26 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



edly this finch which Thoreau tells us in 

 his journal he heard in April, and was un- 

 able to identify, but would have judged to be 

 the warbling vireo had it not been much 

 too early in the season for the arrival of 

 this bird. With the exception of the robin 

 and the chipping-sparrow, the purple finch 

 is the earliest of the birds that are equally 

 common in the country and along the city 

 streets. Last season I heard him early in 

 April in one of the elms on Belmont 

 Street, in front of the schoolhouse, and 

 some weeks afterwards was surprised to 

 find him singing in a maple-tree on 

 Chestnut Street. This bird is an excellent 

 example of the unequal distribution of 

 certain species of birds through difTerent 

 parts of the count?ry. He was formerly 

 rare about Worcester, but of late years has 

 become pretty abundant, while in some 

 parts of the State he is almost never seen. 

 About Cambridge both the purple finch 

 and the house wren are said to be very 

 abundant. About Worcester the wren is 

 extremely rare. 



