rows 



ACCORDING TO SEASON 



Song- at once to that strain of joyous confidence which 

 spartow } a j- er becomes so frequent. At first he hops 

 stealthily about the bushes, lisping occasional 

 sweet but hesitating notes, which we trace to their 

 source with difficulty, if at all. As time goes on 

 he gains boldness, and soon his gay little carol 

 sounds from every quarter. 



These are the days when we wait eagerly the 

 passing of the fox-sparrows. Some windy March 

 morning they are blown in upon us like an eddy- 

 ing gust of dead leaves. Then their song, the 

 most complete and musical of the year so far, "a 

 Fox-spar- richly modulated whistle," seeming more like the 

 perfect product of the mature year than the strain 

 of some passing minstrel, reaches our delighted 

 ears. For several days we watch them, plump, 

 sparrowlike birds, with rich red-brown markings, 

 scratching for seeds in the red-brown, leafless 

 thicket. But one morning we stealthily approach 

 their chosen feeding-ground, our ears alert for the 

 fresh, airy, jubilant carol which has greeted us 

 before, and all is silent. The fox-sparrows are on 

 the way to their chosen resting-place in the far 

 North. 



If one quite ignorant of birds and their ways 

 wishes to become better informed he should begin 

 his ornithological studies during this month of 

 March. In the first place, so few species are pres- 



26 



