GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. 
" va. basse 
He sings from sunrise to sunset with a sweetness and joy 
at once inspiring and beautiful. He is not unsociable for 
it is his habit to remain in the road hopping or flying just 
ahead of you at a safe distance, showing the white feather 
as his tail spreads in flight if you get too near. 
Grasshopper Of all the common sparrows this is the 
hoe hts one whose notes are pitched so high that 
Coturniculus tl eauas le ‘shable. 
i ce A al hey are indistinguishable to many ears, 
passerinus and the bird is passed by unnoticed. Tone- 
L. 5.20 inches deafness may not be as common as color- 
May 1st blindness, but it nevertheless exists, and 
the person thus afflicted, in nine cases out of ten, will 
tell you he does not hear the Grasshopper Sparrow sing 
when he is doing so twenty or thirty feet away! This 
is the common buffish toned bird of the Atlantic sea- 
board,* with a mixed brown, black, and buff back, anda 
sepia brown crown marked in the centre by a pale buff 
line; back of the neck ruddy brown ; region in front of 
the eye burnt orange, and over the eye grayish buff ; the 
bend of the wing is bright yellow, the primaries sepia, and 
the shoulders yellowish olive ; the tail feathers are gray- 
brown and pointed; under parts brownish buff, gener- 
ally without streaks, and fading to a dull white below. 
Female similarly marked. The coloring of this Sparrow 
is peculiarly protective, and its habit of skulking in the 
tall grass makes recognition difficult, but a quick glance 
may detect the yellow at the wing bend and the pointed 
character of the tail feathers ; these marks are all that are 
necessary for its identification. The nest is formed of 
* Common near the coast of New Jersey, and southern New York, 
and in eastern Pennsylvania 
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