AVERY BIRD COLLECTION 89 



All this time she uttered not a sound. When I moved 

 towards her she ran off through the thick weeds and 

 briars ; and finally I pursuing she pitched upon a tree and 

 began her 'seep! seep!' till to make identification sure I 

 reluctantly shot but lost her in the dense thicket over 

 which she was perched. 



"June 3. Found nest of P. ae bachmani. This nest 

 was on a hill covered with loblolly pines (P. taeda) and 

 tall grass, but the situation of the nest was open and 

 bare except for some scattered tufts of grass and small 

 Virginia creepers. The entrance to the nest was near 

 the ground and very little inclined to the horizon. As in 

 every case but one where I had found the nest of bach- 

 mani, the noise made by the alarm of the parent at my 

 presence, attracted my attention, and indicated also to 

 me in this instance where I should search. 



"While looking at a 'mimosa' (Albizzia julibrissin) and 

 wondering by what agency it had been brought to this 

 unusual spot among the old field pines, a rustling a few 

 feet behind me and the hiss, as I supposed, of a snake, 

 disturbed my meditations. I saw the sparrow and soon 

 the nest, with four young just hatched. The old bird 

 did not fly, but stood 'seeping' about ten feet from me. 

 He had changed his scold into the anxious 'seep ! seep' of 

 his vocabulary, 'till I turned towards him, when he ran 

 off through the grass and did not fly until he had led me 

 at least fifteen steps. He then rose and pitched upon a 

 fallen tree top, bobbing up and down much after the 

 fashion of a wren, and while I was examining him with 

 my field glass he broke forth into song, as soft and sweet 

 and full of gladness as that which at times wells from 

 his throat when the shadows of evening creep over his 

 sombre pines. 



"This was a beautiful structure, when compared with 

 one which I found on the 23rd of May. This last was 

 scarcely woven into a fabric, and fell to pieces when I 

 lifted it from the ground. 



"June 6th. Found nest of P. ae. bachmani. This nest 

 when found contained two eggs ; it was domed as the prev- 

 ious nests, but was so thin and poorly constructed that I 



