MINOR SONGSTERS. 173 



with a truly tropical splendor, the like of which 

 no other of our birds can furnish. Let us hold 

 him in hearty esteem, and pray that he may 

 never be exterminated ; no, not even to beau- 

 tify the head-gear of our ladies, who, if they 

 only knew it, are already sufficiently bewitch- 

 ing. 



What shall we say now about the lesser 

 lights of that most musical family, the finches ? 

 Of course the cardinal and rose-breasted gros- 

 beaks are not to b# included in any such cate- 

 gory. Nor will I put there the goldfinch, the 

 linnet, the fox-colored sparrow, and the song 

 sparrow. These, if no more, shall stand among 

 the immortals ; so far, at any rate, as my suf- 

 frage counts. But wlio ever dreamed of calling 

 the chipping sparrow a fine singer ? And yet, 

 who that knows it does not love his earnest, 

 long-drawn trill, dry and tuneless as it is ? I 

 can speak for one, at all events ; and he always 

 has an ear open for it b}^ the middle of April. 

 It is the voice of a friend, — a friend so true 

 and gentle and confiding that we do not care to 

 ask whether his voice be smooth and his speech 

 eloquent. 



The chipper's congener, the field sparrow, 

 is less neighborly than he, but a much better 

 musician. His song is simplicity itself ; yet, 

 even at its lowest estate, it never fails of being 



