962 



KEPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



song. Its song comes with the blooming of the violet, innocence and 

 the Virginia cowslip. John Burroughs says: "Its song is like the 

 words, fe-o, fe-o, fe-o, few, few, few, fee, fee, fee, uttered at first 

 high and leisurely, but running very rapidly toward the close, which 

 is low and soft." The song continues practically through the sum- 

 mer. Some singers drop out, but many are still singing the first of 

 August, and not a few a week or two later. August 10, 1897, I 



Field Sparrow. 

 (Beal. Farmers' Bulletin, 54. United States Department of Agriculture, p. 27.) 



heard several singing as well as they did in April. September 14, I 

 found one trying his best to sound the notes, but his effort was very 

 imperfect. 



I have observed them mating as early as March 20 (1897). They 

 are usually found nesting in May, June and sometimes July. Earliest 

 nests noted at Brookville, May 7, 1883, May 11, 1881. Two or three 

 broods are reared. August 28, 1896, I found a nest and eggs near 

 Brookville. I have referred to their food habits under the last spe- 

 cies. Prof. F. H. King, in addition, notes that 7 he examined ate 

 a caterpillar, 2 grasshoppers, a heteropterous insect, a harvestman, a 

 spider; 4 had eaten small weed seeds (Greol. of Wis., I., p. 539). 



