144 FOX SPARROW. 



thicket will come only the cozy, contented twitterings of 

 the birds wishing one another good night. 



The interest with which one examines a flock of White- 

 throated Sparrows is intensified by the probability of 

 White-crowned finding their distinguished relative the 



Sparrow, White-crown. In the Mississippi Val- 

 Zonotrichia ley he is often common, but in the 



'ucopuys. At;i ail ti c States he is sufficiently rare 

 to be a character of importance. 



The White-crown differs from the White-throat in 

 having no white on the throat, which, like the breast, is 

 gray, and in having the space before the eye black in- 

 stead of yellow or white. In the fall his crown is brown, 

 with a paler line through its center. 



Near New York city I look for the White-crown 

 in September and October, and again about May 15. 

 Thompson describes its song as " like the latter half of 

 the White -thro at 1 s familiar refrain, repeated a number 

 of times with a peculiar sad cadence and in a clear, soft 

 whistle." 



Some fine day about the middle of March you may 

 hear a song so unlike any you have ever heard, that be- 



Fox Sparrow ^ ore tne 8m g er ceases you will know 

 Passereiia iUaca. you are on the verge of a discovery. 



Plate xl vii. -j^ gQn g - g ] ou ^ exceedingly sweet, 

 and varied. Its richness of tone seems to accentuate the 

 bleakness of the bird's surroundings. It is a song for 

 summer, not for leafless spring ; but heard at this sea- 

 son it seems all the more attractive, and with pleasurable 

 excitement you hasten toward the second growth, near 

 the border of which the bird is perched. His large size 

 and bright reddish brown upper parts readily distinguish 

 him from other Sparrows, and, in connection with his 

 spotted breast, give him a general resemblance to a Hermit 

 Thrush, for which bird he is sometimes mistaken : but a 



