96 VESPER SPARROW. 



Grass-bird, or Grass Sparrow, and to others it is known as the Vesper-bird or Vesper 

 Sparrow, Bay-winged Bunting and Evening Sparrow. 



The Vesper Sparrow is one of our most valuable and important birds, breeding 

 from the Atlantic to the edge of the Great Plains, and. from Virginia, Kentucky, and 

 Missouri northward to Manitoba and Nova Scotia. In late fall or early winter it is found 

 in large numbers in the sugar plantations, and in the weedy corn and cotton fields of the 

 Southern States, w^here it subsists on the seeds of weeds and insects. From the Great 

 Plains to the Pacific a paler form, the Western Vesper Sparrow, P. gramineus con£nis 

 Baird, represents the typical species. In Wisconsin the Grass Finch is one of the most 

 plentifiil birds, surpassing in this respect even the Song and Chipping Spatrow, and 

 the same seems to hold true in New England and all the Eastern States. In the northern 

 part of the country it arrives between April 1 to April 15, usually when the w^eather is 

 a horrid mixture of sunshine, rain, snow, and w^arm breezes. 



The favorite haunts of the Vesper Sparrow^ are upland fields, pastures, timothy 

 and clover fields. In northern Illinois it frequents the high rolUng prairies, though 

 in that State it is not so conspicuous a bird as in Wisconsin, where it imparts to 

 the landscape, especially in the late afternoon, by its abundance and its exquisite song 

 an indescribable charm. The nest is invariably placed on the ground, generally "Ifi a 

 pasture, or in a timothy or clover field. It is always sunk into the ground to the level 

 of the surface, and is so artfully concealed among the grass that it is only found by 

 accident. The breeding female does not desert the nest until almost trodden upon, when 

 she will flutter off feigning lameness, so much so, that, when a boy, I supposed that I 

 had really stepped upon and severely injured her. By such adroitness she endeavors to 

 attract the attention from her home to herself, to save her, broods. - . 



"The female," writes Mr. John Burroughs, "builds a plain nest in the open field, 

 without so much as a bush or thistle or tuft of grass to protect it or to mark its site ; 

 you may step upon it or the cattle may tread it into the ground. But the danger from 

 this source, I presume, the bird considers less than that from another. Skunks and 

 foxes have a very impertinent curiosity, as Finchie well knows, — and a bank or hedge, 

 or a rank growth of thistles, that might promise protection and cover to mouse or 

 bird, these cunning rogues would be apt to explore more thoroughly." The structure 

 is built of coarse grasses and lined with the same, only finer, material. The eggs, usually 

 four, sometimes five in number, are pale greenish-white, more or less clouded and blotched 

 with chocolate-brown and with dots and scratchings of various shades of reddish and 

 rusty-brown. The average size is . SOX. 60. They are very similar to the eggs of the 

 Savanna Sparrow. Full sets may be found in Wisconsin and other northern parts of 

 the country by the middle and sometimes even early in May and early in June, and a 

 second brood is raised in July or later, and a third may even be reared in August. 



This plain-colored bird is not only one of our most exquisite choristers, but it is 

 also a very diligent songster, singing as it does from early morning to the fall of 

 twilight in the evening, but we may enjoy its liquid lay even during the months of July 

 and August, when most other birds are silent. It sings, 'however, most fervently in 

 the evening and in cloudy weather, and we have often an opportunity to hear more than 

 a dozen birds sing at the same time around xjs. Most sweetly sounds this strain during 



