THE SONG SPARROW 29 



plane of a woodpile, and passed through a fence 

 and across a vegetable garden into an asparagus 

 bed, in which miniature forest the little traveler 

 received and ate the moth. 



" Another nest was built on the bank of a 

 brook on the farther side of a road. Out of 

 this nest I saw two little fellows coaxed with 

 these snow-white moths, and led across the dusty 

 road into a hedge." 



One or two experiences of this kind are suffi- 

 cient reward for a good deal of patient obser- 

 vation. The singer of this pair of birds, my 

 correspondent says, had ten distinct songs, one 

 of them exceedingly beautiful and peculiar. 



The song sparrow's nest is usually built on 

 the ground, and the bird is one of several kinds 

 that are known indiscriminately by country 

 people as ground sparrows. 



Song sparrows seem to be of a pretty nervous 

 disposition, to judge from their behavior. One 

 of their noticeable characteristics is a twitching, 

 up-and-down, " pumping " motion of the tail, as 

 they dash into cover on being disturbed. 



People who live in the Southern States see 

 these birds only in the cooler part of the year, 

 but must have abundant opportunity to hear 

 them sing as spring approaches. 



