28 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



these trees abound, he is very abundant. 

 The goldfinch sometimes remains with us 

 in sheltered places through the winter, 

 when he loses his brilliant plumage and 

 takes on a sort of dull-green, neutral tint. 



One of the commonest and, before the 

 advent of the English sparrow, perhaps 

 the most familiar and sociable of our 

 birds, is the little chipping-sparrow 

 (spizella socialis), with his russet-colored 

 crown and plain ashy-gray breast. Only 

 the scouts of the great body have as yet 

 arrived, but within a very few days now 

 every garden in the city will resound with 

 the long sliding chant. Bradford Torrey, 

 speaking of the song of this bird, says: 

 "Who that knows it does not love his 

 earnest, long-drawn trill, dry and tuneless 

 as it is? I can speak for one, at all events, 

 and he always has an ear open for it by 

 the middle of April. It is the voice of a 

 friend, a friend so true and gentle and 

 confiding that we do not care to ask 

 whether his voice be smooth and his 

 speech eloquent." 



