ON BOSTON COMMON. y AL 
absolute silence while here; I have watched 
hundreds of them, without hearing so much as 
an alarm note. They are far from being pug- 
nacious, but their sense of personal dignity is 
large, and once in a while, when the sparrows 
pester them beyond endurance, they assume the 
offensive with much spirit. There are none of 
our feathered guests whom I am gladder to see ; 
the sight of them inevitably fills me with re- 
membrances of happy vacation seasons among 
the hills of New Hampshire. If only they 
would sing on the Common as they do in those 
northern woods! The whole city would come 
out to hear them. 
During every migration large numbers of 
warblers visit us. I have noted the golden- 
crowned thrush, the small-billed water-thrush, 
the black-and-white creeper, the Maryland yel- 
low-throat, the blue yellow-back, the black- 
throated green, the black-throated blue, the yel- 
low-rump, the summer yellow-bird, the black- 
poll, the Canada flycatcher, and the redstart. 
No doubt the list is far from complete, as, of 
course, I have not used either glass or gun; and 
without one or other of these aids the observer 
must be content to let many of these small, tree- 
top-haunting birds pass unidentified. The two 
kinglets give us a call occasionally, and in the 
late summer and early autumn the humming- 
