BIRDS OF THE GRASS LANDS. 



455 



Fig. 2. — Savanna Sparrow. 



into gray, but easily distinguished by the white-edged tail that it 

 flirts open when started from the dusty highway or flitting before 

 us along the fence-rows. In old fields and pastures the darker- 

 streaked savanna sparrow 



and the little earth-colored I/' 



grasshopper sparrow with its «dffl!^ 



yellow-edged wings and dry, 

 cricket-like song, start out of 

 the grass beneath our feet ; 

 and if in June days we search 

 long and patiently, a glimpse 

 of a nest and its treasures 

 may reward our pains. 



Every one knows the 

 meadow lark stalking over 

 fields of short grass or swift- 

 ly rising from weedy cover 

 with sharp note of alarm; 



the bobolink with throat full of song hovering above the lush 

 meadows and acres of waving herd's grass or gathering in dense 

 autumnal flocks among the river reeds; the swamp blackbird 

 with its brilliant epaulets of red ; the shore lark and titlark — all 

 these are birds of the open, grass-grown fields. 



Glancing at a physical map of North America we see that the 

 continent is characterized by regions of* widely different aspect. 

 By far the largest area is forest clad, including the vast territory 



east of the Mississippi 

 Valley and the great por- 

 tion of British America. 

 West of this, and extend- 

 ing from the Gulf and 

 the Mexican highlands 

 northward to the Atha- 

 basca River, is the region 

 of the great plains, roll- 

 ing, grass-covered prai- 

 ries, dry and treeless, ex- 

 cept in the river bottoms 

 of the eastern portion. 

 To the west the plains rise into the greater plateau of the conti- 

 nent, a steppe region crowned by the lofty, pine-clad ranges of the 

 Rocky Mountain system. Between this and the Sierra Nevada 

 ranges lies an alkaline waste, the Great Desert Basin, while along 

 the Pacific slope a forest region again prevails. 



It is evident, from this hasty view of the entire continental 

 area, that we have before us precisely the same factors, though on 



Fig. 3. — Grasshopper Sparrow. 



