BIRD PORTRAITS 



THE SONG SPARROW 



After a severe winter, while snow and ice still remind us of 

 the past, the Song Sparrow, mounting to the top of some bush or 

 small tree, repeats his cheerful tinkling song, "helping," as Thoreau 

 says, "to crack the ice" in the ponds. Few people are so unobserv- 

 ant as not to notice this bright strain, after the silence of winter. 

 A peculiarity of the song is the amount of variation shown by 

 different individuals and often by the same bird. At almost regular 

 distances along the bushy roadside, or over the hedge-intersected 

 fields, one will meet on the early spring mornings one Song 

 Sparrow after another, each restricted to his part of the road or 

 field. If one notices the songs of each, it is evident that, though 

 the songs have the same general character, there are almost as 

 many ways of beginning a strain as there are singers. Moreover, 

 the same bird has been observed to alter his song in a short space of 

 time to two or three different variations. Probably, if one's ear were 

 acute enough, all birds of one species would be found to sing with 

 slight differences, but few show in so marked a degree as the Song 

 Sparrow the tendency to variation which characterizes a species. 



In early April, the Song Sparrow builds a nest of grass, either 

 on the ground beneath a tuft of grass, or under some brambles, or 

 less frequently a few feet above the ground, in a bush or on the 

 lower limbs of a tree. In the latter situation, twigs are of course 

 necessary for the support of the structure. Here again the bird 

 shows a tendency to vary in its habits. The eggs are from four 



