BULLETIN No. 34. 3 



BACHMAN'S SPARRO\V, IN DeKALB COUNTY, 

 GEORGIA. 



On the nidrninij: of Junt- ist, 1899, while trampinti over an 

 old field, a short distance troni my home, my attention was at- 

 tracted by the son^j; of a bird, the peculiar notes of which I had 

 never heard before. 



It was some little time before I succeed in locating him, as 

 he possessed a wav of his own, of evading every effort on my 

 part to find him. 



He seemed to be here, there and everywhere, all at the 

 same time, for when 1 advanced toward the direction of his 

 \-oice, his song would cease, then in a few moments it would be 

 heard agiin in some other part of the field. 



He did not at an\' time appear to be far away, but like some 

 invisible airy nothing, he stole around, and about me, without 

 my obtaining the slightest glimpse of him. 



Finally 1 secreted myself beneath the branches of a low 

 persimmon tree, with the avowed determination of remaining 

 with my new found friend for the day. After a short time of 

 eager waiting I saw a bird fly from a clump of blackberry bushes 

 and light on the dead limb of a pine sapling but a few yards 

 away. As soon as he touched the tree he assumed a crouching 

 position, much in the manner of a bird attempting to screen 

 himself from view, but in a trice he sto(jd erect, and then that 

 little bit of a wee mite (jf a bird begun his wonderful song, which 

 eclipsed anything in the shape of bird music I had ever heard. 



Without an effort he stood upon that old dead branch and 

 warbled the song he had learned so well. No turn of head, no 

 jerk of his tail, no spread of his wings, or movement of his 

 feathers, save a slight swelling of his throat, as he pt^ired forth 

 his sweet refrain immindful of the world around him. The song 

 continue for one or two minutes, when there would be a kind of 

 of intermission of one or two mintues more, during which time 

 the bird would busy himself arranging his plumage prepara- 

 tory to another performance, which made me want to clap my 

 hands by way of encore, but fearing he would not respond, 1 

 dared not to do it. 



Tone of the notes were similar to those of the Indigo, 



