XIX 



TITLARKS, THRASHERS, AND WRENS 



AMERICAN PIPIT; TITLARK 



Oct. 26, 1853. I hear a faint twittering of the spar- 

 rows in the grass, like crickets. Those flitting spar- 

 rows * which we have had for some weeks, are they not 

 the sober snowbirds (tree sparrows ?)? They fly in a 

 great drifting flock, wheeling and dashing about, as if 

 preluding or acting a snow-storm, with rapid te te te. 

 They are as dry and rustling as the grass. 



Nov. 6, 1853. It is remarkable how little we attend 

 to what is passing before us constantly, unless our gen- 

 ius directs our attention that way. There are these 

 little sparrows with white in tail, perhaps the prevailing 

 bird of late, which have flitted before me so many falls 

 and springs, 2 and yet they have been as it were stran- 

 gers to me, and I have not inquired whence they came 

 or whither they were going, or what their habits were. 

 It is surprising how little most of us are contented to 

 know about the sparrows which drift about in the air 

 before us just before the first snows. I hear the downy 

 woodpecker's metallic tchip or peep. Now I see where 

 many a bird builded last spring or summer. These are 

 leaves which do not fall. 



1 [From other entries in the Journal it is evident that these " spar- 

 rows " which Thoreau saw in large flocks in the fall were titlarks.] 



a [Though common in the autumn, the titlark is rare in the spring in 

 New England. Thoreau was probahly only taking it for granted that 

 he had often seen these birds in the spring.] 



