in his time these birds were slaughtered in immense numbers in Louisiana. In Texas 

 they are not much moksted except by Negroes. 



Wherever the White-throated Sparrows occur in fall and winter and in spring, they 

 are always found in or near thickets, hedge-rows, in the underwood of forest lands, in 

 gardens well planted with ornamental shrubs, etc. In Houston, Tex., they find protec- 

 tion during cold weather in magnolias, loquat trees, pittosporums, gardenias, red cedars, 

 and even in the tangled masses of evergreen Japanese honey-suckles and roses on piazzas 

 and verandas. "They frequent, on the whole," says Dr. Elliott Coues, "different places 

 in the spring and fall. At the former season, they enter the woods in large numbers, 

 less closely associating than during the fall, and ramble over the ground, doubtless in 

 search of insects, the last year's supply of seeds being in a great measure exhausted. 

 In autumn, they ai'e found principally trooping together in shrubbery, along hedge-rows, 

 the brier-patches of old fields, and similar resorts, where the seeds they like are plenty. 

 Audubon's account of their manners at this season is too faithful and vivid to ever 

 grow out of date : 



" 'How it comes and how it departs are quite unknown to me. I can only say 

 that, all of a sudden, the edges of the fields bordering on creeks or swampy places, and 

 overgrown with different species of vines, sumac bushes, briers, and the taller kinds of 

 grasses, appear covered with these birds. They form groups, sometimes containing from 

 thirty to fifty individuals, and live together in harmony. They are constantly moving 

 up and down among these recesses, with frequent jerkings of the tail, and uttering a 

 note common to the tribe. From the hedges and thickets they issue one by one, in quick 

 succession, and ramble to the distance of eight or ten yards, hopping and scratching, in 

 quest of small seeds, and preserving the utmost silence. When the least noise is heard, 

 or alarm given, and frequently as I thought, without any alarm at all, they all fly back 

 to their covert, pushing directly into the thickest part of it. A moment elapses, when 

 they become reassured, and, ascending to the highest branches and twigs, open a little 

 concert, which, although of short duration, is extremely sweet. There is much plaintive 

 softness in their note, which I wish, kind reader, I could describe to you; but this is 

 impossible, although it is yet ringing in my ear, as if I were in those very fields where 

 I have so often listened to it with delight. No sooner is their music over than they 

 return to the field, and thus continue alternately sallying forth and retreating during 

 the greater part of the day. At the approach of night they utter a sharper and shriller 

 note, consisting of a single twit, repeated in smart succession by the whole group, and 

 continuing until the first hooting of some owl frightens them into silence. Yet, often 

 during fine nights, I have heard the little creatures emit, here and there a twit, as if to 

 assure each other that all's well.' 



"The musical abilities of this pretty Sparrow, to which Audubon so feelingly 

 alludes, are of a high order, though the song is rather notable for its limpid sweetness 

 than for power of brilliancy. An attempt is made to express the sound in the name 

 commonly given to the species, in some sections, 'Peabody-bird.' It seems to say, 

 pee-a'-body, a'body, a'body, a'body, beginning clear, high, and loud, with prolonging 

 of the first syllable ; then rising still higher and shortly accenting the second note ; then 

 trilling the remainder with a falling inflexion and decreasing volume ; this latter part 



