April 



its plumage black, but apparently not iridescent, 

 smaller than the crow-blackbird, and yet not 

 likely to be the rusty grackle, whose plumage 

 at this season would hardly be a uniform black. 

 The tone was more musical than the grackle' s, 

 and yet had a suggestion of it. The probability 

 seems to be that it was one of the imported 

 starlings that have been turned loose, and had 

 perhaps lost track of its fellows. I almost wish 

 I had not seen it, if it is not to show itself 

 again ; for it is a most exasperating pleasure to 

 find an unidentifiable specimen. 



I note the arrival of that humblest and most 

 familiar of all sparrows, — the ubiquitous " chip- 

 per. ' ' It certainly cannot be called a singer, 

 and its familiar note is commonly too strident 

 to be very musical ; but it is a harmless drop of 

 sound, even among the vocalists of June, and 

 pleasantly fills a niche in the empty spaces of 

 July and August. In appearance it is always 

 refreshingly neat, not to say spruce, and unpre- 

 tentious; and by being neither over-timid nor 

 bold, it always holds itself at an interesting dis- 

 tance. This is said to be the only one of the 

 sparrows that sometimes builds its nest in trees, 

 all the other species (except, perhaps, the tree 

 sparrow) on the ground or in bushes. From 



105 



