THE FOX-COLORED SPARROW. 



-N "Wood Notes Wild," S. P. 

 Cheney says this song-loving 

 Sparrow has a sweet voice and 

 a pleasing song, which he has 

 set to music. No Sparrow, he 

 says, sings with a better quality of 

 tone. A distinguished musician him- 

 self, no one was better qualified to 

 give a final opinion upon the subject. 

 Others have spoken in praise of it, 

 Burroughs characterizing it as " a 

 strong, richly modulated whistle, the 

 finest Sparrow note I have ever heard." 

 Baird saj^s, " in the spring the male 

 becomes quite musical, and is one of 

 our sweetest and most remarkable 

 singers. His voice is loud, clear, 

 and melodious ; his notes full, rich, 

 and varied ; and his song is unequalled 

 by any of this family that I have ever 

 heard." Mr. Torrey finds a " Thrush- 

 like " quality in the song of the Fox 

 Sparrow. In his "Birds in the Bush " 

 Mr. Torrey describes an interesting 

 contest as follows : 



"One afternoon I stood still while a 

 Fox Sparrow and a Song Sparrow 

 sang alternately on either side of me, 

 both exceptionally good vocalists, and 

 each doing his best. The songs were 

 of about equal length, and as far as 

 theme was concerned were not a little 

 alike ; but the Fox Sparrow's tone was 

 both louder and more mellow than the 

 others, while his notes were longer, — 

 more sustained, — and his voice was 

 ' carried ' from one pitch to another. 

 On the whole, I had no hesitation 

 about giving him the palm ; but I am 

 bound to say that his rival was a 

 worthy competitor." 



The Fox-colored Sparrow is also 

 one of the largest and finest of his 



tribe, breeding from the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence and Labrador north into 

 Alaska ; in winter it is met with south 

 over the whole of the eastern United 

 States to the Gulf coast. Audubon 

 found it nesting in Labrador from the 

 middle of June to the 5th of July. Its 

 nest has been found in trees and on 

 the ground in the Arctic regions, on 

 the Yukon river in July. According 

 to many observers, the nests are, for 

 the most part, placed on the ground, 

 usually concealed by the drooping 

 branches of evergreens. They are 

 made of grass and moss, lined with 

 fine grass and feathers. Some nests 

 are three or four inches in depth, 

 strong, compact, and handsome. The 

 eggs are three or five, oval in form, of 

 a clayey greenish ground color, dotted 

 with dull reddish brown and chocolate. 

 They vary in coloration. 



In the early spring the Fox Sparrow 

 is often seen associated with small 

 parties of Juncos, in damp thickets 

 and roadside shrubbery ; later, accord- 

 I ing to Mr. Bicknell, it takes more to 

 woodsides, foraging on leaf-strewn 

 slopes where there is little or no 

 undergrowth. In the autumn it is 

 found in hedgerows, thickets and 

 weedy grainfields, rarely however, 

 staying far from some thickety cover. 

 It is a great scratcher among dead 

 leaves, and "can make the wood 

 rubbish fly in a way which, in pro'Dor- 

 tion to its size, a barnyard fowl could 

 scarcely excel." 



The Sparrows are worthy of close 

 study, many of them possessing habits 

 of great beauty and interest. 



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