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Range (Eastern North America breeds) (XXI)

Eastern North America; breeds from northern Michigan, and occasionally Massachusetts, northward to Labrador; winters from Massachusetts to Florida. Washington, very common W. V., Sept. 28 to May 20, Sing Sing, common T. V., Apl. 10 to May 21; Sept. 20 to Oct. 30; a few winter. Cambridge, very common T. V., Apl. 25 to May 15; Oct. 1 to Nov. 10; a few winter. Nest, of coarse grasses, rootlets, moss, strips of bark, etc., lined with finer grasses, on the ground or in bushes. Eggs, four to five, bluish white, finely and evenly speckled or heavily and irregularly blotched with pale rufousbrown, 82 x 60. In September, when the hedgerows and woodland undergrowths begin to rustle with Sparrows, Juncos, and Towhees, I watch eagerly for the arrival of these welcome fall songsters.

There is little in their modest appearance to tell one, as they feed on the ground near their haunts, of their vocal powers, and one might be pardoned for believing that a feeble tseep was their only note. I whistle a bar or two of greeting in their own language. They are evidently puzzled, but make no reply, for it has apparently been agreed among themselves that singing shall not begin for at least a week after WHITE-THROATED SPARROW.

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.

FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. their arrival. Then there are a few sweet, tremulous trials before the plaintive, sympathetic whistle brings cheer to the browning woods: or Few birds are more sociable than the White-throats. At this season they are always in little companies, and they frequently roost together in large numbers in the depths of dense thickets or clumps of evergreens. After they have retired one may hear the sharp chink of their " quarrier" chorus, and when darkness comes, with low, brooding notes of cozy companionship they are hushed for the night. 559. Spizella monticola (Gmel.). TREE SPARROW; WINTER