Concord, Mass.
1907
April 9
(No 5)
  The figures just given probably do not represent 
anything like the total number of Fox Sparrows seen
at the cabin during the day for the birds were
continually arriving and departing or, in other words,
changing places. This fact will account no doubt for
their feeding ceaselessly through the entire day. I
should not be surprized to learn (were it possible
to get at the real facts) that the total number that
we entertained was nearer three hundred than one
hundred. Of course they ate a lot of food - fully
two pounds of seed and a pint or more of cracker
and bread crumbs.
Fox Sparrows
  As I have said the Fox Sparrows sang as
well as fed all day long with never an interval
of silence much exceeding a minute. Yet I did
not often hear more than two and never more 
than three at any one time. It is difficult to
account for this fact especially when the wide
fluctuations in the number of birds within hearing
are borne in mind. The songs of different
individuals varied in form, in tone and in
quality or merit. The best singers were those
which used the notes most characteristic of their
species. These birds were by far the most
numerous. Among the aberrant singers I heard
one which might easily have been mistaken
for a Grass Finch, another who sang very much
like a Purple Finch and a third whose final
notes were almost exactly like those of
to Towhee's song. Many of the birds sang on the ground
merely pausing for a moment between two bites at the
seeds to throw up their heard and pour out their rich notes.
Songs of the Fox Sparrow
Singing on the ground