THE UNDERLYING IDEA 77 
He remembers voices quite as well as he remembers 
faces. To him music is an unending delight, and 
painting and sculpture fall into a distinctly secondary 
place. This is ear-mindedness. Now, most of the 
sparrows seem to be ear-minded, at least as far as 
their recognition of their mates are concerned. In 
this group beauty of song is developed many times 
oftener than is especial ornateness of plumage. The 
bird-lover who is himself keen of ear is never tired of 
listening, when in the field, for the two low notes with 
which the vesper sparrow introduces a song, the rest 
of which is not at all unlike the one of his song-spar- 
row cousin. The field sparrow begins more like the 
song sparrow, but ends with an often repeated note, 
which not a little resembles in general character the 
somewhat more monotonous song of the grasshopper 
sparrow or of the chippy. In comparison with these 
melodious birds the English sparrow makes no show- 
ing whatever. His voice is harsh and querulous, al- 
though very occasionally it is possible for the bird- 
lover to detect a note or two which would indicate 
that, if he were properly educated, his voice might 
amount to something. He wins his wife not by his 
pleasant voice, but by his attractive appearance and 
his winning ways. We have every right to infer 
from the character of its fellow birds of the sparrow 
family that once the female and male sparrow were 
