148 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



sparrow as being particularly characterized by its power, 

 being certainly far louder and capable of being heard at a 

 much greater distance, than that of the song sjDarrow or 

 vesper sparrow or any others of the smaller species of this 

 family. The field sparrow's song is further characterized 

 by its plaintiveness, and were it not for this quality would 

 rank among the very finest bird songs which can be 

 heard in our fields. Sometimes a particularly gifted male 

 will repeat twice or three times the usual song without 

 faltering, and then the performance becomes truly fine. 

 (Natural History Survey of Illinois, Yol. I, page 276.) 



The favorite resorts of the field sparrows are bushy pas- 

 tures or margins of woods. One of my pleasant experiences 

 occurred while I was rambling along the edge of a woods- 

 pasture, which had grown up thickly with small dwarf 

 thorn bushes. A sudden shower came up, and I sought 

 shelter from the dash of rain by crouching under a low, 

 wide-spreading haw tree. As the first drops struck my 

 shelter, I observed a number of field sparrows flitting out 

 of the woods ahead of the shower, and hurrying into the 

 scattered bushes. They were females which had been out 

 refreshing themselves after the confinement of incubation, 

 for I mentally marked a number of the bushes, and on 

 investigating them after the shower had passed, I found 

 nests in them, and the females sitting cozily on their 

 treasures. The hasty dash of rain had driven them home 

 to care for their households. Perhaps they remembered 

 that they had left their houses open, and bethought them- 

 selves to hurry home to close the windows and doors. 

 Had I not thus observed them seeking their habitations, 

 I should not have been aware of their nesting in such 

 numbers. One of the most populous haunts of the field 

 sparrow that I ever knew was a pasture which had been 

 cleared many years before, and had lately grown over 

 with blackberry, gooseberry, hazel, and other low bushes. 

 There the familiar chant of the field sparrow was heard 

 all day long, even in the warmest portion of the after- 

 noon. There the indigo bunting sang its persistent 

 measures, and the yellow-breasted chat whistled and 

 cackled from its close retreat. There also the cardinal 

 uttered his rich whistle in the early morning, and the 



