SPARROWS 321 



tail ; a size larger than the others ; the spot on breast 

 very marked. Were evidently two birds intimately 

 mixed. Did not Peabody confound them when he men- 

 tioned the mark on the breast of the tree sparrow ? r 

 The rich strain of the fox-colored sparrow, as I think 

 it is, added much to the quire. The latter solos, the 

 former in concert. I kept off a hawk by my presence. 

 These were for a long time invisible to me, except when 

 they flitted past. 



Feb. 13, 1855. One of these pigweeds in the yard 

 lasts the snowbirds all winter, and after every new 

 storm they revisit it. How inexhaustible their granary ! 



March 14, 1855. I observe the tracks of sparrows 

 leading to every little sprig of blue-curls amid the 

 other weeds which (its seemingly empty pitchers) rises 

 above the snow. There seems, however, to be a little 

 seed left in them. This, then, is reason enough why 

 these withered stems still stand, — that they may raise 

 these granaries above the snow for the use of the snow- 

 birds. 



Oct. 11, 1856. The sprout-land and stubble behind 

 the Cliffs are all alive with restless flocks of sparrows 

 of various species. I distinguish F. hyemalis, song 

 sparrow, apparently F. juncorum or maybe tree spar- 

 row, 2 and chip-birds (?). They are continually flitting 

 past and surging upward, two or more in pursuit of 

 each other, in the air, where they break like waves, 

 and pass along with a faint cheep. On the least alarm 

 many will rise from a juniper bush on to a shrub oak 



1 [Thoreau afterwards detected the breast spot of the tree sparrow.] 



2 Probably not. [Too early in the season.] 



