The Song Sparrow. 



193 



of chemical science, man may achieve a 

 position of complete independence of any 

 aid that the lower animals may be able to 

 render him. The day may possibly come 

 when man will people the earth so densely 

 that the beast must go to make room for 

 him. These are speculations only, mean- 



time it is a substantial fact, and a whole- 

 some one to meditate upon, when we meet 

 an ox or a horse in the street, that they 

 are our powerful auxiliaries in the rude 

 contest with nature, and stand between us 

 and a condition but little removed from 

 barbarism. 



THE SONG SPARROW. 



AN INVESTIGATION OF HIS LIFE HISTORY. 



WITH a view to suggesting lines of 

 investigation to those would-be 

 workers who do not go the length of styling 

 themselves ornithologists, these notes con- 

 taining the subject matter of an address re- 

 cently delivered at the Canadian Institute, 

 were put in their present shape. 



The rapid advance of ornithological 

 science in our country during the last few 

 years, and the systematic organization of 

 the great body of working ornithologists of 

 America, have had the satisfactory effect not 

 only of stimulating the interest felt in the 

 subject by that snowball process of incre- 

 ment that is a property of all knowledge, 

 but also of demonstrating clearly to the lay 

 following that all who have eyes may be of 

 use, and all who would be of great use 

 must keep their eyes in one direction. 



Now, with any one who for the first time 

 sees a new or unknown object, the three 

 questions that naturally arise are: What is 

 it ? Where did you get it ? and What is it for ? 

 /. ^., we are asked its name, native place 

 and nature; and it is the whole province of 

 each branch of zoological science to answer 

 these three questions with regard to its 

 individual subjects. Or to illustrate to the 

 point, ornithology treats of birds and is 

 supposed to supply the student, first, with 

 the name of each bird; second with infor- 

 mation about its country or habitat; third 



with information of its nature, which in- 

 cludes two very wide fields, the physical 

 and the metaphysical, or anatomy and life 

 history. The first of these questions, the 

 which ?, can be answered only by authorities 

 profoundly versed in the subject, and the 

 Check List of the American Ornithologist's 

 Union contains the united opinions of the 

 competent authorities of America. 



The second question, the where?, com- 

 prising the whole subject of geographical 

 distribution and migration, is partly an- 

 swered already with regard to most of our 

 birds. As it can be properly treated only 

 by persons who have large collections of 

 material at hand, and have given a great 

 deal of time and study to the subject, here 

 also it is better for the lay bird man to re- 

 frain from " rushing in." 



But the last question, the what?, is the 

 greatest of all. It naturally divides itself 

 into two branches, anatomy and life history. 

 With regard to the first, much the same re- 

 marks apply as in the preceding paragraph, 

 but the second, the life history, is the most 

 important, and affords the proper field for 

 those who simply love nature for her own 

 sake, and desire only to know the wild birds 

 in their wildness. " The real history of a 

 bird is its life history. The deepest interest 

 attaches to everything that reveals the little 

 mind, however feebly it may be developed, 



