BIRDS OF KANSAS. 455 



Iris brown; bill bright reddish brown, tips usually dusky; 

 legs and feet pale reddish brown; claws dark brown. 



This handsome species inhabits the hedges and edges of 

 thickets. They are usually found in small flocks, and, while 

 they cannot be properly classed with the terrestial birds, spend 

 the greater portion of their time on the ground, in search of 

 small seeds, berries and insect life. When not so employed, 

 rest and hop about in the bushes and the lower branches of the 

 trees, seldom perching high. In the winter months they fre- 

 quent the low grounds where there is a dense growth of bushes, 

 rank grass and weeds. They are not, as a rule, timid or wild, 

 neither appearing to seek or shun the presence of man. The 

 following interesting description of their song and nesting habits, 

 by Mr. T. M. Trippe, is taken from Dr. Cones' "Birds of the 

 Northwest:" 



"This Sparrow appears in the lower valleys ef Clear Creek 

 county, Colorado, in the first or second week of May, and soon 

 becomes very abundant, frequenting the shrubby banks of the 

 streams, and occasionally venturing some distance upon the hill- 

 sides, but, as a rule, keeping close to the brooks and creeks. 

 As the snow disappears, it ascends higher and higher, reaching 

 timber line by the middle of June, and going up to the extreme 

 limit of the willows and junipers, being nowhere more abund- 

 ant than in those dense thickets that shut the upper edge of the 

 timber. By far the greater number pass the breeding season 

 there, but a few nest lower down, as far as 8, 500 feet, below 

 which it does not occur during summer. In habits, during the 

 breeding season, it resembles the Song Sparrow, seeking its food 

 in the grass and among the dry leaves in the thickets. It sings 

 constantly during June and July, and occasionally in August, 

 mounting to the top of some high bush, the dead limb of a pine, 

 or any convenient perch, well elevated above the surrounding 

 shrubbery, and chanting its ditty, at short intervals, for half an 

 hour or more at a time a lively, agreeable song, fine and clear, 

 and frequently heard from a score or more birds at once, with 

 a most pleasing effect. While his mate is sitting, the male 

 sings almost constantly throughout the day, and sometimes even 



