A BOYS' BIRD EVENING. 163 



boys and girls — whicli suggestion I throw out 

 as a hint to lecturers in general. 



The urchins before me were bric^ht and 

 alert. Both what they did know and what 

 they did not know about our common birds 

 caused me not a little surprise. One of my in- 

 terrogatories ^vas : " How many kinds of spar- 

 rows do you know ^ " The answers were varied 

 and contradictory. Some said only one, mean- 

 ing the English sparrow ; some said two, and 

 one plucky little fellow declared, "I've seen 

 three different kinds, but I think there are 

 more." The only species familiar to many 

 members of the class was that foreigner, the 

 English sparrow; and so there was no little 

 surprise when I told them of the long list of 

 charming American sparrows, which sing so 

 beautifully, and whose manners are very differ- 

 ent from those of the ill-bred redcoats. Their 

 eyes fairly bulged with wonder while I called 

 the muster roll of song sparrows, chipping spar- 

 rows, field sparrows, vesper sparrows, grass- 

 hopper sparrows, fox sparrows, white-throated 

 and white-crowned spai'rows, and others ; and 

 perhaps some of my young listeners resolved 

 to use their eyes to better effect thereafter. 



Another query proved that they had not 

 been asleep all the time, even if they had 



