regard to the soil and grows best in sandy or 

 rocky woods. 



A VISIT FROM CANADA SPARROWS. 



THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



BY JULIA M. HOOPER, WEST BRIDGEWATER, MASS. 



I was much interested, last winter, by a flock 

 of Canada sparrows who sojourned for some 

 weeks on my grounds. The winter having been 

 so mild and free from snow, I had no sparrow 

 visitants until March came in with a snowfall of 

 greater quantity than all of the few snows that 

 we had during the winter months; then, seeing 

 a few little brown-coated stragglers, I scattered 

 some corn meal on the snow, and soon had a 

 large flock of Canada sparrows before my win- 

 dow. 



It is singular how much this sparrow resem- 

 bles the hair bird in colors and markings, while 

 in its manners, habits and voice, it is a very dif- 

 ferent bird; it has the same chestnut crown and 

 slate colored breast, tho' of a softer and lighter 

 shade, and bordered on the sides by buff. When 

 sitting on a limb above me in the sunlight, the 

 whole breast has appeared a huffish- drab, and 

 there is always the dark spot in the centre of it. 

 The upper part is in stripes of dark brown and 

 light yellowish-brown, with small whitish cur- 

 ved lines on the lower part of the wing. He 

 is a plumper and more sprightly bird than chip- 

 py, though only a winter visitant. And then 

 how great the difference in voice and style of 

 song — it is superior to that of the song sparrow 

 while chippy can only make a noise among the 

 rest. Yet his trill has a cherry, contented sound. 



The usual note of the Canada sparrows while 

 gathered about their meal, was " tee de, tee de," 

 in clear, silvery tones. I suppose theSe spar- 

 rows are not expected to sing outside of the 

 national lines and nesting season, but one of my 

 temporary flock was, one day, so transported 

 by his feelings that he gave me a regular song. 

 He had eaten a hearty breakfast, probably half 

 a dozen of them, and retired into the river hedge. 

 The sun had come out brightly; it was warm 

 and pleasant; and as I stood in the doorway, 

 there rang out upon the still air, an animated 

 strain that I had never heard before — a perfect 

 song. The tone was very clear and melodious, 

 and there was one especially beautiful quiver- 

 ing note. 



Early in the morning, when taking their first 

 meal, there would be twenty or thirty of them 

 closely gathered around a han jful of meal, eat- 

 ing rapidly and peacefully; but after being well 

 filled and leaving for half an hour, they would 

 return, frequently, in smaller numbers to peck 

 at the food leisurely, and then they grew quar- 

 relsome, constantly driving each other off. 

 Sometimes one would take entire possession of 

 the meal patch. 



There was one song sparrow who usually fed 

 with them, and drove one away from her vicin- 

 ity, but was never driven off herself. Half a 

 dozjn English sparrows joined the crowd, and 

 they, too, drove away the Canada sparrows; but 

 between the song sparrow and each English 

 sparrow it seemed to be a case of Greek meet 

 Greek, for they let each other alone. On Other 

 occasions, when there were a dozjn or more 

 song sparrows and only three or four English 

 sparrows, the song sparrows drove off the Eng- 

 lish, so 1 concluded that in these two species 

 numbers give courage, tho' it fails to do so in 

 the Canada sparrow. 



My visitors left me early in April and song 

 sparrows became more numerous; one had 

 began to sing on February 25th, but the snow- 

 storm silenced it for a while. I had a very 

 interesting sparrow family in a ground nest on 

 the sunny slope of a terrace, beside a board 

 walk along the side of the house. For six 

 weeks I watched these birds — the nest-build- 

 ing, the eggs, the fledglings, the coming out, and 

 the lingering about the nest for some weeks 

 after leaving it — and saw seme interesting and 

 amusing incidents, which are related in the 

 Forest and Stream of September 11, 1890. 



The crow is nobody's fool. " Live and learn" 

 is his motto; and he does both but especially the 

 former, in a way to excite the admiration of all 

 disinterested observers. * * * He has an 

 unfeigned respect for agriculture, and in fact 

 may be said himself to have set up as a gentle- 

 man-farmer, letting out his hind on shares and 

 seldom failing to get his full half of the crop; 

 and, like the shrewd farmer he is, he insures 

 himself against drouth and other mischances 

 by taking his moiety early in the season. — Tor- 

 rey. 



