Where the touch of winter kills not.
—Frank Bolles, “Birds in October.”
Mr. Ernest E. Thompson calls the White-crowned Sparrow an aristocrat of the sparrow family. One of the largest of the sparrows, its beautifully marked plumage and its dignified mien, as it stands on some exposed perch, immediately attracts the attention of an observer. Its range is extensive, covering the whole of the United States during its migrations, and in winter it passes further southward into the valley regions of Mexico. In the selection of a nesting site a pure and cool atmosphere seems a paramount consideration. The mountain regions of the western United States and the country lying north of the great lakes and eastward into Labrador seem to meet the requirements for the home building of these sweet dispositioned birds. Then its music is sweetest. During its migration, however, localities not favored with its home are often regaled “with selections of its melodies as it rests in thickets and hedgerows while slowly passing through our country on its northward pilgrimage.” From some high bush or other favorable perch the male will pour forth an almost unbroken song while its mate is setting. Often this song does not cease with the going down of the sun, and it has been heard as late as midnight. It is a “lively, agreeable song, fine and clear, and is frequently heard from a score or more of birds at the same time with a most pleasing effect.”
Its song, quite closely resembling that of its relative the white-throated sparrow, with which it quite frequently consorts during its migrations, yet the two songs are readily distinguishable. Mr. Thompson compares the songs. He says: “Its usual song is like the latter half of the white-throat’s familiar refrain, repeated a number of times with a peculiar, sad cadence and a clear, soft whistle that is characteristic of the group.” Dr. Coues, speaking of the two songs, says that the song of the White-crowned Sparrow is “a less enterprising vocal effort, of only five or six syllables, like pee, dee, de, de, de, the two first long drawn, rising, the rest hurried and lowering.” Transcribed into words, there are almost as many renderings of the White-crowned’s song as there are observers. Mr. Burroughs says that the song “begins with the words fe-u, fe-u, fe-u, and runs off into trills and quavers like the song sparrow’s, only much more touching.” To Mr. Langille “the song is quite peculiar, whee-who-who-zee-zee-zee, the first three notes in a clear whistle and the last three in a sort of jew’s-harp tone, the whole being decidedly pleasing, and not at all like that of the white-throat.”
The food of the White-crowned sparrow consists of both insects and seeds. To some extent they feed upon berries, and Audubon states that in Labrador they also eat minute shellfish, “for which they frequently search the margins of ponds or the seashore.” This bird is a scratcher. It is also a hopper and hence scratches with both feet at once.
The nest of this Sparrow is usually constructed of grass or moss and is placed either on the ground or in low bushes. Audubon describes a beautiful nest of this species which he found in Labrador. This nest “was placed in the moss, near the foot of a low fir, and was formed externally of beautiful dry green moss, matted in bunches, like the coarse hair of some quadruped; internally of very fine, dry grass, arranged with great neatness, to the thickness of nearly half an inch, with a full lining of delicate fibrous roots of a rich transparent color.”
Of this beautiful Sparrow Mr. Burroughs has said: “Among the birds that tarry briefly with us in the spring on their way to Canada and beyond, there is none that I behold with so much pleasure as the White-crowned Sparrow. I have an eye out for him all through April and the first week in May. He is the rarest and most beautiful of the sparrow kind. He is crowned as some hero or victor in the games. His sparrow color, of ashen gray and brown, is very clear and bright, and his form graceful. His whole expression, however, culminates in a regular manner in his crown. The various tints of the bird are brought to a focus here and intensified, the lighter ones becoming white and the deeper ones mainly black. There is the suggestion of a crest also, from a habit this bird has of slightly elevating this part of its plumage, as if to make more conspicuous its pretty markings.”
AFTER THE SNOW STORM.
Chick-a-dee-dee, chick-a-dee-dee,
Tell me where were you