The Birds’ Calendar 
if not equally interesting and abundant, from 
early spring till late in the fall. Yet its volume 
of life, too, is fullest in June, after which the 
current runs low till its last gorgeous ‘‘ com- 
posite ’’ outburst in autumn. In bird-life the 
summer season lies ‘*‘ between the waves,’’ and 
has a less positive character, perhaps we may 
say, than even winter itself. But in passing 
from the limited area and opportunity of city 
life to the broad acres of the country, the mid- 
summer stagnation signifies less, and gives op- 
portunity for new research. ‘The various birds 
have such distinct tastes in regard to their sur- 
roundings, that the conditions of the Ramble 
must needs be uninviting to many of the most 
familiar varieties in the country, and a brief di- 
gression from city limits into open fields and 
rural highways will bring a few of them into 
view, and extend the acquaintance with some 
that were only transiently in the Park. 
9 
In an old historic town of New England, 
whose early records deal with the Indians and 
the Revolutionary War, and whose latter-day 
fame rests upon the fact that it is in the very 
depths of Nature, and signally exempt from all 
226 
