22 2 WiDMANN, Baird's avd Lecoute's Sparro-ws. Fjulv 



there are only a dozen birds overhead, one could think there were 

 several scores of them, every one saying something pleasant. 



Now a great big bird lazily wings its short way across the 

 spatter docks and alights about two hundred yards away in the . 

 smartweeds. It is a Bittern, and for fully three minutes the 

 cautious bird never moves a muscle ; with long, out-stretched 

 neck, and with bill pointed skyward, it stands immovably erect 

 until it stoops down into the weeds and disappears. This seems 

 to be the signal for his comrade to join him, and following in the 

 same track through the air, he alights at the same spot. 



All the while, since we are here, the border of the lake, the 

 oozy region of the willows and elbow wood, has neither been 

 deserted nor neglected. When we came we found a number of 

 Savanna Sparrows, all dark-spotted birds with rich yellow 

 suffusion about the head. There are several Swamp Sparrows 

 scattered along the edge of the water, and we are treated to a 

 few fine recitations by the Song Sparrows behind the curtain. A 

 Lincoln Sparrow slips steathily through the debris at our feet and 

 a Snipe, the beauty of whose plumage can never be appreciated 

 after death, nimbly runs away a few yards, sits deliberately down 

 on the oozy ground and for a moment seems to consider the pos- 

 sibilities of escape. Having the example fresh in mind, we also 

 play the Bittern and soon have the satisfaction to see our beau- 

 tiful Longbill resume its wonted occupation until, frightened by 

 the sudden appearance of a Coot in the smartweeds near by, it 

 jumps into the air and with a nasal sound of leave darts into 

 space unknown. 



What is this, sitting in the willows in front of us ? We see its 

 back only, but this black-streaked head above a peculiarly yellow 

 neck looks very suspicious. Have we not been looking out for 

 such a distinctly marked bird for a long time ? Should it be 

 Baird's Sparrow ? What else could it be ? Look at the fawn- 

 colored rump, the plain unmarked area reaching high up ; indeed, 

 the spotted area of the upper part being more like a saddle, 

 hardly more than an inch in wddth, all the rest of the upper part 

 being a brownish-yellow of such a peculiar warm tint, that it has 

 no equal. The tail is blackish and slender. Now, how obliging ! 

 It hops to anotiier twig and presents its underparts in all their 



