FEBRUARY, “THE LONG-SHORT MONTH” 319 
watch from the moment the nest was built until the 
young left it; so he awakens the general interest first, 
and then the ear is won by his cheerful and sometimes 
remarkable song. 
“The Catbird stirs one’s curiosity. We wonder what 
he will say and do next; and when he throws back his 
head to sing, we never can tell whether a dreamy melody 
or a series of jeers will be the result. But the Song Spar- 
row we love for himself alone, from the very beginning 
of our acquaintance. 
“In personal appearance he bears nearly all the mark- 
ings of his characteristic family, but the few exceptions, 
if remembered, will tell you his name: his brown crown- 
feathers have a gray parting-line, his wings have no white 
bars or yellow markings, while the breast and sides are 
streaked; one large spot in the centre, with sometimes a 
smaller one close to it, tell the Song Sparrow’s identity. 
“He is seldom seen feeding on the ground like the 
Chippy, but loves the shelter of low bushes, from which 
he gives his warning cry of ‘Dick-Dick!’ and then flies 
out with a jerking motion of the tail and, never going 
high into the air, perches on another bush. If he wishes 
to sing, he climbs from the dense lower branches to a 
spray well above the others, as if he needed plenty of air 
and light for the effort, and bubbles into-song. 
“As to the nest, well made of roots and bedded soft 
with fine grass and hairs, the Song Sparrow uses his own 
taste, as all birds do, and though the favourite place is 
within the crown of a small bush not far above the ground, 
or even in a grass tuft close to the earth itself, yet I have 
found them. in very different places. 
