FOX SPARROW. 175 



when he sings his sweet song wins your friendship 

 on the spot. But he has one habit that exasper- 

 ates an observer. There is a field of low bushes 

 on the north side of " Paradise," and I have chased 

 after him through it until I quite forgot that he 

 had any virtues! No sooner would I hear his 

 song, catch a glimpse of a brown back, and creep 

 up softly within opera-glass range, than lo ! there 

 he would be hopping about singing from a bush a 

 rod away ! 



Lvm. 



FOX SPARROW. 



IN the spring of 1887 the fox sparrows were 

 here for some time, coming occasionally to eat 

 buckwheat on the corn boxes with the tree spar- 

 rows and juncos. They were large, fat birds, 

 strikingly bluish-slate about the head, and rich 

 reddish-brown on the wings, lower part of back, 

 and tail. The centres of the breast markings 

 were set in an ochraceous suffusion. 



They came to the boxes much more timidly 

 than the other birds, slipping in quietly for a few 

 mouthfuls, as if afraid of being seen. But they 

 made themselves at home in the saplings on the 

 edge of the woods right back of the house, singing 

 in the sun quite fearlessly, even when I was walk- 

 ing about on the crust, staring at them through 



