A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GKASS 235 



making its way eastward, having been found as far 

 east as Long Island. I was daily on the lookout 

 for it, but saw none till I was about leaving this part 

 of the State. Near old Governor Shelby's place in 

 Boyle County, as we were driving along the road, my 

 eye caught a grayish brown bird like the skylark, 

 but with a much more broad and beautifully marked 

 tail. It suggested both a lark and a sparrow, and 

 I knew at once it was the lark finch I had been 

 looking for. It alighted on some low object in a 

 plowed field, and with a glass I had a good view 

 of it — a very elegant, distinguished-appearing bird 

 for one clad in the sparrow suit, the tail large and 

 dark, with white markings on the outer web of the 

 quills. Much as I wanted to hear his voice, he 

 would not sing, and it was not till I reached Adams 

 County, Illinois, that I saw another one and heard 

 the song. Driving about the country here — which, 

 by the way, reminded me more of the blue-grass 

 region than anything I saw outside of Kentucky — • 

 with a friend, I was again on the lookout for the 

 new bird, but had begun to think it was not a resi- 

 dent, when I espied one on the fence by the road- 

 side. It failed to sing, but farther on we saw an- 

 other one which alighted upon a fruit-tree near us. 

 We paused to look and to listen, when instantly it 

 struck up and gave us a good sample of its musical 

 ability. It was both a lark and a sparrow song; or, 

 rather, the notes of a sparrow uttered in the contin- 

 uous and rapid manner of the skylark, — a pleasing 

 performance, but not meriting the praise I had heard 

 bestowed upon it. 



