4 
NATURE STUDY. 
nous but exceedingly sweet repetition of the syllable “de- 
de-de-de 
—p - 7^—f: 
J « <Z ^ d J j JJai 
tee-oo , tee-oo , tee-oo , tee-oo , de-de-de-de, etc. 
The first four notes are given slowly and the subsequent 
monotone more and more rapidly till the close, where some¬ 
times a few very sweet whistles are sounded as a finish. 
The song of the vesper sparrow defies transcription. 
Two introductory tones, very much like those of the field 
sparrow in form but of different quality, are followed by a 
roulade of wonderful sweetness, richness and brilliancy, 
far superior to that of the song sparrow. 
Two passing sparrows are with us at this moment (May 
17), the white-throated sparrow or peabody bird and the 
white-crowned sparrow. The latter species, while always 
here in the migrating season, comes in such small num¬ 
bers as to be known by few. The song of the white-throat 
is one of the few which happens to conform to the require¬ 
ments of our scale. This is a typical song: 
n v/ ^ 
f) ia? DC*> 
l: 
-v - . ^ 
Sow wheat here , peabody , peabody , peabody . 
I give the traditional setting of words ; not a very poetical 
one, but serving admirably to give the rhythm of the 
song. 
The usual song of the white-crown is a sort of sad ver- 
