242 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



of the long rows of Mr. Burbank's red and brown 

 sunflowers, the small seeds of which are much more 

 appreciated by them than those of the large variety, 

 which have seeds the size of a grain of corn and 

 are awkward for the small bills of these birds. 

 Flocking over the sunflowers they constantly pass 

 back and forth to each other their tribal call in the 

 form of a question: "See me? See me?" Then 

 they have a shorter, detached cry sometimes 

 uttered in an exclamatory way, sometimes given 

 in answer to the "See me? " call. The nearest any- 

 one has arrived at this cry rendered in our speech, 

 is : " P 'tseet !" I have had considerable experience 

 with these birds and I frequently have heard the 

 male bird give the "See me?" call and the female, 

 brooding or feeding her young the "P'tseet" cry 

 in answer. It appeared to me that these cries were 

 used much as human beings would when a man asks, 

 "Where are you?" and his wife answers, "Here." 

 There are three sparrows that always home in 

 Wildflower Woods, particularly beside a winding 

 private road leading from the woods across the 

 fields and out to the puolic highway. In the buck- 

 thorn bushes bordering one side of this road, in the 

 grasses creeping to the wheel tracks, in the wild 

 rose bushes, and even under rankly growing 

 flowers, these sparrows are always with us. One is 

 the white throat, with his cry of "Chip, chip," 

 crisply and tersely uttered when about the business 

 of life, changing to nervous and excited tones when 



