320 



THE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. 



gathering food among the brush and bushes. They may be 

 found here as a common migrant from the last week in 

 April till after the middle of May, following thickets, brier 

 patches, and swampy places; and again in September and 



PHE WHITE-THROATED SPARROW 



October, or even later. Somewhat shy, slow, and dignified 

 in their movements, uttering a soft and somewhat prolonged 

 tsecp, they are not very noticeable except to the ornitholo- 

 gist. In the autumn I have heard them utter a sharp //;;//, 

 sounding a little like the spirited alarm of the Robin. Sel- 

 dom indeed do they favor us with their song as birds of 

 passage. I have heard it, however, from some solitary male 

 perched on a stub in a thicket on a beautiful May morning. 

 In their breeding haunts, which are from Northern New 

 England far to the northward, their vejy pleasing melody 

 is quite common. 



In Great Manitoulin Island and vicinity, where I found 

 these birds abundant in the breeding season, it is one of the 

 earliest, the commonest, and certainly the most impressive 

 of bird-songs to be heard. Thoreau in the North Woods 



