VESPER SPARROW (Pooecetes 
gramineus and subspecies) 
Length, about 6 inches. Its white-tipped 
outer tail feathers distinguish this individual 
from its brown liveried fellows. 
Range: Breeds from southern Canada south 
to Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Kentucky, Vir- 
ginia, and North Carolina; winters from south- 
ern California, Texas, Missouri, and North 
Carolina south to the Gulf coast and southern 
Mexico. 
There is little about this brown-streaked 
sparrow to attract attention and, until it flies 
and displays the white-tipped tail feathers, you 
might mistake the bird for any one of a half 
dozen of the sparrow family. Indeed, if one 
catches merely a glimpse of a vesper sparrow 
crouched low and running swiftly through the 
grass one may be forgiven for mistaking the 
bird for a mouse. It frequents open pastures 
and when singing likes to mount a rocky 
boulder so common in New England and other 
parts of the east. We are perhaps justified in 
calling its song its most notable characteristic. 
Though not a pretentious effort, the voice of 
the vesper sparrow is sweet and plaintive be- 
yond expression, and harmonizes with the dy- 
ing day as does the song of no other bird. 
Prof. Beal records the fact that in winter 
the food of this sparrow consists wholly of 
vegetable matter, while in summer it consists 
of little else than insects. The vesper sparrow 
cares less for grass seed than any other of its 
fellows, but consumes great quantities of weed 
seeds. It eats also large numbers of grasshop- 
pers, caterpillars, and weevils. A number of 
these sparrows taken in Utah, where the newly 
imported alfalfa weevil is doing much damage, 
were found to have eaten these weevils to the 
average extent of more than half their food. 
Thus the value of this bird to the farmer can- 
not be questioned. 
BLUE GROSBEAK (Guiraca cerulea and 
subspecies) 
Length, about 7 inches. Distinguished by its 
larger size from the indigo bird which alone 
resembles it. 
Range: Breeds in the southern United States 
north to northern California, Colorado, Ne- 
braska, southern Illinois, and Maryland, and 
south to southern Mexico; winters in Mexico 
and Central America. 
One seldom sees the blue grosbeak at short 
range or under circumstances which make 
identification easy, as the bird is rather shy and 
frequents brushy thickets and viny tangles 
much as does the indigo bird. .The low warb- 
ling song of this grosbeak may be compared 
with that of the purple finch, but it is neither 
so loud nor so well sustained. Under the name 
of “blue pap,” the grosbeak used to be a fa- 
vorite cage bird in Louisiana and other South- 
ern States, and no doubt is so today, despite 
protective laws. In the matter of diet it shows 
a marked preference for insect food over vege- 
table, the proportion being about 67 to 33 per 
cent. The vegetable matter includes many 
weed seeds, as foxtail and bindweed. 
22 
CARDINAL (Cardinalis cardinalis and sub- 
species) 
Length, about 8% inches. Its size, crest, and 
bright red color serve for instant identifica- 
tion. 
Range: Southern United States generally, 
west to Texas and southern Arizona, north to 
lower Hudson, northern Ohio, northern Indi- 
ana, southern Iowa, and southeastern South 
Dakota; resident. 
The cardinal is a notable bird and any local- 
ity he chooses for his residence must be con- 
sidered highly favored. His bright colors, 
trim form, and erectile crest, his clear whis- 
tling call, and his fine song are all to his credit. 
He is a resident of thickets and tangled un- 
dergrowth with hanging vines, and, when these 
are provided and he feels safe from the prowl- 
ing cat and marauding hawk, he will take up 
his abode in your garden or back yard as read- 
ily as anywhere else. Favor him further by 
supplying him food and water in winter and 
you make him your friend indeed. Practically 
he is a resident wherever found, and the sight 
of his flashing red suit amidst snow-covered 
bushes is a memorable picture. The cardinal 
used to be a favorite cage bird in the Southern 
States, and the business of trapping him for 
market, especially about the large southern 
cities, was common. The bird is now pro- 
tected by law as it should be, and the sight of 
a cardinal behind prison bars has become rare 
indeed. How many thousands were sacrificed 
for hat gear we shall never know, but happily 
this practice too is fast disappearing. 
By preference the cardinal is a vegetarian, 
and about seven-tenths of its food consists of 
vegetable matter in the form of seeds, berries, 
etc. But it also eats many insects, potato bee- 
tles, cotton worms, boll worms, cotton-boll 
weevils, codling moths, and many other scarcely 
less noteworthy. Mr. McAtee, in attempting 
to sum up all the economic facts, declares that 
the bird does at least fifteen times as much 
good as harm, which is a record to be proud of. 
CALIFORNIA QUAIL (Lophortyx 
californica and varieties) 
Length, about 9% inches. Distinguished 
from Gambels’ quail by the reddish instead of 
black belly. : 
Range: Resident in the Pacific Coast region 
from southwestern Oregon and western Ne- 
vada through California and Lower California. 
The California quail is one of our most beau- 
tiful game birds, and the sight of a large covey 
running daintily along, with crests nodding and 
fine plumage gleaming in the sun is a sight to 
remember. Before quail were so much perse- 
cuted covies were common in the gardens of 
Oakland and other California towns, seemingly 
as much at home among calla lilies and rose 
bushes as in the stubble field. The numerous. 
families in the fall associate in bands of three 
or four hundred, or even more. The Califor- 
nia quail has learned one lesson never acquired 
by our bobwhite—to roost in trees and bushes 
instead of on the ground—and no doubt the: 
safety thus obtained during the hours of dark- 
ness is one reason for its great abundance. 
