160 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
Grosbeak is seen not infrequently at Concord, 
though its nest is rarely found; but in Min- 
nesota Thoreau found it more abundant than 
any other bird, far more so than the Robin. 
But his most interesting statement, to my 
fancy, was that, during a stay of ten weeks on 
Monadnock, he found that the Snowbird built 
its nest on the top of the mountain, and prob- 
ably never came down through the season. 
That was its Arctic; and it would probably yet 
be found, he predicted, on Wachusett and other 
Massachusetts peaks. It is known that the 
Snowbird, or “Snowflake,” as it is called in 
England, was reported by Audubon as having 
only once been proved to build in the United 
States, namely, among the White Mountains, 
though Wilson found its nests among the Alle- 
ghanies ; and in New England it used to be the 
rural belief that the Snowbird and the Chip- 
ping Sparrow were the same. 
After July most of our birds grow silent, 
and but for the insects August would be al- 
most the stillest month in the year, — stiller 
than the winter, when the woods are often 
vocal with the Crow, the Jay, and the Chicka- 
dee. But with patient attention one may hear, 
even far into the autumn, the accustomed . 
notes. As I sat in my boat, one sunny after-' 
noon of last September, beneath the shady 
