their rich, wild notes rising and falling all around the log 
cabin in which I sat writing. The songs of the different indi¬ 
viduals varied greatly in form as well as in duration-- some 
lasting twice as long as others but each bird apparently 
always sang in precisely the same way on different occasions. 
The seed became, at times, covered with snow, but the 
Fox Sparrow® quickly uncovered it by * scratching*. bitching 
this operation carefully, with the Sparrows only eight or 
ten feet from ray window, I satisfied, myself fully as to how 
it is done. The bird first makes a forward hop of from one 
to three inches and,the instant it strikes the ground, Jumps 
backward to the starting point, carrying with It ell the 
snow, leaves or other light surface covering that its large 
feet have beneath them, often flinging this debris nix or 
eight inches to the rear, and at each hop exposing a era all 
space of bare earth within convenient reach and directly in 
front of where It was at first standing. The forward motion 
is o very quick that it Is apt to escape' the eye of, or 
at least to be misinterpreted by the casual observer and the 
impression is easily received that the bird has merely 
scratched the leaves, etc. behind it after the manner of a 
hen. "hit sometimes it does actually kick b ckwards without 
first hopping forward. Its wings are kept tightly closed 
during the performance. The feet are held nearly parallel 
but often, I think, one is a little in advance of the other. 
The Song and Tree Sparrows, as well as the Juneos, 
."scratched" in precisely the same manner as the Fox Sparrows 
but rather lees vigorously and much less frequently. The 
