THE SOOTY FOX SPARROW. a “153 
luscious salmon-berry, flushed to the wine-red of perfection, while three of 
her suitors peal invitations to separate bowers in the neighboring tangles. 
She flees guiltily on detection, but the secret is out; we know now where 
these shy wood nymphs keep themselves in summer. 
The male bird is sometimes emboldened by the moment of song to 
venture into the tops of willows or alders, but even here he hugs the screen 
of leaves and is ready in a trice to dive into the more familiar element of 
bushes. Once under cover of the protecting salal, or among the crowding 
ferns, the Fox Sparrows are excelled by none in their ability to get about 
with a modicum of disturbance; and the longest journeys, such as are made 
necessary in the time of clamoring young, appear to be made by slipping 
and sliding thru the maze of intersecting stems. The song is varied and 
vivacious; but, save for the opening notes, is neither very strong nor very 
brilliant. The opening 
phrase, however, Pewtt, 
heu, comes as a tiny 
bugle call into which is 
distilled the essence of all 
dank hollows, of all rus- 
tling leaves, of all mur- 
muring tides, and of all 
free-blowing breezes. It 
is the authentic voice of 
the little wild. 
On a July day a trio 
of Indian boys, Quillay- 
utes, were showing the 
bird-man a round of be- 
lated nesters, while he 
was looking for opportu- 
nities to photograph eggs, 
and also recording Quil- 
layutan bird names in 
passing. A Rusty Song 
Sparrow’s nest held only 
weanlings, mildly hideous, 
and the leader, a lad of ten, expressed regret that he could not show me the 
nest of another kind of Song Sparrow. With excess of Caucasian pride 
I assured him that there was only one species of Song Sparrow to be found 
locally, but my learned statements drew forth only puzzled and unconvicted 
glances. Some days later when I had taken a set of Sooty Fox Sparrow’s 
eggs from a neighboring islet, the boys clamored in triumph, “That's it; 
From a Photograph: Copyright, 1907, by W. L. Dawson. 
CARROLL ISLET—SOUTH EXPOSURE. 
WHERE THE FIRST NEST OF THE SOOTY FOX SPARROW WAS FOUND. 
