24 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



the woods or in the waste pasture-lot 

 overgrown with under-brush. His song 

 is simplicity itself, consisting of two or 

 three introductory whistles, followed by 

 a whistle long and vibrating, but without 

 trills or other embellishments. I often 

 hear it near the border of the woods on 

 the southwest slope of Millstone Hill, 

 towards the city, and on the bushy hillside 

 beyond Sunnyside, east of Peat Meadow. 

 The field-sparrow enjoys the distinction 

 of singing all summer long, even during 

 the heat of the dog-days, long after most 

 other birds have become silent. This 

 bird I have heard once or twice this 

 spring, though as yet it has hardly become 

 abundant. 



Of all the members of the sparrow fam- 

 ily that stay with us to breed, the purple 

 finch, or linnet (carpodacus purpureus), 

 is the finest musician. Only the adult 

 male is purple, however, and even he, ac- 

 cording to Burroughs, looks as if he had 

 been dipped in pokeberry juice and taken 

 out before the dyeing process was half 



