302 USEFUL BIRDS. 
times as early as the latter part of March, but usually delays 
its coming until April. It frequents bushy pastures and 
worn-out fields, or dry, sandy sprout lands. On its first 
appearance it seeks the shelter afforded by a wooded or bushy 
southerly slope, and for- 
ages from the underbrush 
out into the fields. 
The song of the Field 
Sparrow is one of the 
sweetest sounds in. na- 
ture. It is a fine, clear 
strain, opening with a 
few modulated notes, and 
ending in a pensive d2- 
minuendo trill, as clear as 
the sound of a bell. It 
is a characteristic sound 
of the dry upland, when 
the still, warm June day 
sleeps upon the hills, and 
shimmering heat waves 
rise from the warm turf. 
The bird has also a series 
Fig. 183.—Field Sparrow, one-half natural of Sparrow-like chirps 
nee and twitters, but nothing 
to compare with its song, which, though varied, is usually 
the same in character in all parts of Massachusetts. Dr. 
J. A. Allen says that the song of the males in Florida is 
very different from that of the northern birds. 
The Field Sparrow is generally shyer than the Song Spar- 
row or the Chipping Sparrow, and is usually found more 
away from the farm buildings, and in the open field, pastures, 
or “scrub.” It quite often alights on trees to sing or feed. 
I have found it feeding on cankerworms, tent caterpillars, 
and the caterpillars of the brown-tail moth. It is therefore 
of some value in woodland and orchard. It is seldom seen in 
the garden except when ripe weeds are to be found; but it is 
more often found in cornfields and potato fields, and Gentry 
says that it eats cabbage worms. It is useful in the fields, 
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