CONCORD 
F 
1906 
May 4 
Twelve White-throated Sparrows spent most of the 
day on the ground under the dining-room v*rindows, where 
we scatter hemp seed nearly every morning. They remained 
here for hours at a time and when not feeding stood or 
crouched in the short grass, keeping perfectly motionless 
with their heads raised. The white stripes on thwir 
crowns evidently made them less, instead of more, con¬ 
spicuous. More than half of them were in fully mature 
plumage. They sang a good deal but without much spirit, 
even in the early morning. When searching for the hemp 
seeds, they often scratched a little after the manner of 
Fox Sparrows, that is, by first jumping forward and then 
backward. I have seen Juncos and Song Sparrows do pre¬ 
cisely the same thing here this spring but no one of 
these birds scratches nearly as often or as vigorously 
as does the Fox Sparrow. The Song Sparrows and Juncos 
both walk a good deal with a pretty mincing gait. 
As William Stone and I were strolling in the 
field across the road from the farm-house this afternoon, 
a male Duck Hawk passed us within fifty yards. It was 
flying swiftly but heavily, about twenty feet above the 
ground, carrying in its talons a bird that looked as 
large as a Pigeon and which was probably a Carolina Dove. 
As it approached the road, it tried to rise above the 
bordering trees but, failing in this, apparently because 
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