BIRDS FOR EVERYBODY 83 



the most pleasing, or otherwise interesting, of all 

 our birds are among those which may be called 

 birds for everybody. Such are the robin, the 

 bluebird, the Baltimore oriole, or golden robin, 

 the blue jay, the crow, and the chickadee. Of 

 all these we may say that they are common ; they 

 come in every one's way, and, what is still more 

 to the point, they cannot be mistaken for any- 

 thing else. Others are equally common, and are 

 easily enough seen, but their identity is not so 

 much a matter of course. 



The song sparrow, for example, is abundant in 

 Massachusetts from the middle of March to the 

 end of October. Outside of the forest it is almost 

 ubiquitous; it sings beautifully and with the 

 utmost freedom ; it ought, one would say, to be 

 universally known. But it is a sparrow, not the 

 sparrow. In other words, it is only one of many, 

 and so, common as it is, and freely as it sings (it 

 is to be heard in every garden and by every road- 

 side in the latter half of March, when few other 

 birds are in tune), it passes unrecognized by the 

 generality of people. They read in books of song 

 sparrows, chipping sparrows, field sparrows, tree 

 sparrows, swamp sparrows, vesper sparrows, white- 

 throated sparrows, fox sparrows, yellow-winged 

 sparrows, savanna sparrows, and the like, and 

 when they see any little mottled brown bird, 



