FINCHES. * 227 



them," for one rarely sees them, because of their shyness. 

 If I remember rightly, it is about the first of August that 

 they almost cease to sing ; and, as autumn approaches, they 

 show less attachment to their summer haunts. It is in Sep- 

 tember that they again make their appearance in Massachu- 

 setts, and, from the middle of that month until the latter 

 part of October, they are tolerably common, though a little 

 irregularly so. In the autumn their habits are much the 

 same as in the spring, but they are rather less gregarious. I 

 have seen a solitary individual so late as the fourteenth of 

 November, and I have, moreover, occasionally heard these 

 birds sing during their fall migrations. 



d. The ordinary note of the White-throated Sparrows is 

 a rather feeble '■'■tseep" much like that of the Fox-colored 

 Sparrows, and indeed of pther birds. Their song is sweet, 

 clear, and exquisitely delicate, consisting of whistled notes, 

 which have been likened to the words, — "Old Sam Pea- 

 body, peabody, peabody, peabody."^* This song is often 

 somewhat varied ; and, again, snatches or parts of it are some- 

 times sung. It is more often whistled in the morning and at 

 evening than any other times of the day, and it may some- 

 times be heard at night. How often have I listened to its 

 almost plaintive tones in the stillness and cool of the New 

 Hampshire woods, and how charmed have I been to hear it 

 sung at night, as one may sometimes hear it in the summer 

 homes of these attractive birds ! 



B. LEUCOPHETS. White-CTowned Sparrow. A generally 

 rare migrant through New England, breeding in the north.* 



89 It usually begins -with a note out. Of late years — perhapa because 



pitched at about D on the piano, fol- we have learned just when and where 



lowed by one higher, which is succeeded to look for them — these beautiful 



by several triplets (2-5), each of which Sparrows appear to -visit the region 



is pitched a little lower than the preoed- about Boston in greater numbers than 



ing. It is sometimes prefaced by a few formerly. They are never really com- 



low twitters. mon, but a good observer may often 



* A spring and autumn m^ant, not meet with three or four in a day and 



uncommon during some seasons, espe- upwards of a dozen in a single season. 



ciaUy in the White Mountains and in — W. B. 

 western Massachusetts and Conneoti- 



