40 BIRD-SONGS, 



conservative brethren) is the field sparrow, bet- 

 ter known as Spizella pusilla. His usual song 

 consists of a simple line of notes, beginning lei- 

 surely, but growing shorter and more rapid to 

 the close. The voice is so smooth and sweet, 

 and the acceleration so well managed, that, al- 

 though the whole is commonly a strict mono- 

 tone, the effect is not in the least monotonous. 

 This song I once heard rendered in reverse or- 

 der, with a result so strange that I did not sus- 

 pect the identity of the author till I had crept 

 up within sight of him. Another of these spar- 

 rows, who has passed the last two seasons in 

 my neighborhood, habitually doubles the meas- 

 ure ; going through it in the usual way, and 

 then, just as you expect him to conclude, catch- 

 ing it up again, Da capo. 



But birds like these are quite outdone by 

 such species as the song sparrow, the white- 

 eyed vireo, and the Western meadow-lark, 

 species of which we may say that each individ- 

 ual bird has a whole repertory of songs at his 

 command. The song sparrow, who is the best 

 known of the three, will repeat one melody 

 perhaps a dozen times, then change it for a 

 second, and in turn leave that for a third ; as if 

 he were singing hymns of twelve or fifteen 

 stanzas each, and set each hymn to its appro- 

 priate tune. It is something well worth listen- 



