34 EVERYDAY BIRDS 



simple line of pure melody, one may say. You 

 must hear it for yourself. Sometimes the bird 

 gives it out double, so to speak, catching it up 

 again just as he seems ready to finish. The tone 

 is the clearest of whistles, and the whole effect is 

 most delightful and soothing. It is worth any- 

 body's while to spend a season or two in bird 

 study, if only to learn this and half a dozen more 

 pieces of our common wild-bird music. 



The field sparrow's times of arrival and depar- 

 ture are practically the same as the chipper' s. 

 Neither bird is hard to see, or very hard to dis- 

 tinguish ; a bit of patience and an opera-glass 

 will do the business ; though you may have to 

 puzzle awhile over either of them before making 

 quite sure of your knowledge. In bird study, as 

 in any other, we learn by correcting our own 

 mistakes. 



