Song of the White-crowned Sparrow ( Zonotrichici leucopkrys ). — -A 
recent study of captive White-crowned Sparrows tends to show that the 
female sings a simple copy of the male’s usually exquisite strain. Of 
four females that have come under my notice since the fall of 1897, three 
have sung in the manner described, while the exceptional one was a 
bungler that never wholly succeeded in getting the song just right. 
This bird, captured October 7, 1897, and released July 26, 1898, was in 
song from October 20 to December 10, 1897, and again during March, 
April, May and June of the following year. 
Early in October, 1898, when White-crowns were perhaps a hundred 
strong in a nearby weedy potato field, I secured five specimens, two 
adults and three immatures. One of the adults, recognized as a female, 
was presently set free ; the other, a doubtful subject, on being referred to 
a tame male of 1897, was immediately identified by him as one of the 
opposite sex. She was quiet and orderly, — uncommonly so, — hence was 
reserved for future study. 
Of the young trio one turned out to be a female, and although very 
wild at first, eventually, without coaxing, became tame and confiding. In 
the fall of 1898 she sang but little and only on occasions when ‘fighting 
mad.’ Both females sang intermittently in March and April and daily 
during May, 1899. 
The young males sang diligently from the middle of October to the 
second week of July, when moulting set in. In March the juvenile style 
of singing gradually gave way to the adult form. But from the com- 
mencement, when angry and defiant, these youngsters always sang in 
the manner of the adult bird. This strain is not limited to five or six 
not-es, but ranges, according to my observations, from four to fourteen, 
not including a twittered prelude which ofttimes introduces the song 
proper. 
At first my captives were confined in cages, but latterly have had the 
freedom of a room where they can fly about and bathe at pleasure. A 
soap box partly filled with sweepings from the hayloft affords them 
plenty of leg exercise, but unfortunately is also the cause of many a sel- 
fish quarrel. In order that my birds keep in good health, I have always 
studied to vary their fare. Besides canary and millet seed, they receive 
ants’ eggs, Mockingbird food, berries, meal worms, etc. If no other live 
food is offered, they will even accept small earthworms. In winter the 
little fat grubs and ‘ worms ’ found in goldenrod galls are a welcome 
treat.— E D. Downer, Utica , N. TAnk, XVI, Oct. , 1899, p p. 3 SS-^ 
