OF NEW ENGLAND. 205 



numbers at their feeding-grounds ; but gradually many leave 

 us to pass the summer in a more northern country, and others 

 begin to build their nests here. During the breeding-season 

 they occupy the neighborhood of these nests, the various situ- 

 ations- of which have already been mentioned. In many locali- 

 ties, other than those in which I have made my own observa- 

 tions, such as the fields and pasture-lands of the interior, and 

 those of New Hampshire or Maine, they perhaps pass the 

 spring as they do the summer, in those fields and their imme- 

 diate surroundings. In such places they are probably in the 

 former season less common and less gregarious than ;n the ' 

 country previously described. As they raise two or three . 

 broods every year, it is not until August (or a little earlier) 

 that they are freed from their household cares. Like several 

 other birds, they divide the labors of rearing their young, and 

 the males, while their mates rear one brood, often build the 

 nest for another, and are busied until summer is well advanced. 

 Later in the } 7 ear they collect at their feeding-grounds, but not 

 so abundantly as in the spring, since the fall-migrations of this 

 species extend through a greater length of time than the oth- 

 ers. During the former the Song Sparrows are most common 

 throughout a part of September and October, and associate 

 with various other finches, rather preferring, at this season, dry 

 grounds to the swamps. It is impossible, however, to exactly 

 define the nature of the places in which they may then be 

 usually found. After the middle of October, they appear and 

 disappear until only those are left who pass the winter with 

 us. At all times of the year, except during the mating-season, 

 they are rather shy, and, when startled, almost invariably dive 

 into some near brush-heap or thicket, where they are well 

 concealed. They commonly prefer the neighborhood of the 

 ground, running quite nimbly on it, but much more often perch 

 in trees, even at a considerable height, than is commonly sup- 

 posed. They have a gently undulating flight, flying low and 

 never very far. 



In summer they are to be found throughout a greater part 

 of northern North America, even so far to the southward as 



