36 EVERYDAY BIRDS 



commonly seen in April, more than half, perhaps 

 as many as four fifths, are members of the spar- 

 row family. There are days, indeed, when the 

 song sparrows alone seem to outnumber all other 

 birds, and other days when the same is true of 

 the snowbirds. 



The large and noble sparrow family, which 

 includes not only the sparrows, commonly so 

 called, but finches, grosbeaks, crossbills, snow- 

 birds, buntings, and the like, is represented in 

 North America by more than ninety species, and 

 in Massachusetts by about forty. It is preem- 

 inently a musical family, and, with us at least, 

 April is the best month of the twelve in which 

 to appreciate its lyrical efforts, notwithstanding 

 the fact that one of its most distinguished song- 

 sters, the rose-breasted grosbeak, is still absent. 



Among the more gifted of its April represent- 

 atives are the fox sparrow, — so named from his 

 color, — the purple finch, the song sparrow, the 

 vesper sparrow, the tree sparrow, the field spar- 

 row, and the white-throated sparrow — seven 

 common birds, every one of them deserving to 

 be known by any who care for sweet sounds. 



One of the seven, the purple finch, also called 

 the linnet, is unlike all the others, and easily 

 excels them all in the fluency and copiousness 

 of his music. He is readily distinguishable — in 



