May, 1911 
MY AVIAN VISITORS: NOTES EROIiI SOUTH DAKOTA 
95 
Snowbird which remained with them in the vicinity of the dooryard for about two 
weeks before he disappeared. 
There is something strange and interesting in this fact of the associating in 
flocks of different species of more or less closely-related birds. What do the two 
or more kinds think of one another? Ofttimes I watched this particular Snowbird 
as he hopped about among the sparrows in' search of food. To all appearances_he 
was treated as one that had been “adopted into the tribe.” 
Western Lark Sparrows {Chondestes g-rmmnacus sirig’atus) in 1904, first made 
their appearance on April 30, and became common at once. During many hours 
each day they were much in evidence about the dooryards in goodly flocks, espec- 
ially where grass or other low vegetation was to be found, and there, as in other 
regions of the country, they displayed a partiality for the immediate vicinity of 
fences, or similar structures. On cool and drizzly days they sometimes collect in 
considerable assemblages as if to seek good cheer in large numbers. At Grass 
Creek, on such a day, in June, 1905, I counted forty-six of these sparrows perched 
on a barbed-wdre fence. 
The Lark Sparrow is imposed upon very frequently by that prince of vaga- 
bonds, the Cowbird. On June 28, 1905, I found a sparrow’s nest on the' east 
slope of a steep hill, and near an elm tree at its foot. The nest contained five 
eggs, three of which belonged to the owner of it, and the other two to Cowbirds! 
On July 8, I found that the nest had been abandoned, and that there was only one 
Lark Sparrow egg remaining therein, and none whatever belonging to the Cow- 
birds. What had removed the eggs that were missing and caused the sparrows to 
desert the remaining ones, I know not. There are many mysterious disappear- 
ances continually occurring to puzzle and sadden the student of nature. 
The above mentioned nest was a very neat affair made of grass, lined with 
root-fibers, and placed in a shallow depression in the soil. A tuft of coarse grass 
bent over it from above; and another was growing on its lower, or downhill, side. 
The song of the Lark Sparrow, which may be heard throughout the spring 
and summer, is highly pleasing. The bird usually arrives from the south the first 
week in May and becomes common immediately. 
If Harris Sparrows {Zonotrichia qiieriila) ever visited my place of residence 
at Medicine Root it was never my good fortune to meet with any of them. But at 
Lake Creek, in a flat and almost treeless region, three of them, two males and a 
female, stayed about my stable for two weeks or more in late April and early May, 
1908. The ordinary call note of Harris Sparrow brings to mind the melancholy 
sound made by an unoiled hinge that supports a door or gate swinging to and fro 
in the wind. When these birds were perched on the fence-posts or buildings in 
company with a number of English Sparrows it was difficult to distinguish which 
birds were which unless one approached very near to them, as the head and throat 
markings of the two birds are somewhat similar. 
Very seldom did the Lark Bunting {Calanwspiza melauocorys) visit my door- 
yard; however, when riding over the prairies one is sure often to meet with these 
birds. In 1904 I saw two males on May 14, and a large flock, consisting of about 
equal numbers of the sexes, on May 19; from this latter date they were common. 
But marshland and meadows are their proper habitat, and to such places we must 
hie in order to find them in abundance. Along Lake Creek they appear when 
Maia, the goddess of the plains, first makes her magic influence felt, and they be- 
come common about May 11; hence' their vernal hegira in 1'904 was somewhat de- 
layed. In the hill country where the Bobolink is seldom seen the Buntings are 
often called “Bobolinks,” because of the similarity in the coloration of the breed- 
