LARK SPARROW. 101 



and Bewick's Wrens, while the Lark Sparrow occupies the place of the Song Sparrow. 

 In the gardens of the post-oak region it is exceedingly abundant, and is also found in 

 large numbers on the edges of the woods, on the prairies, and in corn and cotton fields. 

 It is a much livelier bird than the Song Sparrow, and is also quicker in its motions and 

 finer in its plumage. Loud and melodious, energetic and merry sounds the song of this 

 familiar bird from the fence posts, the bushes, and trees. In the next moment, after 

 finishing his song, he raises the feathers of the crown, and wildly and in evident excite- 

 ment chases the female in circular flights over the ground, spreading at the same time 

 his tail in a fan-like manner, the outer feathers of which are broadly tipped and 

 bordered with w^hite, characterizing him at once even to the novice. 



I found the Lark Sparrow exceedingly numerous in all parts of Texas, and from 

 Houston to New Braunfels. On Spring Creek Prairie (Rose Hill), in Harris Co., Texas, 

 a favorite field of observation of mine, I had the first opportunity of observing it closely. 

 There the isolated trees as well as those of the margins of the woods, especially the 

 beautiful laurel oaks, were densely draped w^ith festoons of Spanish moss. Mockingbirds, 

 Cardinals, Blue Grosbeaks, Painted Buntings, Orchard Orioles, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, 

 Blue Jays, Shrikes, Sycamore an'd Parula Warblers, Acadian Flycatchers and Lark 

 Sparrows were very numerous on the borders of these woods, all preferring to hide their 

 nests on horizontal branches densely draped with Spanish moss. Thus situated it was 

 almost an impossibility to find a nest, and I never succeeded here in discovering one of 

 the Lark Sparrow. These pretty and mirthful birds could be observed in great abund- 

 ance on the borders of the woods and on the adjoining prairie, and their gushing and 

 sprightly music fell on my ear wherever I chanced to go. In this locality as well as 

 all around Houston the Lark Sparrows were very wild and suspicious, avoiding the 

 society of man almost entirely. At Freistatt, Lawrence Co., Mo., w^here I resided from 

 1882 to 1887, this bird was also a very common summer sojourner, but here also it 

 was very shy, always shunning the immediate neighborhood of man. 



In south-eastern Texas and w^estward the Lark Sparrow makes its appearance 

 early in April'; in the Ozark region of Missouri it rarely arrives before the third 

 week of the same month, while in northern Illinois it seldom appears before May 5. 

 Although occurring occasionally as far north as Minnesota, Dakota, and even Manitoba, 

 it is a rare bird in southern Wisconsin, being generally unknown to the most ardent 

 friend of Nature. In northern Illinois it is nowhere conspicuous among the avi-fauna. It 

 leaves south-western Missouri early in September, and by the middle of October 

 almost all have departed from south-eastern Texas for their winter-quarters. The bird is 

 mainly distributed over the Mississippi valley, east to Ohio, west to the Great Plains, 

 south to Louisiana and eastern Texas. In western Texas and west of the Great Plains 

 to the Pacific the species is replaced by a variety, the Western L.\rk Sparrow, Chon- 

 destes grammacus strigatas Ridgw., a form which is particularly common in California. 



After the birds have arrived from the South in Texas, they attract our atten- 

 tion wherever we meet them. At this time the males are full of that rivalry which 

 the love season inspires. They are now in small companies, and as soon as the 

 females make their appearance a few days later, many a fierce battle is fought among 

 the extremely pugnacious males. In jealous contest they chase each other through 



