136 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



is thoroughly at home in these groves and gives you to under- 

 stand that he is master of the big fallen oak which he has 

 chosen as his castle. Another advantage of a position on the 

 ground is that you can look up through the lace-work of twigs 

 and see clearly any passing visitor from the upper world, clearly 

 outlined against the blue sky. One day, in an hour and a half, 

 I counted one hundred birds which visited the bush under which 

 I was lying. From this it may be judged how dense the bird 

 population is, and yet we are almost unconscious of their presence 

 for the most part. They glide through the air and go through 

 the daily round of their busy life, leaving no trace, injuring 

 nothing, but doing most necessary service. Yet even their songs 

 fall on deaf ears, for most of the visitors to this land, not hearing 



the songs they are not familiar with, say there are no birds. 



Anna Head. 



BLACK^THROATED BUNTING. 



A. O- U. No. 604. (Spizai americana.) 



RANGE. 



Central portions of the United States; west to the Rocky Mts., and 

 north to the southern Canadian border. It was formerly found on the 

 Atlantic coast, but is now extremely rare east of the Alleghanies. In 

 winter they migrate south of the U. S. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, 6.75 in.; extent, 11 in.; tail, 2.5 in. Upper parts brownish 

 gray becoming greenish on the crown. Middle of back streaked with 

 black. Yellow line above the eye and another short one below from 

 the base of the bill; breast and below, and edge of wing yellow. 

 Throat white. A black crescent across the breast. Wing coverts rich 

 chestnut. Female with the yellow paler, the black throat patch re- 

 placed by a few streaks, and the feathers of the shoulder only edged 

 with chestnut. A remarkably smooth plumaged, and harmoniously 

 colored bird. 



HABITS OF THE BLACK-THROATED BUNTING, BY GLEN M. HATHORNE. 



A favorite resort of mine in early summer is a large meadow, through 

 which runs a little brook, fed by water from a boggy pond, and on 

 either side of which grow a large number of cat-tails and long marsh 

 grass. The meadow is covered with clover and a variety of wild 

 flowers, with here and there a thistle, raising it's head above its fel- 

 lows as if it were a sentinel on guard against any lurking foes. A lit- 

 tle to the north of the pond is a thicket of deciduous shrubs, and fur- 

 ther on a heavy oak timber. Taken all together it forms an ideal place 

 for bird life. 



While strolling across the meadow one day late in June, I came up- 



