m AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



the plots were so small, so regularly arranged, 

 and so free from weeds. 



A white-crowned sparrow was nearly always 

 to be seen in the garden gathering insects and 

 grubs. Its family was securely hidden in a 

 nest under some fir trees close to the house. 

 His, or her, — for the sexes are alike, — white 

 crown with black stripes and neat slate-col- 

 ored breast contrasted well with the black 

 loam and green plants. This sparrow is cer- 

 tainly a dooryard bird. On the eastern coast 

 I always found it more plentiful about fishing- 

 villages. It often sang from the sod-covered 

 roofs of the houses and occasionally from 

 the spars of the schooners in the rocky har- 

 bors. 



On the spring migration I have seen it within 

 a few feet of the doorsteps of my house at 

 Ipswich. Its song was frequently ringing out 

 — a sad and beautful one. The syllables my 

 friend Dr. Allen and I invented on the eastern 

 coast some years before to memorize it, seemed 

 still to fit, although they give no idea of its 

 wild beauty. These syllables are, more wet, 

 wetter wet chezee. It is probable that Piashte 

 Bay is about the extreme western breeding 



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