APRIL BIRDS. 21 



finches or sparrows, which Hve on the 

 seeds of plants and weeds, they have been 

 put to Httle inconvenience by the weather, 

 for, so long as their food supply is am- 

 ple, it is well known that with their warm 

 clothing and highly organized systems, the 

 birds are insensible to the extreme cold. 



The most conspicuous arrival of the last 

 few days is the vesper-sparrow, or bay- 

 winged bunting, or grass-finch {pooccstes 

 graminciis). Up to the fifteenth of the 

 month, of all his tribe, the song-sparrow 

 had reigned supreme, but during the night 

 of the fourteenth (for it is now well estab- 

 lished that birds make their migrations in 

 the night-time) there was a great flight of 

 baywings. On the morning of the fif- 

 teenth, in the orchard north of Highland 

 Street, just beyond Elm Park, I saw a 

 flock of fifty or a hundred; and numerous 

 individuals were singing freely, both in 

 the orchard and all along the side of New- 

 ton Hill opposite. They are much more 

 abundant now than they will be later in 

 the season, as the great body will proceed 



