96 THE Ottawa NATURALIST. [July 
least some water and a few bushes near by, but is also found in 
city lots and gardens. 
When passing through large meadows or pastures, you may 
often hear a subdued, penetrating high wiry song, something like 
plsip, ptsip, ptsip zee-ce-ce-e-e-e (Blanchan). The bird uttering it will 
be seen on a tall grass or weed stem. That is the SAVANNA SPAR- 
Row. It is streaked above and below like the Song Sparrow, but 
has not the blotch on the breast; besides, it has yellow above the 
eye and on the bend of the wing. 
Like the Song Sparrow in shape and size is also the Swamp 
SPARROW, Melospiza georgiana. It frequents marshy places in 
meadows and woods, and is the darkest of our Sparrows, having 
darker brown and more black above, no streaks on the gray 
below. Its song is: J/ellellellell, etc. 
When walking through lanes and fields, a sparrow-like bird will 
be seen to mount the fences or stumps, which, when flying away, 
exhibits ¢wo outer tail feathers of pure white. This is the 
VESPER SPARROW or Bay-winged Bunting, Poocetes gramineus. 
It is probably our least pretty Sparrow, gray all over, streaked 
with brown and black, wing near the bend rich brown. Its 
song, breathing the dreamy repose of the summer meadow, is not 
so jubilant as that of the Song Sparrow, but still pleasing, thus: 
Dee dee ree-deree deree dee dee, etc, or, chewee, chewee, chewee, 
teera leera, leera lee, which, though insignificant in itself, when 
sung as the bird’s vesper song, late in the quiet summer evening, 
iS inspiring. 
Another member of the Finch family exhibiting the two outer 
white tail feathers in flight and having the song of the Swamp 
Sparrow, is the well known JUNCO or SNOWBIRD, /unco hiemalis. 
It is slaty bluish black, brownish in the females, which together 
with the whitish bill and white in the tail and the jerky flight near 
thickets, makes its identification easy. 
A very pretty bird is the WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, Zonotrz- 
chia albicollis. More noticeable by its sweet song than by its 
bodily appearance, it is rich chestnut, streaked with black above, 
grayish below, throat white. From the pine and spruce woods 
and thickets, can be heard its sweet, somewhat plaintive whistle 
of from one long drawn out note to as many as ten. Some hear 
