W"' 
m 
CO IGORD. 
1093 
9 
Cambridge 
Lincoln 1 8 
Finch 
it wae perfectly calm and almost oppressively aa»a 
when, a little after 8 o*clock this morning, I stepped out 
Into the garden* For the first half hour I heard only a 
Yellow Warbler, a Chippy, and Robins singing* But a little 
before 9 A. 3L I added three birds to ray list 1 , an Oriole 
fluting In the hors© chestnut at the corner of Sparks St,, 
a Bed-start singing In Hr* Hubbard 1 s grounds, and & Lincoln’s 
Fi ch in the garden, . 
After listening to the Oriole and Fed-start for a 
few minutes, I passed through the house and o ened the 
back door when an unfamiliar song came at once to ray ears* 
It was uttered four or five tines in succession, at short 
Intervals, very near me, while I stood listening, com¬ 
pletely puaaled* The bird was evidently in the cluster of 
lilacs sc rce ten yards away but although these bushes 
were practically leafless I could see nothing la them. 
I moved cautiously around them and at length discovered a 
Lincoln’s Sparrow sitting motionless, bolt .upright, in the 
top cf the tallest^lilac. He saw me, also, and began to 
flit shyly from twig to twig away from me, keeping his crest 
erected. He did not get far before a workman, stumping 
noisily along the w Ik on. the further side of the thicket, 
alarmed him seriously and he flew across the lawn to 
Hr, pel-nan’ o shrubbery, I could find no other bird in or 
near the lilacs and there can be no doubt that this was 
• \ 
my mysterious singer whose full song I now know for the 
first time. 
