184: VESPER SPARROW. 



swamp or thicket will do for him, but in great broad fields 



he is at home. If a roadway leads through his haunts, 



Vesper Sparrow, jo^ ^ay often see him on the ground 



Pooaaes gramineus. ahead of you, and when he flies the 



Plate XLiv. white feathers shown on either side of 



his tail will give you an excellent clew to his identity. 

 Probably he will fly on ahead a little way and alight 

 again in the roail, or a longer flight may lead him to a 

 neighboring fence or the upper branches of a more dis- 

 tant tree. It is from positions of this kind that he most 

 often sings. With him song is evidently a matter of im- 

 portance. He can not, like many l)irds, sing between the 

 mouthfuls of a meal, but ascending to his perch he gives 

 perhaps half an hour entirely to music, resting motionless 

 between the intervals of each song. 



It is impossil)le to satisfactorily' describe this song. 

 It resemhles that of the Song Sparrow, l)ut is finer and 

 wilder. It opens with one low note, followed Ijy two 

 higher ones, while the Song Sparrow begins with three 

 notes, all of the same kind. 



The Vesper Sparrow is migratory, coming to us with 

 the Field Sparrow early in April and remaining until 

 Novemljer. Its nest is placed on the ground, and the 

 bluish or pinkish white speckled eggs are laid early in 

 May. 



It is strange, is it not, that the only bird we all detest 



should also be the only one who insists on sharing our 



homes with us. The House or English 



ouse parr w, Sparrow, is a product of the times; a 



J^asser domesttci/s. r ^ r ^ 



remarkably keen-witted bird, who, like 

 a noxious weed, thrives and increases where a less hardy 

 species could not exist. 



This harsh-voiced little gamin soon detects and avoids 

 anything like a systematic attempt to entrap him, and, 

 being productive past all belief, seems likely to completely 



