130 



SHARP EYES 



song may suddenly cease, while a tiny brown bird flut- 

 ters out close by, and skimming over the grass tips, 

 disappears yonder among the herbage, whither the grass- 

 hopper seems to have suddenly flown unseen, for the 

 buzzing song is now heard again from the immediate 

 neighborhood of the bird. A few lessons like this will 

 soon fix the mimic's song in our minds, and enable us 

 to detect it even amid the meadow din, for although 

 a most excellent imitation, it has still a peculiar bird 

 quality which soon distinguishes it from the 

 wing music of the "high-elbowed g*rigs " in 

 the grass, especially if we learn to identify 



their individual 



<* ' i' /'>*<' I./*-* 



songs. 



This little bird 

 ventriloquist has 

 doubtless hood- 

 winked many a ru- 

 ral naturalist who 

 thought he knew 

 all the August bird- 

 songs, so few and far 

 between. 



We should not let 

 another August pass 

 without settling our 

 score with the little 

 fellow which the or- 

 nithologists have 

 named the "yellow-winged 

 sparrow." He is about the 

 size of the " chippy bird," and 

 the "yellow wing " is rather misleading 



