1921 
Mra, Y K hlircom R! As A, HO ,\ 9 Va, 
q 
BIRD LORE OF . OTHER DAYS vas A To my mornisy walk in the 
. | ar aa 
ME 
aly — po oa at the Blackburnians quite 
ROGER 3B. HILDRETH’S DIARY | plentifu also blue. yellow-backs, red- 
xtarts,| (purpl¢) finches, \Maryland yellow- 
Shteeey eit a vireos, etc. There are 
now baht airs \of) rose-breasted grosbeaks 
ap’ tly j 
Robert 0. Morris Recalsl the First 
Curator of the Museum of Natural |. pa ing: 
History and Comments on the Birds ‘Saturday, June 1. On Cole brook in 
of Then and Now . || Becket with Dr McClean and George 
i ae is : ee ’ - || ‘trouting Good luck. Among other 
To the Editor of The Republican :— | pleasant sounds was much pleased to 
Roger B. Hildreth, who died here in | hear all day long the wild and charming 
March, 1872, had been a practicing attor- notes of the ‘white-throated sparrow. 
Also heard the peculiar notes of the 
ney and resident of Springfield for the | olive-sided* flycatcher in the secluded and 
preceding quarter of a century. He was | wooded valley through which Cole brook 
born in Marlboro, but came here very soon Tipe. andi roare.” - 
08! Webs 4 “August 18. At Ingersoll’s dell, a quiet 
after he was graduated from Harvard Col- || .oajuded and shaded spot about a “eile 
lege in 1843, He was a warden of Christ || from’ Main street and through which runs 
church, very much interested in the city || @ brook, I have heard through June, July 
‘library in the early days of that institu- || 2nd this evening for,the last time a pair 
| quite pleasing little ditty. 
| late Festus Stebbins on Main street I was. 
Be lia Sues, Res mithl a tewonthote's | Gecpein a Puyo caer ged Peed Gee make 
were the promoters of the museum of na 
ural history of which he was one of th. 
first curators, He was an enthusiast in 
all matters relative to Nature, and an es- 
pecial ‘devotee of ornithology, The follow- 
ing selected notes from his diary of 
same spot. A few minutes before sunset 
arbor and just opposite, mounted on a 
youns es bid almost ak ike sure of 
, se tes iror ndin e male bird singing hi st; 
ree se nae tg Peak: peti ot sithoash -T generally “took a on 4 oe 
e bird students o e pr . — thi ; : , a 
"S@ood Friday. April 19, 1867. In my grass within a dozen yards of him, so far 
S000, ETL a from frightening him away he seemed to 
morning walk to-day [ saw and heard for | },. rather gratified in having even one ap- 
the first time this season the ruby-crowned iative listener 
kinglet. So intent were they in their oc- oe earies bei ai pati vaprcentires 
cupation that, though I approached within | t5 imitate his peculiar wild whistle than 
a few feet of them, they. apparently took | he as if to show. me the ‘extent of his 
no notice of me, but continued all the | musical powers and the folly of attempt- 
while actively searching for their food || ing to imitate him, would ruffle up his 
and every minute or two uttered a low but | «rown feathers and strike up two or three 
additional notes and trill them in a most 
exquisite prolonging and tremulous sound. 
“May 12. At the old homestead of the 
surprised at the remarkable activity of a_ 
numerous colony of cliff swallows. More 
than 30 years ago they took up their resi- 
dence under the eaves on the northerly 
side of a venerable barn on the premises, 
and as they have always been charming 
pets and freed from annoyance and mo- 
lestation by their kind and appreciative 
‘landlords’ and frieids, they have punc- 
tually and regularly returned to their o 
quarters, . rebuilding their weather-shat- 
ye and pot-shaped mud nests. Up to 
this date more than 30 of these laboriously 
a time, not moving from the same spot 
where he began. These charming inter- 
yiews were kept up through June, July and 
August when I saw and heard him for the 
last time on the 18th. Although I searched 
diligently I could never discover the nest. 
which was without doubt concealed at no 
great distance.” — en 
‘The white-throated sparrow, or Peabody 
bird, is now well known to be a common 
summer resident of the higher mountain 
towns’ of Western Massachusetts, at an 
altitude where the balsam fir becomes a 
common forest tree, but, besides the state- 
ment of Mr Hildreth, I know of no record 
of its occurrence in Springfield or any of 
‘the nearby towns during the nesting sea- 
SO ei, , ; ra 
The cliff swallow no longer builds its 
nest in the eaves of any barn on Main 
street or elsewhere in Springfield. At 
the time Mr Hildreth wrote it wus a com- 
paratively new comer in New England, 
emerging from the then western wilder- 
ness early in the 19th century. ‘The cele- 
brated Lemuel Shaw, chief justice of the 
‘supreme judicial court, was one of the 
first to note its presence here. He stated 
that he found it at the White mountains 
in the summer of 1816. 
~The rose-breasted grosbeak still nests 
in the Peabody cemetery, although a large 
ortion of the young are destroyed by cats. 
‘he tiny notes of the black poll warblers 
are not now heard among the elms of 
Court square at the time these migrants 
pass to and from their far northern sum- 
mer home, but the harsh and disagreeable 
notes.of the English sparrow will reach 
formed little homes are in quite an ad- 
vanced condition, and before the month is 
out the number will probably be more 
than doubled When this colony first took 
possession the space between the barn 
and the Connecticut river was entirely 
open. It is now almost entirely built over, 
yet so attached have these charming little 
swallows become to their ‘old Springfield 
homes’ that neither railroads nor all the 
noise and confusion of a busy city have 
Seereeny had any disturbing effect upon 
(21 
“May 19. In my morning walk through 
the cemetery I saw a fine pair of rose- 
breasted grosbeaks, evidently mated and 
preparing to build. isite' ; 
“May 238. Saw  Blackburnians _ this 
morning among the pine trees in the 
cemetery. beautifully and lively. 
“May 25. On Nye’s brook in Russell 
with W- S. Shurtleff ‘trouting.’ On the 
wooded banks of the brook the warblers 
were. in great abundance, _ especially 
Blackburnian, black-throated, green and 
blue, black and white and chestnut-sided 
warblers. Notes of the latter very much 
like the sumnier yellow bird. a5 
“May 27. Black-poll warblers are filing 
and scraping their tiny notes among the 
elms in Court square in‘ great abundance 
ing walks.’ RosertT O. Morgis. 
_ Springfield, March 11, 191}. 
Probably I have seen and heard the pair | 
at least 40 times and always near the 
I generally passed into the dell near the. 
This he would repeat for half an hour at_ 
—— ee 
the ear, sounds. not often heard in this | 
vicinity when Mr Hildreth took his morn- | 
