THE VESPER SPARROW. 



55 



presence until he disengages himself from the engulfing grays of the stalk- 

 strewn ground or dusty roadside and mounts a fence-rail to rhyme the coming 

 or the parting day. 



The arrival of Vesper Sparrow in middle early spring may mark the 

 supreme effort of that particular warm wave, but you are quite content to 

 await the further travail of the season while you get acquainted with this 

 amiable newcomer. Under the compulsion of sun and rain the sodden fields 

 have been trying to muster a decent green to hide the ugliness of winter's 

 devastation. But wherefore ! The air is lonely and the fence rows untenanted. 

 The Meadow Larks, to be sure, have been romping about for several weeks 



NEST AND EGGS OF VESPER SPARROW. 



and getting bolder every day, but they are boistrous fellows, drunk with air 

 and mad with sunshine; the winter-sharpened ears wait hungrily for the 

 poet of common day. The morning he comes a low, sweet murmur of praise 

 is heard on every side. You know it will ascend unceasingly thenceforth, and 

 spring is different. 



Vesper Sparrow is the typical ground bird. He eats, runs, sleeps, and 

 rears his family upon the ground; but to sing Ah! that is different! 



