black with a buffy line through its center; back of 

 neck brownish, spotted with black; bend of wing 

 yellow; whitish wing-bar; tail short, its feathers 

 pointed. 



A timid little gray sparrow of the open fields; 

 the song is a fine, grasshopper-like trill ; and the 

 bird in singing often selects a post of the fence, 

 from which, as you approach, he flies away low on 

 fast-beating little wings. 



554. White-crowned Sparrow — Zonotrichia 

 leucophrys leucophrys. 



Length 6% inches. 



Center of crown distinctly white, bordered on the 

 sides with black; no white before the eye; a white 

 line from over eye extending backward ; back 

 grayish brown, margined gray ; two distinct white 

 wing bars; forward underparts, including throat, 

 grayish; but the belly white, flanks and under tail- 

 coverts buffy. 



Seen in spring and fall; one of the less common 

 sparrows; resembles the following species, with 

 which it sometimes associates in thickets and among 

 the bushes, along wayside fences. The pure white 

 crown and uniformly gray throat and breast are 

 the best field-marks of the White-crown. 



558. White-throated Sparrow — Zonotrichia 

 •albicollis. 



Length 6)4 inches. 



Resembles number 554 (which see), but has the 

 throat white, a yellow line in front of eye, center 

 of crown with a narrow white stripe, bordered on 

 either side by much wider black stripes; flanks and 

 under tail-coverts tinged with grayish brown. 



Chiefly seen in spring and fall, nests in the 

 Adirondacks. Its song is simple but remarkable, 

 one of the common and most striking wood-notes, 

 especially in its summer home in the mountains; it 

 suggests to some ears (tho not to the present writ- 

 er's) the word peahody, with certain variations, 



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