APRIL BIRDS. 15 



of the robin which he carols forth for an 

 hour at a time in tlie April twilight 

 from some leafless tree in the pasture or 

 orchard? 



Since writing the above, on the evening 

 of the date of this letter, I have heard 

 robins in full song all along Harvard 

 Street, and they have now, undoubtedly, 

 generally begun singing in all parts of 

 the city. 



Another bird, which comes in April, or 

 even in March, is the phoebe-bird [sayoriiis 

 fiiscus), the pioneer of the fly-catchers. 

 Its cheerful and rapidly repeated phee-bee, 

 phee-bee, pJiee-bce is its spring note. In 

 the summer we hear pJie-ee-bee, pJic-ee-bec, 

 slower, sadder, and more in accordance 

 with the advancing season. 



The common chickadee, or black-capped 

 titmouse {pcirns atricapillus), has, in addi- 

 tion to its ordinary dee-dec-dee, a spring 

 note so much like the later note of 

 the phoebe that they cannot easily be 

 distinguished. I have never seen the 

 pretty note of the chickadee mentioned in 



