TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 299 



the first-named that it requires a professional 

 ornithologist to distinguish them. I confess I 

 have never identified it. 



I never see the yellow- wing without being re- 

 minded of a miniature meadow-lark. Its short 

 tail, its round wings, its long and strong legs 

 and feet, its short beak, its mottled coat, the 

 touch of yellow, as if he had just rubbed 

 against a newly-opened dandelion, but in this 

 case on the wings instead of on the breast, the 

 quality of its voice, and its general shape and 

 habits, all suggest a tiny edition of this large 

 emphatic walker of our meadows. 



The song of this little sparrow is like the 

 words "chick, chick-a-su-su," uttered with a 

 peculiar buzzing sound. Its nest is placed 

 upon the ground in the open field, with four or 

 five speckled eggs. The eggs are rounder and 

 their ground color whiter than the eggs of other 

 sparrows. 



I do not know whether this kind walks or 

 hops. This would be an interesting point for 

 the young observer to determine. All the 

 other sparrows known to me are hoppers, but 

 from the unusually long and strong legs of this 

 species, its short tail and erect manner, I more 

 than half suspect it is a walker. If so, this 

 adds another meadow-lark feature. 



Let the young observer follow up and iden- 

 tify any one bird, and he will be surprised to 

 find how his love and enthusiasm for birds will 

 kindle. He will not stop with the one bird. 

 Carlyle wrote in a letter to his brother, " At- 



