Making New Friends 25 



part of Illinois, central and northern Iowa, the Red 

 River region in Minnesota, the country drained by the 

 upper Missouri River and its tributaries, Manitoba as 

 far north as the Saskatchewan River, and the plains and 

 bases of the foothills of eastern Colorado. Their nests 

 are built on the ground or in low bushes, and from three 

 to five eggs, of a greenish-rblue tint, flecked with cinna- 

 mon-brown, are deposited. They spend the winters in 

 southern Texas and still farther south. Only " acci- 

 dentally," as the word goes, are they known in the 

 eastern part of the United States, and for that reason 

 little has yet been written about them in popular books 

 on birds. The time will come, no doubt, when they 

 will have a well-recognized place in bird literature, just 

 as the chippie, the vesper sparrow, and the song sparrow 

 have to-day. 



In bird study it is never safe to take too much for 

 granted. One must be constantly on the alert, and, more 

 than that, one must be able to make fine distinctions 

 with both the ear and the eye. Here is a case in point. 

 For many days, while strolling about in quest of bird 

 lore, I heard a quaint little song in the bushy clumps, 

 and that, too, in some of the most out-of-the-way places. 

 "It is nothing but the house wren," I muttered to 

 myself, I know not how often. " It isn't worth while to 

 look for it when there are new birds to be found. Still, 

 it's singular," I continued, "that the house wren should 

 dwell in such secluded places. It would seem that his 

 name is a misnomer at least, in a good many instances." 



