68 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
high note repeated three times, and a rapid run 
down the scale and back; but it varies greatly 
with individuals, and almost every writer renders 
it differently. 
In choosing the site for its nest, the song spar- 
row adapts itself to circumstances with the grace 
of a true philosopher. At one time content with 
making a rude mat of straw at the bottom of a 
roadside brush heap, at another it builds in a 
willow, using the woolly catkins to soften the bed ; 
and frequently it nests right on the ground, when 
the farmers call it the “ ground sparrow.” But 
the prettiest site of any I have ever known was 
in a sweetbriar bush on the edge of the garden. 
Here the little mother could be lulled into her 
noon-day nap by the droning of the bumble-bees 
buzzing about the garden; or, if she chose, watch 
the fluttering butterflies and quivering humming- 
birds hovering over the bright flowers. Every 
breath of air brought her the perfume of the briar 
leaves, and when the pink buds unfolded she could 
tell off the days of her brooding by the petals that 
fluttered to the ground. 
