Unlike the chickadee, wren, or even the chipping sparrow, the song sparrow 

 does not acknowledge his human neighbor. He may live near him but not with 

 him. He makes no advances beyond accepting occasionally the bounty provided 

 for his kind on the birds' lunch counter through the meager days of March and 

 April. We wish it were otherwise, but the sympathy and appreciation are only 

 on the side of man. 



The sparrow is a member of tlie largest and one of the mo.st .successful fam- 

 ilies of birds, the finch family. Among his relatives are the grosbeaks and finches. 

 Here, nature was lavish with color as the cardinal, rose-breasted grosbeak, purple 

 finch and goldfinch show ; but when it conies to the .sparrows, the bright colors 

 seem to have given out. Mr. Chapman explains that the former live more gen- 

 erally in the trees while "the brown, streaked sparrows are, to a large extent, 

 field-or plain-inhabiting, and their neutral colors are therefore a means of pro- 

 tection in the exposed situations they inhabit." The inference seems to be that 

 the tree-inhal)iting birds are exposed to fewer dangers than the ground builders — 

 and may, therefore, take more chances in the wearing of gaudy clothing, though 

 even here, the female, the nest tender, is very unpretentious and s]xirrow-like in 

 her mode of dress. 



Our song sparrow, being a ground builder, though he sometimes builds in 

 low bushes, follows the style and has a dress that matches finely the grass, old 

 leaves, earth, dead twigs and the life that form the surroundings of the nest. 

 He is just sparrow-colored, the under parts are light, but heavily streaked with 

 black and dark brown. Fortunately for the bird student these dashes run to- 

 gether, on the middle of the breast, into a conspicuous blotch ; and at the corners 

 of the mouth into conspicuous streaks that extend down the sides of the throat. 

 These three marks are the quickest and surest means of identification. There are. 

 to be sure, grayish lines running through the middle and sides of the red-brown 

 rrown, but these are more likely to be noticed after you have learned your bird 

 than as a means of knowing it. 



With such a modest dress, with no bright markings lo suggest a name, his 

 admirers have, nevertheless, been at no loss for a very fitting one. Handsome 

 is that handsome does, and he does one thing extremely well. He sings. 



In the bleak days of February, and March, he greets the Ijlizzard with a song. 

 In early April he is full of song, but as April melts into Ma\ and May into June, 

 with mating and nesting going nn. he is in an ecstas\ of delight. He is original, 

 for though he retains the family tune, he sings it with many variations. "Fifteen 

 varieties of its song have been noted in one week. :uid tin- same individual often 

 has a number of tunes in his re])retoire "' 



Mr. Abbott, in his notes on this plainly clad sparrow, says that he proclaims 

 himself as "a gf)od rres-pres-pres-pres-by-tc-rian.' Thoreau heard iti the more 

 customary song, "Olit. olit. olit — chip, chip. chip, che-char, — chc-wis, wis, wis!" 

 and in otu- of the variations "Maids, maids, maids, hang on your tcakcttle-ettle- 

 ettle." 



17'» 



