“Wherever the thick nest is placed, it is cleverly hidden.  If in a low shrub, it is in the crotch where the branches spread above the root.  If on the ground, it is against an old stump with a tuft of grass on each side, or in a little hollow between bushes.  Our Sparrow likes to live in the garden hedges and about the orchard, and to cultivate the acquaintance of House People in a shy sort of way.

“He never flies directly to and from his home like the Chippy, Wren, and Robin, but slips off the nest and runs along the ground as nimbly as a Thrush, till he reaches a bush, well away from his house, when he hops into it and flies away.

“‘Chek! chek! chek!’ is the call-note of the Song Sparrows, who also have a short, sweet song, which every bird varies and lengthens to please himself or his mate.  ’Maids, maids, maids, hang on your tea-kettle-ettle-ettle,’ some people fancy the bird says, and the short song fits these words very well.  But when this Sparrow sings his best music, all trembling with love and joy, he forgets about such a simple thing as the tea-kettle!  Now it is a grand banquet he tells you of, with flowers and music; then he stops suddenly, remembering that he is only a little brown bird, and sings to his favorite alder bush by the brook a soft apology for having forgotten himself.  This Sparrow even dreams music in the spring, when you will often hear his notes in the darkest hours of the night.

“The eggs are as varied as the songs, being light blue or whitish, with every imaginable sort of brown marking—­no two sets are exactly alike.  Birds’ eggs often vary in color, like their plumage, and the different hues seem fitted to hide the eggs; for those of birds that nest in holes and need no concealing are usually plain white.

“If you ever make a bird calendar at Orchard Farm, you may be able to write this Sparrow’s name in every month of the year.  Another good thing about this happy faithful bird is, that his tribe increases in Birdland, in spite of all dangers.”

“My mother loves Song Sparrows,” said Rap.  “She says they are a great deal of company for her when she is doing her washing out under the trees.  She thinks they tell her that people can be happy, even if they wear plain clothes and have to be snowed up in the country half the winter.  She is right, too; the Song Sparrows only tell her what happens to themselves.”

The Song Sparrow

Length about six inches.

Head and back all streaked with gray and brown, and a brown stripe on each side of throat.  Under parts whitish, all striped with dark brown, the heaviest stripes making a large blackish spot on the breast.

A Citizen of the United States east of the plains, nesting from Virginia northward to the Fur Countries.

A Ground Gleaner as well as a Weed Warrior, and a constant joyful songster.

[Illustration:  The Towee (Joree.  Chewink.  Ground Robin.)]