Grasshopper Sparrow. 45 



dialing backward from her eyes, one in the middle line 

 of the crown and one over each eye. These character- 

 istics, with the yellow markings of the wings, will enable 

 one to identify an individual of this species. Still she 

 tarried, looking wonderingly as I cautiously drew nearer 

 and nearer, until I was fairly bending over the site, when 

 she darted out and away in her peculiar manner, thus 

 uncovering her five glossy eggs and leaving them without 

 a parting chirp. 



Although the male seeks to win the affections of his 

 lady love by persistently shrilling near her the story of 

 his passion, he generally represses his love trills near the 

 home which his mistress has established. He is perhaps 

 aware that the snug habitation is safe from observation, 

 and that its secrecy is assured if he is discreet in select- 

 ing the stations from which to cheer the monotonous life 

 of his mate. Cheer her he must, however, and so he trills 

 throughout the day from fancied situations within her 

 hearing, yet safely removed from the guarded spot. He 

 commonly sings from the ground, but frequently mounts 

 a low weed stem, sometimes remaining on a particular 

 perch for many minutes, at other times changing his 

 position with the humorsome restlessness which charac- 

 terizes the sparrows. When his brooding spouse wishes 

 to take a few moments of relaxation from her duties, to 

 run among the rank culms or to flit a short distance over 

 the waving verdure, he gallantly relieves her and lov- 

 ingly assumes charge of the household affairs in her ab- 

 sence. Indeed, our little grasshopper sparrows seem to 

 be models of conjugal deportment, and hence their do- 

 mestic life is apparently felicitous, without many of the 

 jars noticeable in the lives of others of the birds. After 

 a brief season the assiduous brooding of the female is re- 

 warded, and the ease and song of the former days give 

 place to anxious care for the helpless offspring. The mow- 

 ing of the hay generally terminates the nesting season, 

 and it is probable that in most instances only one brood 

 is reared. 



The habits of these sparrows after the breeding 

 season are strictly in harmony with their history in 

 the early spring and summer. They skulk even more 



