WINTER BIRDS ABOUT BOSTON. 201 
site was selected. The lot is small, with no 
woods or bushy thicket near, while it has build- 
ings in one corner, and is bounded on its three 
sides by the streets and the railway; but it is 
full of a rank growth of weeds, especially a 
sturdy species of aster and the evergreen gold- 
en-rod, and I suspect that the plank walk, which 
on one side is raised some distance from the 
ground, is found serviceable for shelter in severe 
weather, as it is certainly made to take the place 
of shrubbery for purposes of concealment. 
Fortunately, birds, even those of the same 
species, are not all exactly alike in their tastes 
and manner of life. So, while by far the greater 
part of our song sparrows leave us in the fall, 
there are always some who prefer tostay. They 
have strong local attachments, perhaps; or they 
dread the fatigue and peril of the journey; or 
they were once incapacitated for flight when 
their companions went away, and, having found 
a Northern winter not so unendurable as they 
had expected, have since done from choice what 
at first they did of necessity. Whatever their 
reasons, — and we cannot be presumed to have 
guessed half of them, —at all events a goodly 
number of song sparrows do winter in Massachu- 
setts, where they open the musical season before 
the first of the migrants make their appearance. 
I doubt, however, whether many of them choose 
