<h2>THE FOX-COLORED SPARROW.</h2>
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<p>N “Wood Notes Wild,” S. P.
Cheney says this song-loving
Sparrow has a sweet voice and
a pleasing song, which he has
set to music. No Sparrow, he
says, sings with a better quality of
tone. A distinguished musician himself,
no one was better qualified to
give a final opinion upon the subject.
Others have spoken in praise of it,
Burroughs characterizing it as “a
strong, richly modulated whistle, the
finest Sparrow note I have ever heard.”
Baird says, “in the spring the male
becomes quite musical, and is one of
our sweetest and most remarkable
singers. His voice is loud, clear,
and melodious; his notes full, rich,
and varied; and his song is unequalled
by any of this family that I have ever
heard.” Mr. Torrey finds a “Thrush-like”
quality in the song of the Fox
Sparrow. In his “Birds in the Bush”
Mr. Torrey describes an interesting
contest as follows:</p>
<p>“One afternoon I stood still while a
Fox Sparrow and a Song Sparrow
sang alternately on either side of me,
both exceptionally good vocalists, and
each doing his best. The songs were
of about equal length, and as far as
theme was concerned were not a little
alike; but the Fox Sparrow’s tone was
both louder and more mellow than the
others, while his notes were longer,—more
sustained,—and his voice was
‘carried’ from one pitch to another.
On the whole, I had no hesitation
about giving him the palm; but I am
bound to say that his rival was a
worthy competitor.”</p>
<p>The Fox-colored Sparrow is also
one of the largest and finest of his
tribe, breeding from the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and Labrador north into
Alaska; in winter it is met with south
over the whole of the eastern United
States to the Gulf coast. Audubon
found it nesting in Labrador from the
middle of June to the 5th of July. Its
nest has been found in trees and on
the ground in the Arctic regions, on
the Yukon river in July. According
to many observers, the nests are, for
the most part, placed on the ground,
usually concealed by the drooping
branches of evergreens. They are
made of grass and moss, lined with
fine grass and feathers. Some nests
are three or four inches in depth,
strong, compact, and handsome. The
eggs are three or five, oval in form, of
a clayey greenish ground color, dotted
with dull reddish brown and chocolate.
They vary in coloration.</p>
<p>In the early spring the Fox Sparrow
is often seen associated with small
parties of Juncos, in damp thickets
and roadside shrubbery; later, according
to Mr. Bicknell, it takes more to
woodsides, foraging on leaf-strewn
slopes where there is little or no
undergrowth. In the autumn it is
found in hedgerows, thickets and
weedy grainfields, rarely however,
straying far from some thickety cover.
It is a great scratcher among dead
leaves, and “can make the wood
rubbish fly in a way which, in proportion
to its size, a barn-yard fowl could
scarcely excel.”</p>
<p>The Sparrows are worthy of close
study, many of them possessing habits
of great beauty and interest.</p>
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