THE SOOTY FOX SPARROW. 



153 



luscious salnion-l)eiry, lluslied to the wine-red of perfection, while tlnec of 

 her suitors peal in\itations to separate bowers in the neijj^hboring tangles. 

 Siie flees guiltily on detection, but the secret is out : we know now where 

 these shv wood nyni])hs keep themsel\-es in summer. 



The male bird is sometimes embnldened by the moment of song to 

 venture into the tops of willows or alders, Init even here he hugs the screen 

 of leaves and is ready in a trice to di\e 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 

 witii a motlicum 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, howeser, Fczvit, 

 hen, 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, Ouilla\ 

 utes, were showing the 

 bird-man a round of In 

 lated nesters, while 1 it- 

 was looking for opportu 

 nities to photograph eg.i;-, 

 and also recording Quil- 

 layutan bird names in 

 passing. A Rusty Song 

 Sparrow's nest held onlv 

 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 |)ride 

 T 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, "Tliat's it; 



From a Photograph Copyright, 1907, by i^ . L. Utru^un. 

 C.VKKOI.I, ISLET— SOUTH EXPOSURE. 



HF.RK THE riRST NIvST OF THE SOOTY ^OX SPARROW WAS FOUND. 



