298 TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 



a yellowish line over the eye. It is by no 

 means a common bird, though there are proba- 

 bly few farms in the Middle and Eastern States 

 upon which one could not be found. It is one 

 of the birds to be looked for. Ordinary ob- 

 servers do not see it or hear it. 



It is small, shy, in every way inconspicu- 

 ous. Its song is more like that of an insect 

 than that of any other of our birds. If you 

 hear in the fields in May and June a fine, 

 stridulous song like that of a big grasshopper, 

 it probably proceeds from this bird. Move in 

 the direction of it and you will see the little 

 brown bird flit a few yards before you. For 

 several mornings lately I have heard and seen 

 one on a dry, gravelly hillock in a field. Each 

 time he has been near the path where I walk. 

 Unless your ear is on the alert you will miss 

 his song. Amid the other bird songs of May 

 heard afield it is like a tiny, obscure plant amid 

 tall, rank growths. The bird affords a capital 

 subject for the country boy, or town boy, either, 

 when he goes to the country, to exercise his 

 powers of observation upon. If he finds this 

 bird he will find a good many other interesting 

 things. He may find the savannah sparrow 

 also, which closely resembles the bird he is 

 looking for. It is a trifle larger, has more bay 

 about the wings, and is more common toward 

 the coast. Its yellow markings are nearly the 

 same. There is also a variety of the yellow- 

 winged sparrow called Henslow's yellow-winged 

 sparrow, but it bears so close a resemblance to 



