94 OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



are difficult for the beginner to distinguish, being 

 all of the same general Sparrow type, with 

 broad, conical Finch-like beaks, soft round heads, 

 and pleasant ways. 



SONG SPAKBOW 



One snowy day in March a stranger came to 

 feed among the Juncos and Wrens on their din- 

 ner of crumbs, sunflower seeds, and cracked nuts, 

 for which we had swept bare a rock in the back 

 yard. We recognized the Song Sparrow "on 

 whose throat Music hath set her triple-fingered 

 mark," as Dr. Van Dyke says of him. Afterward 

 we heard his thanksong from the top of a near- 

 by pine, a delicious melody, varied and brilliant 

 as that of a canary. A group of us stood listen- 

 ing for a time in the doorway, on tiptoe not to 

 miss a note; then we hunted out the passage in 

 Thoreau's wonderful Walden which begins, "The 

 first sparrow of spring! The year beginning 

 with younger hope than ever!" and read it aloud 

 with an appreciation none of us had ever felt 

 before. Thus richly does nature reward us for 

 a little friendliness, "inasmuch as we have done 

 it unto one of the least of these." 



The Song Sparrow in all its variations is the 

 most generally distributed and the best known 

 of our native sparrows. It is a vivacious neigh- 

 bor like the Chippy, at home in fields, hedges, 



