24 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



])t'r's lay is a simple descending series of notes, 

 very sweet and somewhat violin-like in quality, 

 delivered with increasing rapidity. Not infre- 

 quently the song is heard in the dead of night, 

 and occasionally the bird delivers a quite elab- 



1 by H. K. Jub Cuurtcsy of C 



NEST OF VESPER SPARROW 

 Containing three eggs of the Cowbird 



orate flight-song as it flutters upward to a height 

 of fifty or seventy-five feet. This effort is very 

 different from the usual leisurely ditty, gen- 

 erally rendered from a conspicuous perch atop 

 a fence-post or bush. 



The Vesper Sparrow is shy, after the manner 

 of its kind. Often in the fields or on the road- 

 sides, it will run along for some distance, keep- 

 ing just ahead of the pedestrian. When it takes 

 to its wings the two white feathers on either 

 side of its tail show very plainly. It has no true 

 crest, but it often elevates the feathers on the 

 crown of its head so that they form a temporary 

 one. 



In western North America, except the Pacific 

 coast district, there is a variant form of the 

 \^esper Sparrow, known as the Western Ves- 

 per Sparrow {Poa-cctcs grauiincns confinis). It 

 averages larger, and has a slenderer bill than the 

 eastern Vesper ; it is also slightly paler and 

 grayer and the marks on the chest are not so 

 dark. 



Both of these forms are replaced in the Pacific 

 coast district by the Oregon Vesper Sparrow 

 (Pocccctcs gramlncus affinis). The Oregon 

 Vesper is smaller than the Vesper, browner above 

 and distinctly biiffy below. 



The Vesper Sparrow lives chiefly on different 

 injurious insects, the animal proportion of its 

 food reaching 90 per cent, in the height of sum- 

 mer. Beetles and grasshoppers are most sought 

 after, and next to them come cutworms, army 

 worms, and other smooth caterpillars. It should 

 be accorded the fullest protection because of its 

 value to the farmer. 



IPSWICH SPARROW 



Passerculus princeps Mayiiard 



\. O. I'. Xumbcr 541 See Color Plate 81 



General Description. — Length, 6'i incites. Upper 

 parts, grayish ; under parts, whitisli. Bill, small ; wings, 

 long and pointed: tail, about •f'i length of wing. 



Color. — Adui-TS : .\bove, pale grayish : the crown 

 and back, streaked with pale brown and blackish : 

 cro'cii, ivith a narro'tC center stripe of fiale grayish 

 huff or dull huffy 'cchilish : broad siinilar but paler 

 stripe over eye; outer surface of inner wing-quills and 

 greater wing-coverts, pale bulTy brown ; cheek stripe, 

 pale buff or whitish ; under parts, white tinged later- 



ally (sometimes across chest also) with pale brownish 

 bufif; the chest and sides, streaked with brown; iris, 

 brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On the ground in ineadow 

 and grassy reaches of Sable Island (so far as known) ; 

 constructed of similar materials as the nest of the 

 Savannah Sparrow. Eggs: Also similar but larger. 



Distribution. — Breeding on Sable Island (and other 

 islands?), off Nova Scotia; migrating southward 

 along Atlantic coast as far as Georgia. 



