BIRDS OF THE SALT MARSHES 



counting for tastes, as the song of the sharp- 

 tail is a peculiar melody that resembles more 

 closely the hiss of a hot iron in water, or the 

 sinking of the foot into the oozy marsh than 

 it does a song. Near at hand one can hear 

 two short notes that follow immediately after 

 the song. Occasionally the bird is so carried 

 away by the rapture of his passion and music 

 that he mounts in the air with quivering 

 wings to the height of thirty or forty feet and 

 pours forth his soul in rapid repetitions of 

 the song as he drops to earth again. He is 

 frequently unable to fly high enough to un- 

 wind his complete repertoire in the descent, 

 for he often continues to sing after he has 

 alighted in the grass. 



The sharp-tail sparrows bring forth two 

 broods of young, which wear a very diiferent 

 dress from their parents, and look in their 

 yellow and buff the exact counterpart of fe- 

 male bobolinks, but much smaller. 



Closely related to these birds of our 

 marshes is the Acadian sharp-tail, which 

 breeds farther north, along the northern half 

 of the Maine coast and in New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia. It passes through the Ipswich 

 marshes late in May and early in June, and 



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