BIRDS OF INDIANA. 935 



"His song is most noticeable after sundown, when other birds are 

 silent, for which reason he has been aptly called the Vesper Sparrow. 

 The farmer, following his team from the field at dusk, catches his 

 sweetest strain. His song is not so brisk and varied as that of the 

 Song Sparrow, being softer and milder, sweeter and more plaintive. 

 Add the best parts of the lay of the latter to the sweet, vibrating 

 chant of the Woods Sparrow (Spizella pusilla), and you have the even- 

 ing hymn of the Vesper bird, the poet of the plain, unadorned pas- 

 tures. Go to those broad, smooth, n plying fields, where the cattle 

 and sheep are grazing, and sit down on one of the warm, clean stones, 

 and listen to his song. On every side, near and remote, from out the 

 short grass which the herds are cropping, the strain rises. Two or 

 three long, silver notes of rest and peace, ending in some subdued 

 trills and quavers, constitute each separate song. Often you will 

 catch only one of the bars, the breeze having blown the minor part 

 away. Some unambitious, unconscious melody! It is one of the most 

 characteristic sounds of Nature. The grass, the stones, the stubble, 

 the furrow, the quiet herds, and the warm twilight among the hills, 

 are all subtlely expressed in song. This is what they are, at least, 

 capable of." 



The song period usually ends near the first of July, though some- 

 times it may be heard well toward the 1st of August. I heard the last 

 song June 25, 1897. 



127. GENUS PASSER BRISSON. 



209. ( ) Passer domesticus (LINN.). 



European House Sparrow. 

 Synonym, ENGLISH SPARROW. 



Adult Male. Above, chestnut brown, back streaked with black; 

 crown, nape and rump, ashy; line back of nostrils, lores and throat, 

 black; remaining lower parts, grayish; chestnut-brown stripe from be- 

 hind the eye to the back; wing, edged with brown; cheek, sides of neck 

 and bar across the wing, white. Female. Lacking the black on head 

 and neck; lower parts and cheeks, ashy; breast and abdomen, tinged 

 with reddish; head and rump, grayish; back, streaked with black; 

 stripe over the eye, and wing bar, ochraceous. 



Length, 6.00; wing, 2.85; tail, 2.50. 



EANGE. Almost all Europe, western Asia; introduced into North 

 America, Australia and other countries. Now occupying the eastern 

 United States and southern Canada, and extending west to Colorado, 

 and Utah. Not so numerous in Southern States. 



