112 SONGS OUT OF SEASON. 



As I approached the music ceased, and presently 

 the fox sparrow flew from the sapling and dis- 

 appeared in the brier thicket to my left. As there 

 were other birds flitting about, I could not be sure 

 which songster was the author of this strange 

 lyrical performance. Presently he alighted on a 

 blackberry stalk in full view, his reddish-striped 

 breast showing plainly, and while I leveled my glass 

 upon him he burst into song, producing the iden- 

 tical notes that had startled me so agreeably a few 

 minutes before. There could be no mistake, for I 

 plainly saw the movement of his mandibles and the 

 heaving of his bosom as he enunciated the notes. 

 It was a real discovery for a bird lover. 



Whether the song was similar to the one he 

 sings at his summer home in Labrador, British 

 America and Alaska I am unable to say, and I 

 therefore reproduce the notes phonetically as accu- 

 rately as I can, so that readers who live in those 

 northern lands may have an opportunity of making 

 comparison : Hd-deert-de-d^-dee-d-Jid-dh ! The syl- 

 lables were rather distinct, several of them staccato, 

 and the whole sonof enunciated in a kind of recita- 

 tive. While the lyrical effort was pleasing and 

 novel, it could not have been called " exquisitely 

 sweet," as this bird's summer song is said to be. 



