206 WINTER BIR DA ABOUT BOSTON. 
their amusements was to drum on the tin girdles 
of the shade trees; and meanwhile they them- 
selves afforded a pastime to the gray squirrels, 
who were often to be seen creeping stealthily 
after them, as if they imagined that Melanerpes 
erythrocephalus might possibly be caught, if 
only he were hunted long enough. I laughed 
at them; but, after all, their amusing halluci- 
nation was nothing but the sportsman’s instinct ; 
and life would soon lose its charm for most of 
us, sportsmen or not, if we could no longer pur- 
sue the unattainable. 
Probably my experience is not singular, but 
there are certain birds, well known to be more 
or less abundant in this neighborhood, which 
for some reason or other I have seldom, if 
ever, met. For example, of the multitude of 
pine finches which now and then overrun East- 
ern Massachusetts in winter I have never 
seen one, while on the other hand I was once 
lucky enough to come upon a few of the very 
much smaller number which pass the summer 
in Northern New Hampshire. This was in the 
White Mountain Notch, first on Mount Willard 
and then near the Crawford House, at which 
latter place they were feeding on the lawn and 
along the railway track as familiarly as the 
gold-finches. 
The shore larks, too, are no doubt common 
