White-throated Sparrow 
367 
is fairly upon them. Many of the Whitethroats do not depart until 
November, and, in fact, numerous flocks remain all winter as far north 
as New Jersey and Ohio. Some, indeed, are often seen throughout the 
winter at places even north of this region. In suitable localities all over 
the South as far as the Gulf of Mexico they pass the colder months. 
Here they thrive and grow fat and sometimes are killed and eaten. 
Audubon describes at length the method employed by people in Louisi- 
ana to secure the birds in the early part of the last century. They were 
killed by blowing sharp sticks tipped with squirrel fur through a hollow 
reed ; in short, these hunters used blow-guns much like those employed 
today by Indians in the jungles of South America 
and elsewhere. Today the laws of all the East- 
ern States protect the Whitethroat, and its enemies 
are now mainly the Screech Owl, to a less extent the Sparrow and Sharp- 
shinned Hawks, but most of all vagrant house-cats. 
By the middle of November the majority of these Sparrows have 
departed from the latitude of New York, and will not be seen there again 
until March or early April. From then until the dogwoods are in full 
flower these birds are about, and may be seen if one will only take the 
time to tramp about the country until they are found. They begin to 
arrive in Canada early in May and soon all over the eastern part of the 
Dominion, where forests or woodland abound, the Whitethroats are to 
be seen. In the summer they occur as far west as Alberta, and are said 
to be very common in the central part of that Province. 
A Novel 
Weapon 
'The Sing-Away Bird. 
Have you ever heard of the Sing-away Bird, 
That sings where the Runaway River 
Runs down with its rills from the bald-headed hills 
That stand in the sunshine and shiver? 
“Oh, sing! sing-away! sing-away!” 
How the pines and the birches are stirred 
By the trill of the Sing-away Bird ! 
’T was a White-throated Sparrow, that sped a light arrow 
Of song from his musical quiver. 
And it pierced with its spell every valley and dell 
On the banks of the Runaway River. 
“Oh, sing! sing-away! sing-away!” 
The song of the wild singer had 
The sound of a soul that is glad. 
— Lucy Larcom. 
Of all the many members of the Sparrow family found in North 
America no species is better known for its song than this one. In the 
evergreen forests of the North its clear, beautiful whistle is one of the 
most characteristic sounds of the region, and it strikes the ear with a 
