14 WAKE-ROBIN 



Notwithstanding the disparity in size and color, 

 the black- billed species has certain peculiarities that 

 remind one of the passenger pigeon. His eye, with 

 its red circle, the shape of his head, and his 

 motions on alighting and taking flight, quickly sug- 

 gest the resemblance; though in grace and speed, 

 when on the wing, he is far inferior. His tail 

 seems disproportionately long, like that of the red 

 thrush, and his flight among the trees is very still, 

 contrasting strongly with the honest clatter of the 

 robin or pigeon. 



Have you heard the song of the field sparrow ? 

 If you have lived in a pastoral country with broad 

 upland pastures, you could hardly have missed 

 him. Wilson, I believe, calls him the grass finch, 

 and was evidently unacquainted with his powers of 

 song. The two white lateral quills in his tail, and 

 his habit of running and skulking a few yards in 

 advance of you as you walk through the fields, are 

 sufficient to identify him. Not in meadows or 

 orchards, but in high, breezy pasture-grounds, will 

 you look for him. His song is most noticeable 

 after sundown, when other birds are silent; for 

 which reason he has been aptly called the vesper 

 sparrow. The farmer following his team from the 

 field at dusk catches his sweetest strain. His song 

 is not so brisk and varied as that of the song spar- 

 row, being softer and wilder, sweeter and more 

 plaintive. Add the best parts of the lay of the 

 latter to the sweet vibrating chant of the wood 

 sparrow, and you have the evening hymn of the 



