Kae ee ee 
ON BOSTON COMMON. 15 
with even more than their customary measure 
of incivility, till the poor wayfarers have liter- 
ally no rest for the soles of their feet. They 
breed by choice in just such miniature meet- 
ing-houses as our city fathers have provided so 
plentifully for their foreign protégés ; and prob- 
ably the latter, being aware of this, feel it nec- 
essary to discourage at the outset any idea 
which these blue-coated American interlopers 
may have begun to entertain of settling in Bos- 
ton for the summer. 
The robins may be said to be abundant with 
us for more than half the year; but they are 
especially numerous for a month or two early 
in the season. I have counted more than thirty 
feeding at once in the lower half of the parade 
ground, and at nightfall have seen forty at 
roost in one tree, with half as many more in 
the tree adjoining. They grow extremely noisy 
about sunset, filling the air with songs, cackles, 
and screams, till even the most stolid citizen 
pauses a moment to look up at the authors of so 
much clamor. 
By the middle of March the song sparrows 
begin to appear, and for a month after this they 
furnish delightful music daily. I have heard 
them caroling with all cheerfulness ii-the midst 
of a driving snow-storm. ‘The dear little opti- 
mists! ‘They never doubt that the sun is on 
