C. PASSERINUS : YELLOW-WINGED SPARROW. 243 



Though this queer little Sparrow is neither one of 

 the commonest nor of the most widely distributed species 

 in New England, yet its rarity has been exaggerated 

 by some writers, doubtless upon the insufficient infor- 

 mation likely to be acquired in the case of so sly and 

 secretive a bird. We should note, in the first place, 

 that it is practically restricted to the Carolinian and 

 AUeghanian Faunae, being thus wanting in most parts 

 of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Next, if 

 we remember that it keeps most sedulously concealed 

 in rank herbage, rarely rising higher in the world than 

 the top of a mullein, we should be at no loss to account 

 for the obscurity that hangs over the history of this 

 curious species. It has not even a song to attract at- 

 tention, its best vocalization being scarcel}^ stronger or 

 more musical than the stridulation of a grasshopper. 

 But if we tramp through weedy fields, especially in 

 sandy sterile soil, we shall often startle the little creat- 

 ure from its persistent hiding, see it dart a few yards 

 away with a wayward flight, and disappear from view 

 as suddenly as it came in sight. Earh' in June, when 

 the female is incubating, the males seem more ambi- 

 tious than at other times, and often mount a weed, 

 shrub, or fence-post to make their queer music — one 

 of the sounds that an ornitliologist learns to recognize 

 without difficulty, though the casual ear might not sep- 

 arate it from the nameless noises that show how the 

 field teems with life at this season. In such waste 

 places as I have noted, the nest may be found by acci- 

 dent, sunken in the ground, overhung with a tuft of 

 grass, and thus very closely concealed. The eggs, to 

 the number of four or five, are very recognizable among 

 those of other "Ground Sparrows," more resembling 



