70 FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA 



He was less confusingly like a song sjjar- 

 row tlian I had been prepared to find liim. 

 His general color (one of a bird's best marks 

 in life, bard as it may be to derive an exact 

 idea of it from printed descriptions), gray 

 with a greenish tinge, — a little suggestive 

 of Henslow's bunting, as it struck me, — 

 this, I thought, supposing it to be constant, 

 ought to catch the eye at a glance. Hence- 

 forth I should know what to look for, and 

 might expect better luck ; although, if this 

 particular bird's behavior was to be taken as 

 a criterion, the books had been quite within 

 the mark in emphasizing the sly and elusive 

 habit of the species, and the consequent diffi- 

 culty of prolonged and satisfactory observa- 

 tion of it. 



The Lincoln finch, or Lincoln sparrow, 

 the reader should know, is a congener of the 

 song sparrow and the swamp sparrow, a na- 

 tive mostly of the far north, and while com- 

 mon enough as a migrant in many parts of 

 the United States, is, or is generally sup- 

 posed to be, something of a rarity in the 

 Eastern States. 



Meanwhile, having beaten the brush over, 



