The Meadow Lark 



By Ralph Bacon 



Little pufii' of feathers, 



Gray and brown and gold, 



When your slim throat gathers 



More than it can hold 



Of the merry, mellow madness 



That your heart distills, 



You pour it forth in gladness 



Drenching fields and hills. 



Your notes come spilling golden 



Like the bubbles of old wine; 



I expand my heart to hold in 



Your ecstasies divine! 



Little feathered creature 



On that zig-zag fence. 



You're God's most fervent preacher ; 



From your eminence 



You scatter bits of heaven — 



If only man's heart had 



Half your bird's joy even, 



The whole world would be ijlad ! 



White-Crowned Sparrow {ZonotHchia leucophrys) 



Length : 7 inches. 



The only similar sparrow, the white-throat, has a yellow spot in front of eye. 



Range: Breeds in Canada, the mountains of New Mexico, Colorado, 

 Wyoming, and Montana, and thence to the Pacific coast ; winters in the southern 

 half of the United States and in northern Mexico. 



Habits and economic status: This beautiful sparrow is much more numerous 

 in the western than in the eastern states, where, indeed, it is rather rare. In the 

 East it is shy and retiring, but it is much bolder and more conspicuous in the far 

 West and there often frequents gardens and parks. Like most of its family, it is 

 a seed eater by preference, and insects comprise very little more than 7 per cent 

 of its diet. Caterpillars are the largest item, with some beetles, a few ants and 

 wasps, and some bugs, among wliich are black olive scales. The great bulk of the 

 food, however, consists of weed seeds, which amount to 74 per cent of the whole. 

 In California this bird is accused of eating the buds and blossoms of fruit trees, 

 but buds or blossoms were fouufl in only 30 out of 516 stomachs, and probably 

 it is only under exceptional circunistancos that it does any damage in this way. 

 Evidently neither the farmer nor the fruit grower has much to fear from the 

 white-crowned sparrow. The little fruit it eats is mostly wild, and the grain 

 eaten is waste or volunteer. 



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