APPENDIX. 155 



WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. Contin. 



we may go so far as to say with Mr. Tally that there is in 

 bird music " clearly an adumbration of the simpler forms 

 of rhythm." 



See Index, Beckler (note). See also Index, Cuckoo; also Hermit 

 Thrush, where the song is reported as suggesting the "opening of a 

 grand overture." 



Fox-colored Sparrow. (See p. 44.) 

 Mr. Torrey finds a " thrush-like " quality in the song of 

 the fox- sparrow ; more, however, of the cardinal grosbeak. 

 (A happy report of a song contest between a fox-sparrow 

 and a song-sparrow is to be found in his " Birds in the 

 Bush," pp. 219-220.) Mr. Burroughs speaks briefly but 

 decidedly: 



" It is a strong, richly modulated whistle, the finest sparrow note I 

 have ever heard." Burroughs, J. : Wake-robin, p. 163. 



"During their stay in the United States these birds keep in small 

 distinctive flocks, never mingling, though often in the same places, with 

 other species. They are found in the edge of thickets and in moist woods. 

 They are usually silent, and only occasionally utter a call-note, low and 

 soft. In the spring the male becomes quite musical, and is one of our 

 sweetest and most remarkable singers. His voice is loud, clear, and 

 melodious ; his notes full, rich, and varied ; and his song is unequalled by 

 any of this family that I have ever heard." Baird, Brewer, and 

 Ridgway : North Am. Birds. Land-Birds, vol. ii. p. 52. 



Chewink. (See p. 45.) 



Mr. Torrey, too, finds the chewink " taking liberties with 

 his score " : " He carries the matter so far that sometimes 

 it seems almost as if he suspected the proximity of some 

 self-conceited ornithologist, and were determined, if pos- 

 sible, to make a fool of him " (In his Birds in the Bush, 

 p. 39). 



