Cbe Marbler 85 



nothing else which ever falls upon our ear: — we hear the Veery's sweet song. 

 Once heard in such surroundings and at such hours of the day it always 

 keeps its place in the memory of the bird lover. I have found in one season 

 five nests, all on the ground and all embedded in sphagnum moss and sur- 

 rounded and sheltered by ferns and other dense plants. 



The Hermit's song is also heard now and then early in June, but as I 

 have never had an opportunity to listen to it later in the season, I am in- 

 clined to believe that all move a little farther northward. 



Another characteristic song that mingles with the sweet strain of the 

 Veery is that of the White-throated Sparrow, a very abundant species in the 

 fastnesses of the swamp. During the month of May the gardens in Milwau- 

 kee swarm with these birds. Wherever thickets of lilacs, mock oranges, up- 

 right honeysuckles, weigelias and spireas occur this exquisite songster is 

 heard. The first migrants appear late in April and the last stragglers sud- 

 denly disappear during the last days of May. I always was of the opinion 

 that their breeding range could not be far away, but I never was able to 

 detect them in the swamps around Wisconsin's metropolis. 



While entering the Sheboygan marsh on June 5, 1898, in company of 

 my friend, Mr. John A. Brandon, the sweet "ah ! te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te" fell 

 on our ears from all sides and we knew that we had discovered the southern- 

 most limit of the White-throated Sparrow's breeding range. Occasionally, 

 perhaps, the bird may be found breeding further to the south but there is 

 no doubt that it nests in numbers from this locality northward. In his 

 excellent book "Our Birds in their Haunts" — one of the most charming and 

 valuable bird books that ever have been written — Rev. J. H. Langille gives 

 the following description of the strain: 



"The charm of the song is principally in the pathos of the tones, which 

 resemble those of the song proper of the Chickadee, being an inimitably 

 tender and vibrating or tremulous whistle. There are few bird songs 

 which are so affecting to the aesthetic nature as is this simple pastoral. The 

 tenderest and most sympathetic ideas with a tinge of melancholy, find their 

 expression in these strangely characterized notes, which, as Thoreau says, 

 'are as distinct to the ear as the passage of a spark of fire shot into the dark- 

 est of the forest would be to the eye'. All such representations of this song, 

 as pea-body, pea-body, pe-a-body, or, ah I day whittling, whittling, whittling, 

 or, ah ! te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te-te, are mere caricatures, furnishing at best a rude 

 suggestion of its plaintive, tender melodiousness". 



The White-throated Sparrow represents the nobility in his family, being 

 of rather retired, quiet and aristocratic habits, never mingling with the 

 common crowd of sparrows. While singing he also shows his noble port, 

 at such occasions invariably selecting the top of a small tree or tall shrub 

 for a perch. His pure white throat immediately characterizes him. While 



