(_Zonotrichia albicollis_) Finch family
_Called also_: PEABODY BIRD; CANADA SPARROW
(Illustration facing p. 170)
_Length_--6.75 to 7 inches. Larger than the English sparrow.
_Male and Female_--A black crown divided by narrow white line.
Yellow spot before the eye, and a white line, apparently
running through it, passes backward to the nape. Conspicuous
white throat. Chestnut back, varied with black and whitish.
Breast gray, growing lighter underneath. Wings edged with
rufous and with two white cross-bars.
_Range_--Eastern North America. Nests from Michigan and
Massachusetts northward to Labrador. Winters from southern New
England to Florida.
_Migrations_--April. October. Abundant during migrations, and
in many States a winter resident.
"_I-I, Pea-body, Pea-body, Pea-body_," are the syllables of the
white-throat's song heard by the good New Englanders, who have a
tradition that you must either be a Peabody or a nobody there; while
just over the British border the bird is distinctly understood to say,
"_Swee-e-e-t Can-a-da, Can-a-da, Can-a-da._" "_All day, whit-tle-ing,
whit-tle-ing, whit-tle-ing,_" the Maine people declare he sings; and
Hamilton Gibson told of a perplexed farmer, Peverly by name, who, as
he stood in the field undecided as to what crop to plant, clearly
heard the bird advise, "_Sow wheat, Pev-er-ly, Pev-er-ly, Pev-er-ly._"
Such divergence of opinion, which is really slight compared with the
verbal record of many birds' songs, only goes to show how little the
sweetness of birds' music, like the perfume of a rose, depends upon a
name.
In a family not distinguished for good looks, the white-throated
sparrow is conspicuously handsome, especially after the spring moult.
In midwinter the feathers grow dingy and the markings indistinct; but
as the season advances, his colors are sure to brighten perceptibly,
and before he takes the northward journey in April, any little lady
sparrow might feel proud of the attentions of so fine-looking and
sweet-voiced a lover. The black, white, and yellow markings on his
head are now clear and beautiful. His figure is plump and
aristocratic.
These sparrows are particularly sociable travellers, and cordially
welcome many stragglers to their flocks--not during the migrations
only, but even when winter's snow affords only the barest gleanings
above it. Then they boldly peck about the dog's plate by the kitchen
door and enter the barn-yard, calling their feathered friends with a
sharp _tseep_ to follow them. Seeds and insects are their chosen food,
and were they not well wrapped in an adipose coat under their
feathers, there must be many a winter night when they would go
shivering, supperless, to their perch.
In the dark of midnight one may sometimes hear the white-throat softly
singing in its dreams.
[Illustration: SONG SPARROW]
[Illustration: TREE SPARROW]