DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLU». 13 



There were three or four performers on that occasion within 

 earshot, but none were seen because of the darkness. All seemed 

 to be on or near the ground, and as I approached grew silent a 

 few moments and then resumed singing a few yards away. I 

 judge from this and other observations that they are peculiarly 

 addicted to nocturnal reveries in the breeding season, a trait 

 shared somewhat by their cousins the Grasshopper Sparrows. 



A very thorough search of the same kind of country sur- 

 rounding Salem and Greenwich failed to reveal this sparrow. 



On IMay 9, 1902, Mr. Stone and myself tramped across 

 country from Bridgeton to Greenwich with this sparrow specially 

 in mind, but found none until we reached the low, flat grounds 

 bordering the cultivated uplands, a broad stretch of meadow 

 which is overflowed only by the neap tides, and is interspersed 

 with groves of water oaks, greens and bushes. In a wet pasture 

 field grown with Indian and swamp grass and a few bushes we 

 discovered quite a colony of Henslow's Sparrows, evidently 

 breeding. Their peculiar songs first betrayed them and from 

 three to five o'clock, or during the whole time we were engaged 

 in searching for their nests, they sang more or less steadily. 

 Perhaps there were six to ten pairs of birds which seemed par- 

 ticularly attached to this field of ten acres, and could not be 

 driven out of it. After being flushed repeatedly they would 

 squat so closely in the dense mat of grass that I twice nearly 

 succeeded in catching one under my outspread coat. The most 

 careful search for nests was fruitless. 



In the whole class of singing birds known to me the song of 

 this species ranks lowest in all respects. It is essentially lacking 

 in strength, volume, length, melody or variety. Its one re- 

 deeming quality is repetition. To offset its many deficiencies 

 the humble vocalist chants night and day. 



As I have strained my ear to catch its message amid the wild 

 chorus of May bird song that rose from the surrounding fields 

 and woodland, I have thought its place in nature's song ser- 

 vice was purely the responsive one of saying "Amen;" and 

 that thought has given this Quakerly Te De.um no mean place in 

 my affections. The song of its kinsman the Grasshopper Spar- 

 row, so named because of the insectile character of its voice, 



