40 BIRDRONGS. 
conservative brethren) is the field sparrow, bet- 
ter known as Spizella pusilla. His usual song 
consists of a simple line of notes, beginning lei- 
surely, but growing shorter and more rapid to 
the close. The voice is so smooth and sweet, 
and the acceleration so well managed, that, al- 
though the whole is commonly a strict mono- 
tone, the effect is not in the least monotonous. 
This song I once heard rendered in reverse or- 
der, with a result so strange that I did not sus- 
pect the identity of the author till I had crept 
up within sight of him. Another of these spar- 
rows, who has passed the last two seasons in 
my neighborhood, habitually doubles the meas- 
ure; going through it in the usual way, and 
then, just as you expect him to conclude, catch- 
ing it up again, Da capo. 
But birds like these are quite outdone by 
such species as the song sparrow, the white- 
eyed vireo, and the Western meadow-lark,— 
species of which we may say that each individ- 
ual bird has a whole repertory of songs at his 
command. ‘The song sparrow, who is the best 
known of the three, will repeat one melody 
perhaps a dozen times, then change it for a 
second, and in turn leave that for a third; as if 
he were singing hymns of twelve or fifteen 
stanzas each, and set each hymn to its appro- 
priate tune. It is sometning well worth listen- 
