106 HARRIS' SPARROW. 



Everywhere in the adjacent fields and in the bushes bird life reigned supreme. Many 

 rare birds from the Saskatchewan and the region of the Red River of the North mingled 

 here with those of the central and southern part of the country. Large flocks of Field 

 Sparrows were seen in company with Pallid Sparrows. 



On the above mentioned day immense numbers of northern birds arrived, and the 

 woods swarmed with migrants from the North. White-throated and White-crowned 

 Sparrows were hopping about in the same thickets with Cardinals and Mockingbirds. 

 But of all the birds which I here saw, none attracted my attention in a higher degree 

 than Harris' Sparrows. I w^as struck with their size and beauty. I never had seen these 

 birds in south-eastern Texas or in any other part of the State. They found an ^bundant 

 supply of food in the adjoining corn and cotton-fields, where especially the spiny seeds of a 

 species of cock-spur grass (Cenchras) abounded. They were very shy and did not venture 

 to stray too far from the edges of the thickets to which they retired instantly when 

 danger threatened. In the outskirts of the woods I could observe them almost for hours, 

 but whenever I changed my position they flew without a moment's delay into the 

 thickets of the interior of the woods where evergreen bushes predominated. In their 

 ways and habits they reminded me of the White-crowned and Fox-colored Sparrows, 

 and to a certain extent also of the Towhee. They do not seem to be as gregarious as 

 many of their kin. I have rarely observed more than six to twelve in a flock. In the 

 early morning they visit with Juncos and other allied Sparrows and even Cardinals the 

 neighboring fields, and they also went in their company to the water. Among the bushes 

 and weeds of the fence comers I have frequently seen them. As soon as the day dawns 

 they are aw^ake, uttering their call-notes from all sides. At day break they fly into the 

 fields for food. In the evening they soon go to rest, seeking the most protected and 

 dense places in the thickets. On the ground they scratch much in the way of chickens, 

 but they throw the old leaves and the soil backward with both feet at the same time. 

 The Towhee, Fox-colored Sparrow, White-crowned and White-throated Sparrow scratch 

 in exactly the same manner. 



In October 1882 I found these birds in small numbers at Freistatt, Lawrence Co., 

 Mo. They were loitering in small troops in the basket vines {Symphoricarpus glome- 

 ratus) and the undergrowth of the woods and the thickets and hedge-rows, along w^ith 

 Juncos, White-throated Sparrows and Towhees, all enjoying at their ease the genial 

 climate and the beautiful autumn days of the lingering season. They w^ere observed 

 during five successive years. Arriving usually by the middle of October, they remained 

 frequently until Christmas if the weather was fair. In spring the first migrants appeared 

 again by the middle of March, and the last stragglers did not leave for the North until 

 the middle of April. 



In Texas I caught quite a number and kept them in the cage. Although very wild 

 in the beginning, they soon became reconciled to their loss of freedom. With kind treat- 

 ment they became very tame, and took grasshoppers and moths from my fingers. With 

 other inhabitants of the cage they lived in perfect peace. They always kept their plumage 

 smooth and in good order. Millet seed, caffir corn, and Canary seed were their main 

 diet. In order to give them an equivalent for their insect diet in spring and summer, 

 I added fine pieces of crated beef, grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects to their usual 



