190 VIRGINIA 



whatever falls in our way. Before I could 

 get to the wall, however, the bird rose, along 

 with two or three Britishers, and perched 

 before me in a thorn-bush. Then I saw at 

 a glance that it must be a lark sparrow 

 (^Chondestes). With those magnificent 

 headstripes it could hardly be anything else. 

 What a prince it looked ! — a prince in most 

 ignoble company. It \Vould have held its 

 rank even among white-crowns, of which it 

 made me think not only by its head-mark- 

 ings, but by its general color and — what 

 was perhaps only the same thing — a certain 

 cleanness of aspect. Presently it flew back 

 to the field out of which I had frightened it ; 

 and there in the short grass it continued 

 feeding for a long half -hour, while I stood, 

 glass in hand, ogling it, and making penciled 

 notes of its plumage, point by point, for 

 comparison with Dr. Coues's description 

 after I should return to the inn. I was al- 

 most directly under the windows of a house, 

 — of a Sunday afternoon, — but that did 

 not matter. Two or three carriages passed 

 along the street, but I let them go. A 

 new bird is a new bird. And it must be 

 admitted that neither the occupants of the 



