12 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



backs, white bellies, and white lateral tail- 

 feathers opening and shutting like a fan 

 as they fly before you, are for the first 

 few weeks in April more numerous than 

 the individuals of all other species com- 

 bined. Although, as their name implies, 

 they occasionally stay with us through the 

 winter months, they are much more abun- 

 dant in the early spring and late fall. By 

 the first of May they will nearly all have 

 left for the White Mountains and the 

 North, where they pass the summer. I 

 have, however, seen a few pairs near the 

 summit of Mount Wachusett in the sum- 

 mer, and have no doubt that they breed 

 there. Numerous as are the snow-birds, 

 they contribute but little to our spring 

 music, their only song being an occasional 

 low jingle, not, however, unpleasing to the 

 ear. In the Park I found these birds un- 

 usually abundant. 1 



1 Nuttall says that the song of the snow-bird is " a 

 few sweet, clear, and tender notes, almost similar to the 

 touching warble of the European robin red-breast." 

 It is among the finer and more delicate forecastings of 

 earliest spring. EDS. 



