10 ON BOSTON COMMON. 



A passenger even worse belated than this 

 warbler was a chipping sparrow that I found 

 hopping about the edge of the Beacon Street 

 Mall on the 6th of December, seven or eight 

 weeks after all chippers were supposed to be 

 south of Mason and Dixon's line. Some ac- 

 cident had detained him doubtless ; but he 

 showed no signs of worry or haste, as I walked 

 round him, scrutinizing every feather, lest he 

 should be some tree sparrow traveling in dis- 

 guise. 



There is not much to attract birds to the 

 Common in the winter, since we offer them 

 neither evergreens for shelter nor weed patches 

 for a granary. I said to one of the gardeners 

 that I thought it a pity, on this account, that 

 some of the plants, especially the zinnias and 

 marigolds, were not left to go to seed. A lit- 

 tle untidiness, in so good a cause, could hardly 

 be taken amiss by even the most fastidious tax- 

 payer. He replied that it would be of no use ; 

 we had n't any birds now, and we should n't 

 have any so long as the English sparrows were 

 here to drive them away. But it would be of 

 use, notwithstanding; and certainly it would 

 afford a pleasure to many people to see flocks 

 of goldfinches, red-poll linnets, tree sparrows, 

 and possibly of the beautiful snow buntings, 

 feeding in the Garden in midwinter. 



