A BIED MEDLEY 85 



spring on their way to Canada and beyond, there is 

 none I behold with so much pleasure as the white- 

 crowned sparrow. I have an eye out for him all 

 through April and the first week in May. He is 

 the rarest and most beautiful of the sparrow kind. 

 He is crowned, as some hero or victor in the games. 

 He is usually in company with his congener, the 

 white-throated sparrow, but seldom more than in 

 the proportion of one to twenty of the latter. Con- 

 trasted with this bird, he looks like its more for- 

 tunate brother, upon whom some special distinc- 

 tion has been conferred, and who is, from the egg, 

 of finer make and quality. His sparrow color of 

 ashen gray and brown is very clear and bright, and 

 his form graceful. His whole expression, however, 

 culminates in a singular manner in his crown. The 

 various tints of the bird are brought to a focus here 

 and intensified, the lighter ones becoming white, 

 and the deeper ones nearly black. There is the 

 suggestion of a crest, also, from a habit the bird has 

 of slightly elevating this part of its plumage, as if 

 to make more conspicuous its pretty markings. 

 They are great scratchers, and will often remain 

 several minutes scratching in one place, like a hen. 

 Yet, unlike the hen and like all hoppers, they scratch 

 with both feet at once, which is by no means the 

 best way to scratch. 



The white-throats often sing during their sojourn- 

 ing in both fall and spring; but only on one oc- 

 casion have I ever heard any part of the song of 

 the white-crowned, and that proceeded from what I 



