934 REPORT OE STATE GEOLOGIST. 



September and early October, quite a number are found until well into 

 the latter month. At Laporte, they were first noted March 20, 1894, 

 April' 2, 1896; at Sedan, March 20, 1894, April 4, 1895; Cook County, 

 111., April 5, 1886, April 14, 1895. They are usually common over 

 the greater part of the north half of Indiana by the first week in April. 

 I have observed them mating, April 8, 1882. They may be found 

 nesting through May, June and July. July 17, 1886, I took a female 

 Vesper Sparrow, containing eggs about ready to be laid. Two and 

 sometimes, perhaps, three broods are reared in a summer. 



The nest is placed upon the ground, preferably in a timothy or 

 clover field; in prairie districts, on the prairie. In September they be- 

 gin to collect in flocks, and the latter part of the month and all the 

 next they are found along the fence rows, working their way south- 

 ward. 



Prof. King found that 37, which he dissected, had eaten: 8, moths; 

 3, flies; 3, ants; 27, beetles; 4, grasshoppers; 3, snails; 8, grasshoppers' 

 eggs; 10, larvae; 31 of them had eaten various small weed seeds; 1, 

 two kernels of wheat, and 1, a kernel of rye. He estimates that fully 

 one-third of their food consists of insects and the remainder largely of 

 seeds of noxious plants (Geol. of Wis., I, p. 536). They remain, some- 

 times, as far north as our northern border until November. It has 

 been reported from Sandusky, 0., November 1, 1896; Sedan, Ind., 

 October 31, 1894; Hillsdale, Mich., November 5, 1894; Livonia, Mich., 

 October 31, 1894. 



This striped sparrow shows a white feather on each side of the tail 

 as it flies. That distinguishes it by sight as it flies before one in the 

 public highway, or the field. Its song may be heard in the morning or 

 on cloudy days, but its sweetest notes swell forth at twilight, asso- 

 ciated with the sounds of insect life, the glow of the fire-fly, the call 

 of the Whip-poor-will. This is its vesper song; hence its author is 

 known as the Vesper Sparrow. Of all the pretty things said of this 

 sweet- voiced finch, nothing, perhaps, has been said that fits the case 

 so well as that written by Mr. John Burroughs, in his charming book 

 named "Wake Robin. " From it I quote: "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 of 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 

 meadow or orchards, but in high, breezy pasture grounds, will you 

 look for him. 



