature, a most exquisite, dainty 
bit of bird flesh, was in the Garden all by her- 
self on the 6th of October, when the great ma- 
jority of her relatives must have been already 
well on their way toward the sunny South. 
She appeared to be perfectly contented, and 
allowed me to watch her closely, only scolding 
mildly now and then when I became too in- 
quisitive. How I did admire her bravery and 
peace of mind; feeding so quietly, with that 
long, lonesome journey before her, and the cold 
weather coming on! No wonder the Great 
Teacher pointed his lesson of trust with the 
injunction, ** Behold the fowls of the air.” 
