2 Bird Portraits 



to five in number, greenish white, thickly marked with shades of 

 brown, lavender, or purple. Sometimes an egg is found in the 

 nest much larger than the others; this has been laid by the lazy 

 Cowbird. As the large egg receives most warmth and hatches first, 

 the young Cowbird soon crowds out the rightful occupants of the 

 nest, and the parent Song Sparrows will be seen later, working 

 busily to feed a great homely youngster as large as themselves, who 

 will afterwards go off to join a flock of his own kind. Probably 

 every Cowbird has been reared at the expense of a brood of some 

 small bird, Sparrow, Warbler, or Vireo. 



In June, the young Song Sparrows are able to take care of 

 themselves, and the energetic parents build another nest and rear 

 another brood. The brooding time is the chief period of song, so 

 that birds that breed twice sing later in the summer than others. 

 The Song Sparrow's little strain may be heard well into August; 

 but toward the end of that month we hear from the cornfields and 

 gardens a curious, husky warble, unlike the bright spring carol of 

 the Song Sparrow, but nevertheless made by that bird. In the fall, 

 and even during the winter, a warm bright day will occasionally 

 induce a Song Sparrow to sing his lively spring song, so that 

 where the Song Sparrow winters, the strain may be heard every 

 month of the year. 



In the late summer and fall, the neglected corners of gardens 

 and fields, where the seeds of weeds and grasses offer an abundance 

 of food, are the favorite resort of the sparrows. The Song Sparrow 

 may be distinguished from most of its relatives by its streaked 

 breast, in the middle of which the spots generally form a conspicuous 

 blotch, and by its long tail, which it constantly jerks as it flies. 

 The Song Sparrow is very retiring, and when alarmed, slips into 

 brush heaps or bushes, where it hides as skillfully as a mouse. 



