190 FOX SPARROW. 



thicket will come only the cozy, contented twitterings of 

 the birds wishino- one another good night. 



The interest with which one exannnes a flock of "White- 

 throated Sparrows is intensified by the probability of 

 White-crowned finding their distinguished relative the 



Sparrow, White-crown. In the Mississippi Val- 

 Zonotrichia \qj \^q jg often conimon, but in the 



eu,:op irijs. ^^\^-^^>^^^ States he is sufiieiently rare 

 to be a character of importance. 



The White-crown differs from the White-throat in 

 having no white on the throat, which, like the breast, is 

 gray, ami in having the space before the eye black in- 

 stead of yello\v or white. In the fall his crown is brown, 

 with a paler line through its center. 



Sear New York city I look for the "Wliite-crown 

 in Septemlter and October, and again about May 15. 

 Tliomps( )n descriltes its song as '' like the latter half of 

 the White-throat's familiar refrain, repeated a number 

 of times with a peculiar sad cadence and in a clear, soft 

 whistle." 



Some fine day about the middle of March you may 

 hear a song so unlike any you have ever heard, that be- 



Fox Sparrow ^*^^^ "^^ singer ceases you will know 

 fj/vA, rdia iiiam. you are on the verge of a discovery. 



I'Uitu XL\ II. rpjjg gong is loud, exceedingly sweet, 

 and varied. Its richness of tone seems to accentuate the 

 bleakness of the bird's surrouiulings. It is a song for 

 summer, not for leafless spring ; Imt heard at this sea- 

 son it seems all the more attractive, and with pleasurable 

 excitement you hasten toward the second growth, near 

 the border of which the bird is perched. His large size 

 and bright reddish l^rown upper parts readily distinguish 

 him from other Sparrows, and, in connection with his 

 spotted breast, give him a general resemblance to a Hermit 

 Thrush, for which bird he is sometimes mistaken ; but a 



