BIRDS OF THE WEST 



sparrow song I was sure. I stood in silence for a while fearing 

 to take a chance of missing it by intrusion. Presently I glanced 

 before me and there sat a beautiful fox sparrow. We looked 

 each other over, stared deep into each other's eyes. If he thought 

 as well of me as I did of him, he has been thinking of me almost 

 ever since. He was the singer of the wonderful song. 



Just a little sparrow ! I wonder where he is to-night while the 

 snowy blizzard is raging. Poor little minstrel! Tucked away in 

 the hole of a fence post? Perhaps he turned his back upon the 

 storm and on swift wing is riding on its breast to southern sunny 

 fields. Perhaps bewildered and blinded he has crushed his little 

 life out against the tower of some tall building, or lies with broken 

 wing beneath a network of wires. 



"There have been souls, 



Children of heavenly song 



That have been stayed in their wild dreamy flight 



And fallen unseen, unknown 



As silently 



In the dark night. 



Yet someone pities them 



And someone loves 



Them for the simple tribute that they bring 



To Him who marketh 



E'en the sparrow's fall 



On broken wing." 



He is less sociable than most of the social sparrow family, 

 yet he was in company with a flock of tree sparrows at the time I 

 saw him. I fear that you think ill of the sparrows because you 

 are so familiar with the little gamin of the streets but he is 

 quite alone in his unpopularity, as other members of his family 

 are entirely respectable. 



I wanted to see the little fox sparrow get down upon the 

 ground and scratch for he doesn't do it as other birds do with first 

 one foot and then the other but he digs in with both at once, 

 really gets there with both feet. 



He is called also the foxy finch, not that he possesses any un- 

 usual shrewdness but just because he is the color of the red fox. 

 As a fact, I judge from the meek expression of his face that he 



