THE SPARROW TRIBE AND ITS KIN 119 



song sparrows that one must notice their heavy, roxinded 

 bills and forked tails to make sure they are not their cous- 

 ins. 



Like the goldfinches, these finches, or linnets as they are 

 sometimes called, wander about in flocks. You see them 

 in the hemlock and spruce trees feeding on the buds at the 

 tips of the branches, in the orchard pecking at the blos- 

 soms on the fruit trees, in the wheat fields with the gold- 

 finches destroying the larvae of the midge, or by the road- 

 sides cracking the seeds of weeds that are too hard to open 

 for birds less stout of bill. When it is time to nest they 

 prefer evergreen trees to all others, although orchards 

 sometimes attract them. 



A sudden outbreak of spirited, warbled song in March 

 opens the purple finch's musical season, which is almost as 

 long as the song sparrow's. Subdued nearly to a humming 

 in October, it is still a deUghtfuI reminder of the finest 

 voice possessed by any bird in the great sparrow tribe. But 

 it is when the singer is in love that the song reaches its 

 highest ecstasy. Then he springs into the air just as the 

 yellow-breasted chat, the oven-bird, and woodcock do 

 when they go a-wooing, and sings excitedly while mounting 

 fifteen or twenty feet above his mate until he drops ex- 

 hausted at her side. 



