The White -Throated Sparrow 175 



'Twas a White-throated Sparrow, that sped a light arrow 



Of song from his musical quiver, 

 And it pierced with its spell every valley and dell 

 On the banks of the Runaway river. 

 "Oh, sing! sing-away! sing-away!" 

 The song of the wild singer had 

 The sound of a soul that is glad. 



— Lucy Larcom. 



It is rather easy to whistle an imitation of the Whitethroat's notes, and so 

 much curiosity does the bird possess that often it will come from a distance at 

 the call, and chirp and look and crane its neck with the liveliest interest. There 

 are comparatively few birds that will do this. The Bob- White will come if 

 called by an expert, and in spring or summer most anyone can gather a num- 

 ber of small birds around him in the woods by merely sucking the back of 

 the hand, thus making a squeaking noise. In this case the birds show evidence 

 of alarm and concern, for such a sound is a fair imitation of a baby bird in 

 distress. 



The White-throated Sparrow is quite a handsome bird. With the excep- 

 tion of the Fox Sparrow, bird-students would perhaps vote it the handsomest 

 species of the eastern states. It is six and three-quarters inches long, which 

 is one and a quarter inches longer than the Chipping Sparrow, but this does 

 not well represent the relative sizes of the two birds, as the Chipping Spar- 

 row is much more slender in proportion to its length than is our Peabody 

 Bird. 



The nest is usually built on or near the ground. It is made of grasses, grape- 

 vine stems, and other materials of similar character. The lining is usually of 

 fine grasses, although at times feathers, deer-hair, or rabbit-fur is used as a 

 soft bed for the eggs. These range from four to five in number. The pale 

 green ground-color is thickly marbled with various shades of chocolate and 

 brown. 



