HOME BIRDS 67 



Nature's voices, loud or low, have heard it from the 

 Song Sparrow. 



Watch him as he sings the glad tidings. He seems 

 to realize their importance and, with head thrown 

 back and body quivering, puts his whole soul into 

 the delivery of his message. 



Only the born bird-lover may want to know all 

 the birds, but every one should know the Song Spar- 

 row. The Warblers, Vireos and Flycatchers each 

 bear a message for him who can interpret it, but 

 any one can understand the Song Sparrow. He 

 speaks a common language. In February, when he 

 sings the welcome news of the birth of a new year, 

 I half expect to see him clad in cloth of gold, but 

 the badge of black he wears upon his breast is his 

 only distinctive mark. For the rest, he is just a 

 little brown Sparrow streaked below as well as above. 



Although his song varies so greatly that one rarely 

 hears two Song Sparrows sing exactly alike and even 

 the same bird may sing in half a dozen different 

 ways, there is a quality about his voice which always 

 enables one to identify it. The three opening notes 

 are usually alike and, however great may be the 

 variations that follow, they have the unmistakable 

 tone of the Song Sparrow's voice. 



Equally characteristic is Song Sparrow's call-note, 

 a questioning "chimp" or "trink" which, once you 



