206 WINTER BIRDS ABOUT BOSTON. 



their amusements was to drum on the tin girdles 

 of the shade trees ; and meanwhile they them- 

 selves afforded a pastime to the gray squirrels, 

 who were often to be seen creeping stealthily 

 after them, as if they imagined that Melanerpes 

 erythrocephalus might possibly be caught, if 

 only he were hunted long enough. I laughed 

 at them ; but, after all, their amusing halluci- 

 nation was nothing but the sportsman's instinct ; 

 and life would soon lose its charm for most of 

 us, sportsmen or not, if we could no longer pur- 

 sue the unattainable. 



Probably my experience is not singular, but 

 there are certain birds, well known to be more 

 or less abundant in this neighborhood, which 

 for some reason or other I have seldom, if 

 ever, met. For example, of the multitude of 

 pine finches which now and then overrun East- 

 ern Massachusetts in winter I have never 

 seen one, while on the other hand I was once 

 lucky enough to come upon a few of the very 

 much smaller number which pass the summer 

 in Northern New Hampshire. This was in the 

 White Mountain Notch, first on Mount Willard 

 and then near the Crawford House, at which 

 latter place they were feeding on the lawn and 

 along the railway track as familiarly as the 

 gold-finches. 



The shore larks, too, are no doubt common 



