",., Moorb, 'II" Fox Sparrou a a Songsi 17'.) 



or more long ite In thai clump, <> thai h i possible to go <>ni 

 «Li; after da} and find the lame songster and hear the ame 

 Sometimes lii ■ favorite tree i • f i ^ <• feel high and ometimes twenty 

 ordinarily it i ten, and whatever its height, it is u lually a spruce 

 iiinl 1 1 ,-ilu;i\ on the edge <>l the clump, now facing .'in inner open 

 pace, or again the outer world and other ong ter Hi - favorite 

 song-position on the tree is it tip. A point a loot below may be 

 chosen, bul never i In- lower branches and by no mean i tin- ground. 

 Tin- la i place i the region of In' i ne .t and from there no sound i 

 are issued except call-notes. These consist of two kind. quite 

 different from each other and neither mu tical. The mosl common 

 i .hi explosive aspirate, which may be indicated l>; tin- syllable 

 'chech' and is ;is loud as the 'all of tin- Hermit Thrush. The 



.second i ;i line, li igh-] )i I < ll«< I note, \\ lilrli do ely l<- <inl >lc . I lie call 



of ili«' Savannah Sparrow. The former is heard much more fre- 

 quently and in conjunction with the latter i, employed tO prole | 



n i iiitin .mu near the nest. It is to protect his treasures that, 

 lie drops to earth or else to help hi . mate in solving nest-problems, 



luit he cannot ita} there long; (he impulse towards expression is 

 loo trong and he is soon hack on his SOng-site. 



( )n I he other hand he doe , not like to sing alone and, if his first 

 three or four efforts are not ,111 .uered, he will dive back to his mate. 



In like manner, when several birds an- singing, and one suddenly 

 top, the rest become discouraged and one after another follow 

 him to earth, although they may be a long distance from each 

 other. Mown they go together and after a bustling ten minutes 

 with their mate,, almost together they return. On several occa- 

 sions I watched a single bird start a whole song-group. ( 'autiously 

 he flitted upward from limb to limb taking a minute to reach the 



top, then, when a caref ul SUTVey had convinced him of safety, the 



bill raised, the e\ e -, filmed and out across the valley rang the danc- 

 ing challenge. The last note tossed off, the bill dropped again, the 

 eyes brightened to alertness and the head cocked sidewise into 

 a li tening attitude. A minute might pass without the challenge 

 being answered, when it was sent once more ringing over the hills 

 so powerfully, that even a human might have heard it a half a 

 mile. Almost always the second challenge brought a re pon e 

 from the oppo ite hill and thereafter replj and answer hot hack 



