212 WAKE-ROBIN 
voice is first heard. And can there be anything 
more fresh and pleasing than this first simple strain 
heard from the garden fence or a near hedge, on 
some bright, still March morning? 
The field or vesper sparrow, called also grass 
finch and bay-winged sparrow, a bird slightly 
larger than the song sparrow and of a lighter gray 
color, is abundant in all our upland fields and pas- 
tures, and is a very sweet songster. It builds upon 
the ground, without the slightest cover or protec- 
tion, and also roosts there. Walking through the 
fields at dusk, I frequently start them up almost 
beneath my feet. When disturbed by day, they fly 
with a quick, sharp movement, showing two white 
quills in the fail. The traveler along the coun- 
try roads disturbs them earthing their wings in the 
soft dry earth, or sees them skulking and flitting 
along the fences in front of him. They run in 
the furrow in advance of the team, or perch upon 
the stones a few rods off. They sing much after 
sundown, hence the aptness of the name vesper 
sparrow, which a recent writer, Wilson Flagg, has 
bestowed upon them. 
In the meadows and low, wet lands the savanna 
sparrow is met with, and may be known by its fine, 
insect-like song; in the swamp, the swamp sparrow. 
The fox sparrow, the largest and handsomest spe- 
cies of this family, comes to us in the fall, from 
the North, where it breeds. Likewise the tree or 
Canada sparrow, and the white-crowned and white- 
throated sparrows. 
