Grasshopper Sparrow. 45 



America." These sparrows seldom arrive in this section 

 before the middle of April, when the hardier migrant 

 sparrows have been with us over a month, and have in 

 most instances established their homes and begun house- 

 keeping. True to their unassuming and retiring disposi- 

 tion, they are silent for several days after their coming, 

 raising their feeble trills only occasionally until they 

 gradually acquire greater confidence. As the mating 

 season advances, however, and their fellows increase in 

 numbers in their resorts, their voices are heard inces- 

 santly throughout the day and throughout the breeding 

 season, which is protracted into July. From various sit- 

 uations in the meadows their shrill ditties greet the ear. 

 To determine the station of one of the concealed perform- 

 ers, we strike a line directly toward the supposed spot 

 from which the call arises; but ere we reach the conjec- 

 tured location, the performer has secretly shifted his posi- 

 tion, probably between his short trills, and we fail to 

 discover him. Thus they sing here and there through- 

 out the area, sometimes not far .away, but eluding our 

 efforts to flush them, like veritable jack-o-lanterns of the 

 broad noonday. 



However, if we scan the meadow surface closely, on 

 some low weed top or grass tuft we may descry the in- 

 distinct form of one of the interested performers, clinging 

 tightly to his support in order to throw his head more 

 erect, and in fancy we can see the vibrations of his 

 swelling throat as he rattles forth that monotonous ex- 

 pression of his emotions, perhaps to engage the fancy of 

 his lady sitting in the grass at the base of his support. 

 Sometimes the summit of a vervain furnishes him a lofty 

 platform from which he can pour forth his affections, or 

 the taller spike of a mullein. On extraordinary occasions 

 one will mount a fence post or other isolated object of 

 similar height and there deliver his wheezy lay. When- 

 ever one finds himself an object of attention, however, he 

 drops immediately into the subjacent herbage, objecting 

 to remain in view as well as to sing for human listeners, 

 and thereafter for a time ho sings to his mistress from a 

 lowlier situation. If the singer is undisturbed, he will 

 remain on one perch for many minutes repeating hi& 



