322 NOTES ON THE 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Head above, upper half of loral region from the bill, a nar- 

 row line through and behind the eye to the occiput, black; a 

 longitudinal patch in the middle of the crown, and a short 

 line from above the anterior corner of the eye, the two con- 

 fluent on the occiput, white. Sides of head, fore part of breast, 

 and lower neck all round, pale ash, lightest beneath, and shad- 

 ing insensibly into the whitish of the belly and chin; sides of 

 belly and under tail coverts, tinged with yellowish -brown. In- 

 terscapular region streaked broadly with dark chestnut-brown- 

 ish. Edges of the tertiaries brownish -chestnut; two white 

 bands on the wing. 



Length, 7.10; wing, 3.25. 



Habitat, North America at large. 



ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS (Gmelin). (558.) 

 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 



No close observer of birds fails to recognize the claims that 

 this regal sparrow has upon his admiration. His manners be- 

 long to more pretentious orders, and his supreme dignity sug- 

 gests a miniatureship of some larger species. His very shy- 

 ness is rather an expression of disregard of your presence in a 

 slow and undisturbed removal from you. The song is touch- 

 ingly sweet and very fascinating when once it has the undi- 

 vided attention. 



Mr. Langille says: "The notation of its song could be easily 

 written on the musical staff. Beginning generally on the fifth 

 note of the scale, after the first syllable it ascends to the eighth, 

 or last note, and ends in four syllables more. After the first 

 syllable of the song the bird will sometimes utter the second on 

 the second or third note of the scale above, and then dropping 

 back will render the remaining three syllables on the usual 

 pitch for the ending. I have heard it begin on the last note of 

 the scale, and after sounding two syllables, drop to the sixth 

 interval for the remaining three syllables, thus giving a beau- 

 tiful minor effect. If several are singing, they may each per- 

 form on a ditferent key, one responding to the other from dif- 

 ferent dead trees or tall stubs in the neighborhood. 



"The charm of the song is principally^ in the pathos of the 

 tones, which resemble those of the Chickadee, being an inimita- 

 bly tender and vibrating, or tremulous, whistle. There are few 

 bird songs which are so affecting to an aesthetic nature as is this 

 simple pastoral. The tenderest and most sympathetic ideas, 

 with a tinge of melancholy, find their expression in these 



