FOX SPARROW. 



with burnt umber brown. The range of this species extends 

 from Alaska to Labrador and the islands of the Gulf of the 

 St. Lawrence; it winters from Long Island, southern New 

 York, and New Jersey to the Gulf coast. 



The song of the Fox Sparrow is one of the most appealing 

 in all the Finch family. Like that of the Field Sparrow 

 it is softly persuasive, but in addition possesses a fullness 

 and depth of tone unknown to the other bird. Not even 

 the Song Sparrow with his great variety of motives can 

 compare with his fox-colored relative in quality of voice. 

 The song is far from remarkable in melody, one is not 

 impressed by any similarity to an operatic aria, or any- 

 thing reminiscent of Chopin or Beethoven, but one must 

 listen long to the singing of birds to hear music as simple 

 and as spontaneously joyful as the unassuming perform- 

 ance of the Fox Sparrow. I think its appealing nature is 

 entirely due to vocal purity combined with a subtle Porta- 

 mento and Rallentando which always make the voice of 

 a great artist great! That essentially spiritual quality 

 cannot be written into music, it can only be sung, and the 

 manner noted, thus : 



The Italian words are not music, but they exactly express 

 the attractive method of the singer. It is plain this spar- 

 row does not trill, or warble, or dash off a dozen reiterated 

 notes in a careless rapture; on the contrary, he has plenty 

 of time and proceeds deliberately with his little group of 

 sweetly ringing, swinging tones as much as to say ''This 

 is what I think of life, it is too beautiful to celebrate in 

 crazy rag-time!" 



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