WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 



241 



tions he wears dark brown, while on the sands of the 

 extreme south border he is ahnost clay-color. But the 

 habits and song remain unchanged. Thoreau declares 

 the Massachusetts maidens hear him say, " Maids, maids, 

 maids, hang on your tea-kettle, tea-kettle, ettle-ettle," 

 and this is exactly the advice he 

 gives to campers in the sierras 

 when the first rays of the sun 

 strike the tops of the 

 pine trees. Day lias be- 

 gun for bird and bird- 

 lover. Then if you rise 

 quickly and steal down 

 to the edge of a moun- 

 tain brook you may catch 

 him at his bath. What- 

 ever the locality or the 

 subspecies, do not ex- 

 pect to see him at any 

 great distance from 

 water, for he is an in- 

 veterate splasher. I 

 have seen him dip into 

 a puddle whose edges 

 were crusted with ice 

 and apparently enjoy it as well as a bath in the heat 

 of a July day. 



When alarmed, his first impulse is to dart downward 

 into the friendly shelter of bushes, pumping his expres- 

 sive tail vigorously as he flies. But in rising from the 



' 16 



581a. Dbseet Song Sparrow. 



" In rain or shine, he is t?ie same jolly 

 /ellow.^* 



