FAMILY Fringillide. 
grasses and a few hairs, and is built upon the ground. 
Egg white speckled with sienna brown. The range of 
the bird is throughout eastern North America ; it does 
not breed north of Massachusetts, and is very uncommon 
in New Hampshire. It is essentially a ground Sparrow 
which seldom, if ever, flies higher than the fence rail. 
The song of the Grasshopper Sparrow is scarcely worth 
recording on the musical staff. Itis difficult to tell where 
his voice is really pitched, but undoubtedly it is at least 
an octave higher than the topmost C of the piano! It is 
a last, weak effort at music, culminating in an alphabet- 
ical conclusion which may be represented by X— Y—zee- 
e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e |! The tones are stridulent and insectlike, 
hence the bird’s common name. There should be no 
difficulty in identifying the voice provided one is not 
tone-deaf ! 
White-crowned This beautifully marked Sparrow is not 
eile quite as uncommon as one would suppose 
leucophirys for the reason that he seeks the seclusion 
L. 6.80inches Of shrubbery and underbrush and thus 
May 10th escapes notice. He is often in company 
with his near relative the White-throated Sparrow, or 
Peabody-bird, and one has to watch closely for those dif- 
ferences in costume and song which distinguish the birds 
apart. The White-crown, unlike the Peabody-bird, has 
no yellow before the eye nor on the bend of the wing; 
also his coloring is a pronounced ashen tone quite different 
from the warmer brown of his relative, and he lacks dis- 
tinct wing-bars. Head striped with black and white 
bands of equal width: a white one ir the centre of the 
crown, the other two (one over each eye) extending back- 
ward from the eyes; back of the neck, the throat, and 
breast ashen gray; back darker brown-gray margined: 
with ashen gray; wings dusky brown, the feathers 
edged with gray, the coverts tipped with gray-white ; 
tail dusky brown ; under parts grayish white, the sides 
buffish in tone. Female similarly marked. Nest of 
\grasses, and placed upon the ground or in a low bush. 
Egg light green-blue speckled with chestnut or sienna 
brown. Ridgway describes the range of the bird, thus: 
ia 
