FAVORITE LOCALITIES FOR ANDOVER BIRDS. 
The bird student should select his locality for observation 
according to the season of the year, the weather, and the species 
that he wishes to find. In winter, when our bird population is at 
its minimum, this choice of territory is especially important. One 
helpful rule is,— Follow the chickadees. During the cold weather, 
birds are unusually gregarious, and they seem to enjoy especially 
the companionship of the sociable chickadee. The observer who 
patiently follows a flock of the latter will often be rewarded by 
seeing creepers, nuthatches and kinglets. On cold, windy days, a 
favorable place for all these species is the sheltered, sunny, border 
of a pine grove. The south side of the grove near the Rev. Mr. 
Johnson’s is a good example of such a location. For the seed- 
eating birds of’ our winter residents — tree sparrows, goldfinches, 
redpolls, etc.— it is best to seek weedy fields and bushy pastures, 
where weed-seed, birch catkins and bayberries can be found. 
From the foot of Phillips St., southward along the Shawsheen 
River to Pomp’s Pond is one of the best localities of this kind. 
See also the note on myrtle warblers in the table. 
In early spring, as soon as the surface of the ground begins 
to soften, many birds are fond of woods and thickets that are 
adjacent to old corn fields or to ploughed land of any kind. 
Owing to these and other attractions, the territory lying in the 
angle between Porter St. and South Main St. (opposite to Prof. 
Forbes’s) is a favorable one. Here, on bright March days, the 
thickets often seem to be alive with birds,— winter visitors and 
early-migrants. 
During the April and early May migration, before the trees 
are in foliage, old orchards, and swampy thickets or light-growth 
woods near a pond or stream, are good places for observation. 
All these conditions are furnished by the territory along Highland 
Road, south-east of the grounds of the Andover Golf Club. 
