36 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



several seasons may be necessary before 

 my hopes are realized. 



While listening to the peabody bird, I 

 am greeted by the humble trill of the 

 pine-creeping warbler {dendroica pinus) 

 singing in a hemlock-tree over my head. 

 Foolish bird ! His is a pretty song by 

 itself, but beside the delicious sparrow 

 music with which I am regaled, his feeble 

 twcety weet, weet sounds pitifully weak and 

 unsatisfactory. This little warbler, how- 

 ever, is doubly welcome, both for his own 

 sake and for the sake of the gorgeous 

 company of which he is the forerunner. 

 Our warblers are the daintiest, the most 

 delicate and the most gaily attired of all 

 our birds. In outward show, compared 

 With these elegant little creatures, the 

 plainly-dressed sparrows and thrushes are 

 homely and unattractive enough. But 

 with birds as with human beings, the law 

 of compensation is inexorable, and we 

 find the American warblers possessed of 

 very inferior musical gifts. How different 

 in Europe ! Enough is said when I men- 



