OF VIRGINIA 235 
away for dear life. And a sweet song it is, too, reminding 
one of the warm days to come, not far off. Around the 
buildings, especially if they be located near a creek or 
river, finds a pair holding forth both winter and summer. 
It is rather a late breeder for one raising two broods, first 
settings from May 5th to June ist. Three to five eggs 
is a full set, gravish-white ground color, spotted, blotched 
or specked with brown, lavender, or reddish-brown, some- 
times so profusely as to obscure almost the entire surface. 
Size, .S0x.60. The nest is placed in some bush or rank 
growth of grass near water, from two to six inches above 
ground, a close-woven, well-made structure of grasses, 
weed stems, and lined with fine grasses and hair. Never 
will I forget my first day after these birds. It was near 
the beginning of my collecting, way back in 1890, and it 
was June 9th, I find from my data. I was working a 
small hillside bordering a short arm of a creek, and the 
day was excessively hot. The overhanging bank cut off 
any possible breeze that might have been stirring, while 
the sun beat straight down from above, for it was neariug 
one o’clock and I was faint and weary after the morning’s 
tramp. I was looking for just one more set of those 
sparrows, when, parting a medium-sized sage bush sur- 
rounded by tall grass, a large-sized hornet’s nest seemed 
to be disturbed by my presence, and emptied forth its 
inhabitants upon me. Pain, hunger, and heat had me 
stretched out under a neighboring tree for over an hour, 
if I remember rightly, the only accident of its kind I 
ever had happen to me, though I have worked many such 
places since. They are a sociable bird, and as their food 
consists chiefly of insects, larvee, and seeds (occasionally 
small grain), they must be of great benefit to agriculture. 
Thev are distributed over our whole area, breeding also 
