ON BOSTON COMMON. 21 



absolute silence while here; I have watched 

 hundreds of them, without hearing so much as 

 an alarm note. They are far from being pug- 

 nacious, but their sense of personal dignity is 

 large, and once in a while, when the sparrows 

 pester them beyond endurance, they assume the 

 offensive with much spirit. There are none of 

 our feathered guests whom I am gladder to see ; 

 the sight of them inevitably fills me with re- 

 membrances of happy vacation seasons among 

 the hills of New Hampshire. If only they 

 would sing on the Common as they do in those 

 northern woods ! The whole city would come 

 out to hear them. 



During every migration large numbers of 

 warblers visit us. I have noted the golden- 

 crowned thrush, the small-billed water-thrush, 

 the black-and-white creeper, the Maryland yel- 

 low-throat, the blue yellow-back, the black- 

 throated green, the black-throated blue, the yel- 

 low-rump, the summer yellow-bird, the black- 

 poll, the Canada flycatcher, and the redstart. 

 No doubt the list is far from complete, as, of 

 course, I have not used either glass or gun ; and 

 without one or other of these aids the observer 

 must be content to let many of these small, tree- 

 top-haunting birds pass unidentified. The two 

 kinglets give us a call occasionally, and in the 

 late summer and early autumn the humming- 



