1 8 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



The loud conqneree of the red-shoul- 

 dered blackbird (jxgelains phceniceus) is al- 

 ready heard among the marshes of North 

 Pond, and the long, shding, monotonous 

 chant of the common little chipping-spar- 

 row {spizella socialis) I have suspected that 

 I heard once or twice from our orchard, 

 but the real flight of this species, it is 

 clear, is hardly yet begun. 



Within the next week or two the purple- 

 finch and the goldfinch, the vesper-spar- 

 row and the field-sparrow will have put in 

 an appearance ; but with these exceptions 

 there will be few prominent arrivals be- 

 fore the first of May. Not till then, at the 

 earliest, may we expect the brown-thrush 

 and the cat-bird, the wood-thrush and the 

 veery, the orioles and the bobolinks, the 

 vireos, and the host of warblers that come 

 by the first of June. 



I would say in conclusion to this letter 

 that any of your readers who may be in- 

 terested in the subject of birds and their 

 singing will find the first chapter of John 

 Burroughs' ** Wake Robin," and the chap- 



