440 HISTORY OB' THE 



Poocaetes gramineus (Gmei..). 



VESPER SPARROW. 

 PLATE XXVII. 



A summer resident; not common; during migration, very 

 common in the eastern part of the State. Arrive about the first 

 of April; begin laying early in May. 



B. 337. R. 197. C. 232. G. 97, 215. U. 540. 



Habitat. Eastern North America to the plains; from Nova 



Scotia and the Saskatchewan southward; breed from Virginia, 



Kentucky and Kansas northward. 



Sp. Char. "Tall feathers rather acute. Above, light yellowish browu; 

 feathers everywhere streaked abruptly with dark brown, even on the sides of 

 the neck, which are paler. Beneath yellowish (sometimes reddish) white; on 

 the jugulum and sides of neck and body streaked with brown. A faint light 

 superciliary and maxillary stripe; the latter margined above and below with 

 dark browu; the upper stripe continued around the ear coverts, which are darker 

 than the brown color elsewhere. Wings with the shoulder light chestnut brown, 

 and with two dull whitish bands along the ends of the coverts; the outer edge 

 of the secondaries also is white. Exposed portion of outer tail feather, and 

 edge and tip of the second, white." 



Iris brown; bill dusky, pale yellowish beneath; legs and feet 

 flesh color; claws brown. 



This terrestial species inhabits the dry prairies, pastures and 

 roadsides, and, regardless of the presence of man, is alike at 

 home in the settled and unsettled portions of its range. They 

 are in every sense beneficial, feeding chiefly upon fallen seeds 

 and insect life. 



Their flights are usually short, low and undulating. Their 

 song is pleasing — much like that of the Canary, but weakei-. 

 John Burroughs, tlie entertaining writer, and lover of the birds, 

 in "Wake Robin," thus describes its song: 



"Have you heard the song of the Field Sparrow? If you 

 have lived in a pastoral country with broad, upland pastures, 

 you could hardly have missed him. Wilson, I believe, calls him 

 the Grass-finch, and was evidently unacquainted with his pow- 

 ers of song. Tlie two white lateral quills of his tail, and his 



