Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
habit of the European nightingales, which, however, choose to 
sing only in the moonlight 
White-throated Sparrow 
( Zonotrichia albicollis) Finch family 
Called also: PEABODY BIRD; CANADA SPARROW 
Length — 6.75 to 7 inches. Larger than the English sparrow. 
Male and Female — A black crown divided by narrow white line. 
Yellow spot before the eye, and a white line, apparently run- 
ning through it, passes backward to the nape. Conspicuous 
white throat. Chestnut back, varied with black and whitish. 
Breast gray, growing lighter underneath. Wings edged 
with rufous and with two white cross-bars. 
Range — Eastern North America. Nests from Michigan and Mas- 
sachusetts northward to Labrador. Winters from southern 
New England to Florida. 
Migrations— April. October. Abundant during migrations, and 
in many States a winter resident. 
Pea-body, Pea-body, Pea-body,” are the syllables of the 
white-throat’s song heard by the good New Englanders, who 
have a tradition that you must either be a Peabody or a nobody 
there; while just over the British border the bird is distinctly un- 
derstood to say, ” Swee-e-e-t Can-a-da, Can-a-da, Can-a-da.” 
" All day, whit-tle-ing, whit-tle-ing, whit-tle-ing,” the Maine 
people declare he sings ; and Hamilton Gibson told of a per- 
plexed farmer, Peverly by name, who, as he stood in the field 
undecided as to what crop to plant, dearly heard the bird advise, 
" Sow wheat, Pev-er-ly, Pev-er-ly , Pev-er-ly.” Such divergence 
of opinion, which is really slight compared with the verbal record 
of many birds’ songs, only goes to show how little the sweet- 
ness of birds’ music, like the perfume of a rose, depends upon a 
name. 
In a family not distinguished for good looks, the white- 
throated sparrow is conspicuously handsome, especially after the 
spring moult In midwinter the feathers grow dingy and the 
markings indistinct ; but as the season advances, his colors are 
sure to brighten perceptibly, and before he takes the northward 
journey in April, any little lady sparrow might feel proud of the 
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