MELOSPIZA FASCIATA : SONG SPARROW. 257 



It may, however, be not so generally understood that 

 the Song Sparrow resides all the year round in a large 

 part of the country at least from Massachusetts south- 

 ward, and probably throughout the Alleghanian Fauna. 

 It is extremely abundant in early spring and late fall 

 months, becoming less numerous in the depth of win- 

 ter, which it passes in the most secluded places, where 

 the density of the cover protects it from the full rigor 

 of the blasts. One of the most cheerful and persever- 

 ing of songsters, as it is, this Sparrow often tunes its 

 quivering pipe to the most dreary surroundings, the 

 brief but hearty stave being one of the few snatches 

 of bird-melody ever woven with " a winter's tale " in 

 Puritanic stress of weather. I have sometimes fancied 

 that our extremely orthodox forefathers must have had 

 grave doubts about this bird if they ever thought of 

 anything so comfortable it is such a happy, hearty, 

 natural creature, that it must be very wicked, and ripe 

 for a future, if any, in the place where they make red- 

 hot cobblestones of the skulls of godless birds and 

 babies. But being neither Puritanic nor Satanic your 

 choice for a penny nor in any way troubled with 

 doctrines that damn humanity and diabolize the Deity, 

 the Song Sparrow flushes with music as soon as winter 

 relaxes in the least, finding full voice in March, when 

 those who have worried through the cold greet the 

 new arrivals from the South, and all together fill a 

 chorus to which the shrubbery resounds unceasingly, 

 till some sharp wind comes along to remind the birds 

 that time is fleeting, though their art be never so long. 

 But the storm must repeat its warnings to dampen 

 even an ardor that is never entirely quenched ; for 

 passion lingers long in breasts that have once felt the 

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