164 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



Valley, finding shelter in piles of brush, or the edges of 

 marshes. In migration they frequent dry roadside thickets, 

 or shrubbery, where they scratch for 

 food on the ground, or fly when startled 

 into the neighboring trees. In the 

 breeding season they prefer overgrown 

 clearings, where raspberry-bushes grow 

 breast high among fallen trees, or the 

 swampy forests of balsam fir. 

 Fig. 45. White-thvoated Their song is perhaps the most no- 

 par ow ticeable sound in the northern woods, 

 and oftenest attracts the attention of a beginner ; it is 

 easily imitated by whistling, and has been variously ren- 

 dered as Old Sam Peabody, Peahody, Peabody, or Sow 

 wheat, Peeverly, Peeverly, Peeverly ; in fact it is often 

 called the Peabody-bird. The song is often attempted in 

 the fall, but is rarely clear and true at that time. Even in 

 summer it often drops on the second triplet to a flatted 

 note. The alarm-note is a brisk metallic chip ; this note 

 is also used in the dusk when the birds are settling for the 

 night. Another note is a sst similar to the lisp of the Song 

 Sparrow and the Fox Sparrow. (See following species.) 



White-crowned Spakkow. Zonotrichia leucophrys 



6.88 



Ad. — Crown black, with a broad white stripe through the centre, 

 and a white line extending back from the eye ; no yellow before the 

 eye; sides of head and back of neck brownish-gray; back, wings, 

 and tail brown ; wing-bars white ; under parts gray ; no well-marked 

 white throat-patch ; hill reddish-brown. Im. — Crown reddish-brown ; 

 stripe through centre pale grayish-brown; otherwise as in adult. 



The White-crowned Sparrow is a migrant in May, and in 

 late September and October ; rare in eastern Massachusetts 

 and in the Hudson Valley, not uncommon at times in Berk- 

 shire County and in the White Mountains. It is fond of the 



