158 SONG SPARROW. 



There are good and poor singers among the Song Sparrows. Those arriving first in 

 spring, are northern birds, and are the most exquisite performers ; those breeding with us 

 are not quite as gifted songsters. Even the same bird changes in power and beauty of 

 its voice as the season advances, the first song heard being the most inspiring and beau- 

 tiful. The celebrated ornithologist, Thomas Nuttall, dwells with much force upon the beauty 

 and earnestness of expression of song of the Song Sparrow.. "When he first arrives," 

 says Mr. Nuttall, "while the weather is yet doubtful and unsettled, the strain appears 

 contemplative, and often delivered in a peculiar low and tender whisper, which when 

 hearkened to for some time, will be found more than usually melodious, seeming as a 

 sort of reverie, or innate hope of improving seasons, which are recalled with a gwateful, 

 calm and tender delight. At the approach of winter, this vocal thrill, sounding like an 

 Orphean farewell to the scene and season, is still more exquisite, and softened by the 

 sadness which seems to breathe almost with sentiment, from a decaying and now silent 

 face of Nature. Our songster, never remarkable for sprightliness, as the spring advances^ 

 delivers his lay louder and more earnestly. He usually begins with a tsh'-tsh^-tsbe-te- 

 tshete-tschete, and blends in a good deal of quivering notes. Individuals also excel, and 

 vary their song firom time to time with very agreeable effect; and it is only because 

 our familiar vocalist is so constantly heard and seen, that so little value is set upon 

 his agreeable, cheerful, and faithful performance." 



The Song Sparrow is one of our most useful birds, feeding almost entirely on in- 

 jurious insects during spring and summer. Large numbers of small eater-pillars are- 

 carried to the young. They are frequently feeding upon cabbage worms and moths. 

 Rose-bugs, cut-worms, and all kinds of beetles they are continuously searching for. 

 In the fall and winter they largely subsist on seeds of grasses and weeds. Near Buflalo 

 Bayou, and later near the West Yegua and Alum Creeks in Texas, I met them every 

 winter in large flocks, usually in company with many other Sparrows. During the day 

 they visited the dense grasses and weeds in cotton, corn, and sugar-cane fields, retiring 

 in the evening to the dense thickets in the bottom lands. Near Spring Creek they roosted 

 with other birds in the low branches of trees densely festooned with Spanish moss 

 (Tillandsia usneoides), which afforded them shelter during cold nights, besides protecting 

 them against all kinds of enemies. When I passed the borders of the woods during the 

 night, large swarms of birds were flushed from these moss roosts. The upper branches 

 were usually occupied by flocks of Robins and Cedarbirds, while the Sparrows had taken 

 possession of the lower ones. They leave south-eastern Texas early in March, and I have 

 never noticed them after the 10th of that month in the places where my observations were 

 carried on. In south-western Missouri, where they winter rather sparingly, they inhabit 

 from November to the middle of March the moist bushy valleys and dense ravines. In 

 their winter-quarters they are exceedingly shy, rarely approaching, human habitations. 

 In southern Louisiana they are often met with near the dense hedges of Cherokee roses, 

 retreating during the night into these evergreen roses, which are covered all over with 

 formidable spines. 



The Song Sparrow has many enemies. In gardens many nests are destroyed by 

 strolling cats, and many young and old Song Sparrows are killed by them. Cats 

 should never be tolerated in garden or field. They do more harm to our familiar 



