VII 



THE SONG SPARROW 



Sparrows are of many kinds, and in a gen- 

 eral way the different kinds look so much alike 

 that the beginner in bird study is apt to find 

 them confusing, if not discouraging. They will 

 try his patience, no matter how sharp and clever 

 he may think himself, and unless he is much 

 cleverer than the common run of humanity, he 

 will make a good many mistakes before he gets 

 to the end of them. 



One of the best and commonest of them all is 

 the song sparrow. His upper parts are mottled, 

 of course, since he is a sparrow. His light- 

 colored breast is sharply streaked, and in the 

 middle of it the streaks usually run together and 

 form a blotch. His outer tail-feathers are not 

 white, and there is no yellow on the wings or 

 about the head. These last points are mentioned 

 in order to distinguish him from two other spar- 

 rows with streaked breasts — the vesper sparrow 

 and the savanna. 



By the middle of March song sparrows reach 



