other bird music I am acquainted with except that of the White-crowned Sparrow, to 

 which it bears close resemblance, though instantly distinguishable by a musical ear. 

 The "White-crown's song is louder, shorter, and, to my taste, finer, consisting only of 

 six notes, while the more prolonged and yaried strain of this bird is made up of about 

 ten to twelve notes. It is sometimes marred by several harsh sounds. Yet it is a pecu- 

 liar whistling strain of great beauty and charm, well adapted to brighten the beauty 

 of such a time as we experience to-day (May 9, 1894). The melody commences with a 

 long syllable, clear and high, loud and reverberating, the second rising still higher ; then 

 the others follow in a quicker tempo and with a falling cadence. There are excellent 

 and poor singers among the White-throats as among other birds. The song can be 

 easily imitated. Probably it can be best described by the following syllables pee-a'dee- 

 de, a'dee-de, a'dee-de, or, as Mr. Ridgway gives it, pc-pe-pe'body, pe'body, pe'body. 

 Though a pleasant strain and a sweet accompaniment to the beautiful days of May, I 

 am inclined to suppose that it is not the full love song which is heard in its summer 

 haunts, the beautiful evergreen woods of northern Wisconsin and northward. During 

 warm weather we may listen to this exquisite song throughout the month. In the 

 resident part of the city it is heard from all directions. These Sparrows are not molested 

 so much by the bad boy and the street urchin as thd brighter colored birds like the 

 Baltimore Oriole, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, the Indigo Bunting, the Goldfinch, the 

 Woodpecker and, especially that 'flame in feathers,' the Scarlet Tanager. They are 

 mistaken for the common House Sparrow and are left alone. The first arrivals are old 

 males, very probably such that pass on to the most northern regions of their habitat. 

 The females and young males of those breeding in the northern part of our own State 

 linger until the last days of May, when they are off for their breeding grounds, leaving 

 not a single straggler. They disappear as suddenly as they arrived, and none are 

 observed again until the bright and balmy days of the Indian summer. They visit 

 our gardens at the fall migration in smaller numbers, and they are also perfectly 

 quiet; at this time I never have heard their notes. They do not linger so long as 

 in spring. Evidently they procure almost all their food from the ground, where 

 they scratch in the same way as the White-crowned and Fox-colored Sparrow and the 

 Towhee." 



I can fully confirm these observations of my contributor, as I have seen them in 

 large numbers in her garden, w^hich seems to be the gathering place for many birds 

 during migrations, especially in spring. 



They arrive about the same time as the White-crowns and the Juncos, being not 

 as numerous as the last, but much more abundant than the first. Moreover this species 

 is more common in the East than in the West. In southern Wisconsin and northern 

 Illinois they usually arrive in fall during the first dayis of October, remaining generally 

 until the 20th or 25th. In south-western Missouri they make their appearance about 

 October 10, remaining well into November. In all parts of Texas and Louisiana they 

 winter abundantly. In southern Louisiana a shameless slaughter of our small song- 

 birds is going on throughout every winter. In the French Market of New Orleans we 

 notice dead Juncos, Towhees, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, Thrashers, 

 Thrushes, Robins, Warblers, etc., by the thousand. We learn from Audubon that even 



