BOSTON PUBLIC GARDEN 17 



feeding and are less noisy and bent upon 

 mischief. Later in the day, as the season 

 advances, when throngs of people come 

 thither to enjoy the opening blossoms, the 

 display of flowering bulbs and the expand- 

 ing leafage, it becomes less easy to move 

 about freely, and the birds are more likely 

 to be elusive as they shyly evade passers- 

 by. 



Still, sometimes visits have been made in 

 the forenoon and in the afternoon with good 

 results. Especially has this been the case 

 when the previous night has brought one of 

 the larger migration-flights, and a second 

 and even a third visit has been made, to 

 obtain fuller assurance that the census of 

 the day had been adequately taken. In 

 some such instances a few birds have been 

 noted in the subsequent visits which were 

 not seen in the early morning, or may not 

 have been present then, although it is a 

 general truth that the birds come in the 

 night and do not drop along through the 

 hours of the day, and consequently that all 

 are likely to be present in the morning 



