Bachman Sparrow. Ill 



BACHMAN SPARROW. — Peiiccca ccstivalis hachmanii. 



(Selected from Dawson's "Birds of Ohio.") 



It is very gratifying- to be able to report the recent invasion 

 of the state by this delightful vocalist from the south. To 

 Rev. W. F. Henninger, then of Scioto county, belongs the 

 honor of first discovery. A specimen was secured by him 

 near South Webster, April 23, 1897, but it was, unfortunately, 

 not preserved. On April 83, 1903, the author in company 

 with Miss Laura Gano and a party of scientists, took a sing- 

 ing male on Rose Hill, Cincinnati, and the specimen is pre- 

 served in the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. On 

 the following day three others in full song were found upon 

 another of those beautiful wooded hills for which the Queen 

 City is justly famous. These last, I rejoice to say, were not 

 sacrificed even in the name of science. Miss Gano first noted 

 the species at Cincinnati, April 25, 1901, and had seen it on at 

 least two occasions since. 



Later in the same season, June 10 and 11, I came upon the 

 Bachman Sparrow upon one of the hills near Sugar Grove, 

 in Fairfield county. A nest was found in a clover field, which, 

 although deserted at the time, belonged upon the strongest 

 presumptive evidence to this bird. One of the young birds 

 was easily caught and its picture taken both in the hand and 

 in the nest, as shown in the accompanying illustrations. A 

 few days later Ralph and Will Bumgardner took a set of four 

 eggs from the ground in the same meadow. The eggs were 

 pure white and could hardly have belonged to any other than 

 this species. 



The song of the Bachman Sparrow is a thing of surprising 

 beauty. In delivering it the bird chooses a prominent sta- 

 tion at the top of weed-stalk, fence-post, or sapling, or stands 

 well out on a bare limb of a tree. Here he throws his head 

 back and draws, as it appears, a full breath in a note of rav- 

 ishing swetness ; then sends it forth again in a tinkling 

 trill of uniform or varied notes. Nothing can excel the fine 

 poetic rapture of the inspirated note. It sets the veins a-tingle 

 and makes one wish to put his shoes from ofT his feet. The 

 characteristic opening note is given with constantly varying 



