THE PERCHING BirDs. 95 
by the same influences that induce the preceding to 
take such a journey. Of course there always will 
be exceptions to such “laws” of migration. I have 
seen a mounted skin of a long-spur that must have 
been killed in New Jersey in November, and it has 
always seemed probable that one or more of these 
birds might be associated with flocks of horned 
larks, and so pass, unnoticed, the winter among us. 
This bird is said to bea fine singer. There are other 
long-spurs found in the far west and northwest. 
The Grass-finch, Vesper-sparrow, or Rut-runner 
next commands attention. This is a native bird, mi- 
gratory also to some extent. I have never failed to 
see them all winter in Southern New Jersey. In the 
lower Delaware Valley, where these birds are ex- 
tremely common, and of course called by that won- 
drously comprehensive name “ Chippy,” I have heard 
the name “ Rut-runner” also applied, some observing 
sweet-potato grower having actually noticed that this 
little sparrow has the habit of keeping just ahead of 
an approaching wagon, and, when not on the wing, 
uns like a killdeer up the rut.” There are few 
grassy fields, I imagine, where this bird is not found, 
and you are not likely to mistake it, for it shows two 
white feathers in its tail when flying. It is a ground 
bird the greater part of each day, and chirps when 
startled like any other “ chippy ;”’ but it is a master 
musician for all that, and, singing at or after sundown, 
has been aptly called the vesper-sparrow.  Bur- 
roughs’s “ Wake Robin,” which everybody should 
read, will tell you all about the bird, and in a way, 
too, that no one else can. 
