16 WAKE-KOBIN 



places, avoiding all show of concealment, coming 

 from the tangled and almost impenetrable parts of 

 the forest to the clean, open woods, where she can 

 command all the approaches and fly with equal ease 

 in any direction. 



Another favorite sparrow, but little noticed, is 

 the wood or bush sparrow, usually called by the 

 ornithologists Spizella pusilla. Its size and form 

 is that of the socialis, but is less distinctly marked, 

 being of a duller redder tinge. He prefers remote 

 bushy heathery fields, where his song is one of the 

 sweetest to be heard. It is sometimes very notice- 

 able, especially early in spring. I remember sit- 

 ting one bright day in the still leafless April woods, 

 when one of these birds struck up a few rods from 

 me, repeating its lay at short intervals for nearly 

 an hour. It was a perfect piece of wood-music, 

 and was of course all the more noticeable for being 

 projected upon such a broad unoccupied page of 

 silence. Its song is like the words, fe-o, fe-o, fe-o t 

 few, few, few, fee fee fee, uttered at first high and 

 leisurely, but running very rapidly toward the close, 

 which is low and soft. 



Still keeping among the unrecognized, the white- 

 eyed vireo, or flycatcher, deserves particular men- 

 tion. The song of this bird is not particularly 

 sweet and soft; on the contrary, it is a little hard 

 and shrill, like that of the indigo- bird or oriole; but 

 for brightness, volubility, execution, and power of 

 imitation, he is unsurpassed by any of our northern 

 birds. His ordinary note is forcible and emphatic, 



