A PUZZLE IN BIRDS 



migration inland. There is a very queer little fellow 

 called the Grasshopper Sparrow, so named because its 

 funny weak little song sounds more like this insect's 

 attempt than a bird's. It is a small bird, dull-colored, 

 with plain ashy-colored under-parts and is very secre- 

 tive, one of the hardest of birds to locate and observe. 

 It frequents dry fields, but might be common all about 

 one without its presence being detected, unless one 

 noticed the faint, locust-like song. A somewhat similar 

 bird, but rarer, is the Henslow's Sparrow, which, how- 

 ever, prefers moist grass land, notably springy hillsides 

 where the bush known as shrubby cinquefoil abounds. 



Last of all, in May, come those beautiful sparrow 

 migrants, the White-throated and White-crowned Spar- 

 rows, both of which nest well to the north. The latter 

 is rather rare, more's the pity, for it is a very striking 

 bird, with its conspicuously white crown-patch. It is 

 only once in a great while that I am able to see one. 

 The White-throat is much better known. The male 

 has a pronounced white bar on each side of the head, 

 and sometimes may be mistaken for the other. But 

 when one really meets the White-crown, he will know 

 it. "Pee, pee, peabody, peabody," sings the White- 

 throat in long-drawn, high-pitched piping, and thus 

 gains the name of Peabody-bird. The male sings his 

 peabody song vociferously in Maine and Canada, but 

 I have heard it all too seldom further south. 



There, now, we have gone through with every one of 

 our numerous Sparrows which we are at all likely to 



168 



