VESPER SPARROW (Pooecetes 

 gramineus and subspecies) 



Length, about 6 inches. Its white-tipped 

 outer tail feathers distinguish this individual 

 from its brown Hveried fellows. 



Range : Breeds from southern Canada south 

 to Oregon, Arizona, Texas'. Kentucky, Vir- 

 ginia, and North Carolina ; winters from south- 

 ern California. Texas. Missouri, and North 

 Carolina south to the Gulf coast and southern 

 Mexico. 



There is little about this brown-streaked 

 sparrow to attract attention and, until it flies 

 and displays the white-tipped tail feathers, you 

 might mistake the bird for any one of a half 

 dozen of the sparrow family. Indeed, if one 

 catches merely a glimpse of a vesper sparrow 

 crouched low and running swiftly through the 

 grass one may be forgiven for mistaking the 

 bird for a mouse. It frequents open pastures 

 and when singing likes to mount a rocky 

 boulder so common in New England and other 

 parts of the east. We are perhaps justified in 

 calling its song its most notable characteristic. 

 Though not a pretentious effort, the voice of 

 the vesper sparrow is sweet and plaintive be- 

 yond expression, and harmonizes with the dy- 

 ing day as does the song of no other bird. 



Prof. Beal records the fact that in winter 

 the food of this sparrow consists wholly of 

 vegetable matter, while in summer it consists 

 of little else than insects. The vesper sparrow 

 cares less for grass seed than any other of its 

 fellows, but consumes great quantities of weed 

 seeds. It eats also large numbers of grasshop- 

 pers, caterpillars, and weevils. A number of 

 these sparrows taken in Utah, where the newly 

 imported alfalfa weevil is doing much damage, 

 were found to have eaten these weevils to the 

 average extent of more than half their food. 

 Thus the value of this bird to the farmer can- 

 not be questioned. 



BLUE GROSBEAK (Guiraca caerulea and 



subspecies) 



Length, about 7 inches. Distinguished by its 

 larger size from the indigo bird which alone 

 resembles it. 



Range : Breeds in the southern United States 

 north to northern California. Colorado. Ne- 

 braska, southern Illinois, and Maryland, and 

 south to southern Mexico; winters in Mexico 

 and Central America. 



One seldom sees the blue grosbeak at short 

 range or under circumstances which make 

 identification easy, as the bird is rather shy and 

 frequents brushy thickets and viny tangles 

 much as does the indigo bird. The low warb- 

 ling song of this grosbeak may be compared 

 with that of the purple finch, but it is neither 

 so loud nor so well sustained. Under the name 

 of "blue pap," the grosbeak used to be a fa- 

 vorite cage bird in Louisiana and other South- 

 ern States, and no doubt is so today, despite 

 protective laws. In the matter of diet it shows 

 a marked preference for insect food over vege- 

 table, the proportion being about 6"/ to 2>Z per 

 cent. The vegetable matter includes many 

 weed seeds, as foxtail and bindweed. 



CARDINAL (Cardinalis cardinalis and sub- 

 species) 



Length, about <S;,4 inches. Its size, crest, and 

 bright red color serve for instant identifica- 

 tion. 



Range: Southern United States generally, 

 west to Texas and southern Arizona, north to 

 lower Hudson, northern Ohio, northern Indi- 

 ana, southern Iowa, and southeastern South 

 Dakota ; resident. 



The cardinal is a notable bird and any local- 

 ity he chooses for his residence must be con- 

 sidered highly favored. His bright colors, 

 trim form, and erectile crest, his clear whis- 

 tling call, and his fine song are all to his credit. 

 He is a resident of thickets and tangled un- 

 dergrowth with hanging vines, and, when these 

 are provided and he feels safe from the prowl- 

 ing cat and marauding hawk, he will take up 

 his abode in your garden or back yard as read- 

 ily as anywhere else. Favor him further by 

 supplying him food and water in winter and 

 you make him your friend indeed. Practically 

 he is a resident wherever found, and the sight 

 of his flashing red suit amidst snow-covered 

 bushes is a memorable picture. The cardinal 

 used to be a favorite cage bird in the Southern 

 States, and the business of trapping him for 

 market, especially about the large southern 

 cities, was common. The bird is now pro- 

 tected by law as it should be, and the sight of 

 a cardinal behind prison bars has become rare 

 indeed. How many thousands were sacrificed 

 for hat gear we shall never know, but happily 

 this practice too is fast disappearing. 



By preference the cardinal is a vegetarian, 

 and about seven-tenths of its food consists of 

 vegetable matter in the form of seeds, berries, 

 etc. But it also eats many insects, potato bee- 

 tles, cotton worms, boll worms, cotton-boll 

 weevils, codling moths, and many other scarcely 

 less noteworthy. Mr. McAtee, in attempting 

 to sum up all the economic facts, declares that 

 the bird does at least fifteen times as much 

 good as harm, which is a record to be proud of. 



CALIFORNIA QUAIL (Lophortyx 

 californica and varieties) 



Length, about 9I/2 inches. Distinguished 

 from Gambels' quail by the reddish instead of 

 black belly. 



Range : Resident in the Pacific Coast region 

 from southwestern Oregon and western Ne- 

 vada through California and Lower California. 



The California quail is one of our most beau- 

 tiful game birds, and the sight of a large covey 

 running daintily along, with crests nodding and 

 fine plumage gleaming in the sun is a sight to 

 remember. Before quail were so much perse- 

 cuted covies were common in the gardens of 

 Oakland and other California towns, seemingly 

 as much at home among calla lilies and rose 

 bushes as in the stubble field. The numerous 

 families in the fall associate in bands of three 

 or four hundred, or even more. The Califor- 

 nia quail has learned one lesson never acquired 

 by our bobwhite — to roost in trees and bushes 

 instead of on the ground — and no doubt the 

 safety thus obtained during the hours of dark- 

 ness is one reason for its great abundance. 



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